Keeping Time review in the Globe

The Keeping Time review ran today in the Boston Globe and it's a good one! Yippee! I am in Rochester now so have my backups picking up a copy in Boston. Click here to read it.

The perspicacious Mark Feeney has some incredible insights as always. We get two wonderful literary quotes too:

"In 'Four Quartets,' T.S. Eliot writes that 'to apprehend/ The point of intersection of the timeless/ With time, is an occupation for the saint.'"...(begins the review, and later on)... "Their concern is with what Edward Abbey, in 'Desert Solitaire,' describes as 'that ultimate world of sun and stars whose bounds we cannot discover.'"

Here are some of my favorite Feeney phrases (the last Morris Louis one is truly super):

Among the virtues of "Keeping Time: Cycle and Duration in Contemporary Photography," which runs at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University through Jan. 25, is the reminder it brings that time is not just the ocean photography splashes in but also the spray that it raises.

All photographs are, so to speak, sun-singed. ...Think of the process as a visual equivalent of distressing a surface. Where a photograph captures an instant in time, McCaw's techniques indicate time's ongoing effects on that instant.

As the sun casts shadows from wine bottles, drinking glasses, and the like, Cummins traces the outlines of those shadows in colored inks. Meal concluded, she photographs the chromatic accumulation. Visually, it's like having Morris Louis as your waiter.

Happy Tofurky Day!

Bruce and I are getting ready to drive to Rochester for the holiday to see family, friends, and make our tofurky.

Last year, I posted images from Farm Sanctuary's "Celebration FOR the Turkeys" and, although I don't normally discuss my dietary habits and choices, I thought I'd share some images and links again. Given the recent Sarah Palin interview, I can't help but also share an article that also gives one pause.

Farm Sanctuary is an organization that "works to end cruelty to farm animals and promotes compassionate living through rescue, education and advocacy." You can help by sponsoring a turkey! Click here to see the crew and adopt a turkey.

Safe travels everyone!

Image: Sammi and Aya certainly are big fans of this classic holiday pie (photo by Jo-Anne McArthur) from Farm Sanctuary's flickr stream

Photoshop Old Skool style

I just found this amazing "low tech" rendition of Photoshop on Rachel Hulin's blog post regarding the launch of CS4. (It's actually not an ad not from Adobe, but from an Indonesian agency.) Click on the image above to see a larger version.

As Bruce points out, it more closely resembles the layout of CS3 with the tool palette of CS2. Gotta love techies! This is way beyond me. I am a dinosaur when it comes to this - I won't tell you the versions of software programs that I use. You should see the graphic layouts I can do in Word!

For those who really want to geek out, here are some links:
* a history of Photoshop (as of 2000)
* an overview of the splash screens from each version (the box that pops when it's loading)
* a run down of all of the Photoshop toolbars

Barack Obama's flickr and post election thoughts

Surfing around blogs/links, I came across Barack Obama's flickr stream. With 50,000+ photos posted dating from his candidacy announcement until today, this is a treasure trove and a delight to peruse.

Obama's use of 21st century social media--his flickr site combined with text messaging, twitter, and email--made this historic campaign even more astounding and transparent. (See this post by Mel Trittin for an example of the email sent right after his victory and this great twitter-inspired artwork by Brian Piana.) I especially like his "about you" section on flickr, seen below.

Around the blogosphere, I also enjoyed Shane Lavalette's quotation of my favorite part of Obama's acceptance speech and Dawoud Bey's thoughts on the true dawn of the 21st century. Like Amy Elkins, I was warmed by the photos and montages of global citizens celebrating as well as the impromptu "pots and pans" parade in my neighborhood on election night. Sitting on my couch, I welled up yet once again, especially at the above picture of his beautiful family.

I so much look forward to the next 4 years.

A bit more about Barack Obama...

Occupation:	Senator (D-IL)
Interests:	Basketball, writing, loafing with kids
Favorite Books & Authors:	Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison), Moby Dick, Shakespeare's Tragedies, Parting the Waters, Gilead (Robinson), Self-Reliance (Emerson), The Bible, Lincoln's Collected Writings
Favorite Movies, Stars & Directors:	Casablanca, Godfather I & II, Lawrence of Arabia and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Favorite Music & Artists:	Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Johann Sebastian Bach (cello suites), and The Fugees

Keeping Time opens Thursday

I am not sure how many folks know what work goes into putting together an exhibition at a small place. With a staff of four, I am not only the curator, registrar, pr person, wall text and label designer, opening food getter, assistant installer, packer, but also the art transporter. This past Thursday, I did my roughly 4 times a year drive to New York City and back in a day in a brand new Enterprise van. The amazing intern Caleb Cole (hire and show this emerging artist!) helped me navigate and kept me company on his official last day.

After a late start filling up the huge tank, we got into NYC about 12:30 and had to made our way down to Michael Mazzeo Gallery. I've seen Michael several times now at portfolio review events and we always have a good time and he has a great stable of emerging artists. Michael is showing Chris McCaw's work, which I first saw at Photolucida in 2007. I was immediately transfixed (and should have bought one then!!). Michael kindly bought us sandwiches and we caught up. (FYI - it's easy to park in NYC with commercial plates, although I am still a nervous wreck driving and parking in the city.) Chris's work looks amazing in his solo show; he's now started working with a 16 x 20 camera and the results are stunning.

After that, we headed uptown to Bonni Benrubi to pick up Matthew Pillsbury's work. Picking up here is much more difficult than Chelsea, but luckily we found a commercial muni spot. Lou and Thom helped me once again and after tying everything down, we headed home, only to be stuck in traffic in CT for over an hour. I woke up at 5am and about 17 hours later, I was back at home. I am still exhausted.

The gallery is painted a beautiful Benjamin Moore historical color (Templeton Gray) and Vinnie and I install on Monday. I am very excited about this show and I think it will be beautiful. All of the artists are great and I am very proud of them and the show. Come on out Thursday, November 6th from 5:30-7:30pm to see the product of all of our labors. If you are not in town, you can poke around the online component. Click here or on the image above to read my essay, see all of the images and artist statements (just click on the individual images). I will post installation images later. Whew...now back to work.

ABOVE IMAGE: Sharon Harper (Cambridge, MA), Moon Studies and Star Scratches, No. 9, June 4 – 30, 2005, Clearmont, Wyoming, 15, 30, 20, 8, 5, 1, 5, 2, 1 minute exposures; 15, 8, 10, 14 second exposures, Digital C-print from 4x5 transparency, 50 x 40 inches, Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Roepke, Cologne