a blog by Leslie K. Brown ...a.k.a... {miscellany}

This is your brain after finishing your PhD coursework

2011-06-11T12:31:00.000-05:00

This is my brain. This is my brain after finishing my PhD coursework.This is the third piece in my "brain on post-its" series. The other iterations are from the end of the last semester and the end of last year. The piles represent my stickies from circa 50+ books, countless articles, and grading (NB: this semester's is the largest). Post-coursework my graduate experience continues: I have

Flash Forward Festival Boston - Exposure Galore!

2011-06-04T00:12:00.015-05:00

In the better late than never category, if you are in Boston, do get out to the fab (and free!) Flash Forward Festival. There are many exhibitions, educational lectures and panels, and events to enjoy. I'll be there again today!I am delighted to see so many photographers that I worked with or curated into physical or online exhibitions at the PRC be recognized in this terrific international

Essay for book: Between Planting and Picking, Sandi Haber Fifield (Charta, 2011)

2011-02-23T17:13:00.017-05:00

This past summer, I wrote an essay for Sandi Haber Fifield's new book Between Planting and Picking (Charta). Now, just in time to "think spring," I am excited to announce that it has been published! My afterword is joined by a foreword by Dominique Browning, former editor-in-chief of House & Garden and author of many fine books, and of course Sandi's splendid photographs. It's quite amazing to

Presentation at the IFA/NYU-Frick Collection, History of Art Symposium

2011-01-28T11:28:00.009-05:00

I am thrilled to announce that my presentation was selected to represent Boston University's History of Art and Architecture department at the IFA/NYU-Frick symposium for Art History graduate students, jointly sponsored by the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University and the Frick Collection. I will present a version of my paper on artists' viewsheds that I wrote for Professor Keith

Exhibition overview: Traces at PAAM

2011-01-17T14:04:00.018-05:00

It's always wonderful when photographers are not only great artists, but great people too. I was delighted to show Dan Ranalli's work in the 2004 PRC exhibition, Concerning the Spiritual in Photography. Since I am also a huge fan of his other series, I was excited when Dan asked me to curate a solo show of his work for the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.For this exhibition, I wanted to

Back to blogging, hopefully, and "This is your brain on grad school, Number II"

2011-01-15T16:26:00.015-05:00

I've been a bad blogger. Such is life as a PhD student. I thought I'd do an update of my "brain on post-its" post/pic from the end of last year as a placeholder. The above pile represents my post-its from circa 40+ books and countless articles from last semester. Before things get too crazy in my last semester of coursework, I hope to provide a few short updates on life and the following

SPE-NE conference @ RISD - Nov. 5-7 - Speakers announced & early reg. due Oct. 16th

2010-10-10T13:49:00.021-05:00

I wish to take the opportunity to share the finalized schedule and registration information for the SPE-Northeast Regional conference -- November 5-7 at RISD -- "The Experiential in Photography." As conference chair, Bruce has been working very hard on making this an amazing event. I was delighted to be on the abstract selection committee and am helping to publicize what promises to be a

Call for Papers: SPE Northeast conference, "The Experiential in Photography" - EXTENDED SEPT. 7th - Spencer Finch to give keynote

2010-08-03T20:16:00.035-05:00

Above image: Spencer Finch, The Most Beautiful Blue (Goethe's Theory), 2007, Dimensions Variable, Candle, Pencil, White paper, Daylight, from spencerfinch.comDEADLINE EXTENDED - NOW DUE *** SEPTEMBER 7th! ***As blogged previously, Bruce Myren is the new chair of the Society of Photographic Education (SPE) - Northeast. He is working hard on the regional conference, to be held in Providence, RI in

Critical Mass

2010-07-06T14:06:00.030-05:00

I feel fortunate to have participated in Photolucida's amazing juried photo opportunity -- Critical Mass -- as a juror from the very beginning. In its first year, 2004, we rated over 600 entries. In subsequent years, the organization instituted a pre-screening jury to make the experience more manageable (culling it down to about 150-175 photographers). This year, I am delighted to be a part of

This is your brain after one year as a PhD student

2010-05-12T22:33:00.038-05:00

This is my brain. This is my brain after finishing my first year as a PhD student. Actually, these are about 1/2 of the post-its I removed from my ~70 books before returning them to the library (and from the 10+ books I bought, both numbers are from the spring semester alone). Despite the exhaustion, I'm in a good spot: the program and professors are fantastic and my colleagues inspirational.

National Geographic's "Peeps in Places"

2010-04-04T10:33:00.009-05:00

National Geographic put out a call for photographs of "Peeps in Places" (love the name) and the winners will be featured on their blog next week. In the meantime, check out some selections from this year so far here and last year's winners gallery here. (For some peep trivia, learn more about the making of peeps here and a peep research site here.)I was especially charmed by their contest

SPE Northeast region, news

2010-03-26T21:16:00.004-05:00

At the national Society of Photographic Education (SPE) meeting in Philadelphia earlier this month, Bruce was elected chair of the Northeast Region! He is very excited and hopes to rally the troops!SPE has made a tremendous difference in Bruce's life. It blows my mind to think that in 2005 he nervously came with me to Chicago. Reviews filled up, but he brought his portfolio anyways and ended up

Harnessing positive energy, David Prifti

2010-03-25T07:12:00.014-05:00

I want to take a moment to blog about an amazing person, David Prifti. David has been battling pancreatic cancer and tomorrow he will have intraoperative radiation. I know that I along with so many people he has touched are sending heaps of collective positive energy his way. If anyone can beat this, David can.I showed David's liquid emulsion work at the PRC in Contemporary Vernacular in 2004/

Paper at the BU Art History Graduate Student Symposium, "Place"

2010-02-27T11:12:00.028-05:00

I was delighted to be selected to present at the BU Art History graduate student symposium on March 20th. The presentations and keynote look wonderful and place is a favorite topic of mine. I can't wait to hear them all! The full schedule of events is below and more information is here.KEYNOTE ADDRESSFriday, March 19, 2010, 5:30pmBoston University Art Gallery at the Stone Gallery855

Help needed: Photogs who document places that look like other places

2010-02-21T08:33:00.019-05:00

I am writing as I would love to have help/input. This is hopefully what the blog-o-sphere and the internets are for, right? Right!As many know, I am in my second semester as a full-time student. Currently, I am taking a seminar on Globalization and Contemporary Art (in addition to Institutional Architecture). I am hoping to write my seminar paper in part on photographers who document places

Happy New Year!

2010-01-11T08:59:00.011-05:00

I hope all had and are having a wonderful New Year! I think I am not alone in saying a hearty goodbye to 2009. It was a tough year. Here's to clean slates and new beginnings. Bring on 2010.Of note, again, are Tim Garrett's fabulously funny new year's postcards. Every year for ten plus years, he has produced a postcard with a phrase that rhymes with "happy new year," an example of which is

It's a Swedish Christmas!

2009-12-25T12:25:00.011-05:00

For this year's Christmas, I decided to get my family Swedish items in celebration of Bruce's heritage and do a little Swedish-themed blog post. Previously, I posted on Dutch traditions, including Chocolate letters, as my family is mostly Dutch.In my research, I came across the Christmas Goat, or Julbock, who is ridden by the Swedish version of Santa Claus. Tomten is a gnome that lives under

The Last Place to Process Kodachome

2009-12-06T22:28:00.002-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Out of the Box at the DeCordova Museum

2009-11-25T09:27:00.003-05:00

I am delighted to announce that the show that I curated for the DeCordova Sculpture Park + Museum, Out of the Box: Photography Portfolios from the Permanent Collection, is now open! I was honored to be chosen as the first guest curator for this new series. This exhibition is a part of a new initiative at the DeCordova: inviting guest curators to explore their permanent collection and bring to

Godowsky Color Awards website/exhibition

2009-11-10T21:12:00.019-05:00

Check out the new Godowsky Awards website! This cycle, these international awards focus on emerging artists and new approaches in color photography. Jennifer Uhrhane and I have worked on this for over a year and were both jurors along with two amazing guests: Bill Ewing and Hannah Frieser. It's my last project at the PRC.We're thrilled with the site and the show, which I have somehow fit in

The Instant Art Critique

2009-10-09T18:06:00.009-05:00

I am so overwhelmed with reading and grading right now...I simply will share a link and quote it. I present you with The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator. Click on the links to make your own. Some of my results are after the jump. Enjoy!Salvation is here!Feeling inarticulate? Critically gauche? Or just verbally impotent?We here at Pixmaven have developed The Instant Art Critique Phrase

Bruce's new website has been Wordle-ed

2009-09-19T13:37:00.014-05:00

In next week's Art History discussion sections, we are going over a lot of terminology from sculpture and architecture (relief, pediment, peristyle, doric, ionic, triglyph, metope, etc.).In a moment of true art history geekdom, I wanted to make the point that we are going to "vocabulary land" and thus searched out sites that created word clouds. I stumbled across wordle.net and proceeded to

My new commute and first week as a PhD student

2009-09-06T09:59:00.014-05:00

Not that I am actually walking from the PRC to the BU Art History department, but above represents my "move" if you will and a big life transition from working fulltime to going to graduate school fulltime: 0.3 miles. I am currently parking in Cambridge to save money and walking over the BU bridge with laptop and books. Luckily, I have a little office cubicle, which is proving quickly to be a

A Kodak Family

2009-08-16T12:51:00.013-05:00

At one point, I asked my father to help me name how many people in our family worked at Kodak and tell me what they did. This is an incomplete list and does not include countless distant relatives -- or the families of pretty much my whole high school and many in college -- but I thought I'd share it at this point.It's a window into a time when (for better and for worse) a town was an industry

LKB & PRC in PDN

2009-07-18T13:33:00.007-05:00

The wonderful Edgar Allen Beem interviewed a whole host of photo spaces and the results are featured in July issue of PDN. The article, “Preparing for Launch: Non-Profit Photography Spaces are a Proving Ground for Emerging Photographers,” is chock a block full of excellent advice for getting your work out there. I was interviewed about the PRC’s ops for and devotion to emerging photographers,

PhD bound and other news

2009-06-21T14:47:00.015-05:00

My apologies first for not posting this earlier! I have been emailing to tell the news, but it's been a stressful/crazy spring, so forgive me if there is some repetition and a lot going on. I figured I’d just adapt my “news” email and post it here: I am delighted to announce that I have been accepted into the PhD program in Art History at Boston University! So, Bruce and I will be around Boston

Congrats...2 years + 1 vanagon + lots of hard work = MFA

2009-05-17T12:58:00.016-05:00

Bruce graduated this past weekend from the University of Connecticut, Storrs. Exhibition and defense completed, he now just has to hand in the bound thesis. Two years of being mostly apart is almost over. He worked very hard, produced a lot of great (and different) work and now has an MFA and a fulltime job to show for it. I am very proud of him for finding his calling and following his

Round up of SYNTAX Cyberarts press...

2009-05-01T07:21:00.006-05:00

There are only ten more days to see the PRC's SYNTAX exhibition as well as the whole Boston Cyberarts Festival - both run through May 10th!I'm hitting the pavement hard tomorrow myself. You can check out SYNTAX virtually here and chart out your entire Cyberarts route here.Some highlights:In Sebastian Smee's recent review of the entire Cyberarts fest in the Boston Globe, he stated the

Off to repeat & return over the pond

2009-04-12T14:10:00.012-05:00

I'm leaving on a jet plane...I am honored to be giving a paper at the "Repeats and Returns in Photography" conference at the University of Plymouth. It is sponsored and organized by their amazing Land/Water & The Visual Arts department, where Liz Wells and Jem Southam teach. I will be speaking on two PRC exhibitions, New England Survey and Keeping Time.See below or here for information. Wish

PRC show Syntax in Boston Phoenix

2009-03-18T20:02:00.001-05:00

Check out this great preview of the next show, Syntax, at the PRC! Click here or above to read the preview. Learn more about the art and artists here. The gallery will be open March 26th and the reception will be Thursday, April 2nd, 5:30 - 7:30pm.

Cool word & image finds

2009-03-10T19:41:00.004-05:00

Great images by Shaun Sundholm found via this JB blog post about twittering/curating.

My Critical Mass reviewer scrapbook

2009-02-28T15:34:00.009-05:00

While reviewing for Critical Mass in the fall, the super Shawn Records asked me to create a scrapbook of individual images to be featured later on the photolucida blog. Keep checking back, more reviewers and artists will be featured in the coming weeks. You can view a slideshow of my picks from this blog post or go directly to the show by clicking here. Congrats all and thanks everyone for

Rare photograph of a rainbow's end

2009-02-16T15:41:00.007-05:00

I came across this image of the end of a rainbow by Jason Erdkam via About.com's Art History blogger. Apparently, it IS possible to experience and capture such an event. Some folks have even stated that they have stood INSIDE the end of a rainbow. How cool is that? Lucky ducks! Click here or above to see more end of the rainbow images.

New approach to narrative in photography...

2009-02-12T20:28:00.008-05:00

This is just amazing...perhaps this could inspire a whole new method of photo captioning?

You have 2 days left to be exposed

2009-02-06T17:16:00.003-05:00

Although in theory this is a personal blog, life and work merge together when one works at a small non-profit. I want to remind folks that you have until TOMORROW, Saturday, February 7th to get your submission in the mail (or dropped off at the PRC 12-5pm) for the 14th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition, EXPOSURE. Seriously photo folks, don't let this one pass you by! It takes but a second to burn 10

Rush to the Rose

2009-02-02T21:12:00.006-05:00

Rose Art Museum to close

2009-01-26T21:36:00.019-05:00

Brandeis to sell school's art collection By Geoff Edgers and Peter Schworm - Boston Globe StaffJanuary 26, 2009 Rocked by a budget crisis, Brandeis University will close its Rose Art Museum and sell off a 6,000-object collection that includes work by such contemporary masters as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Nam June Paik. ...Read more from the Globe

Polaroid...possible?

2009-01-22T20:56:00.007-05:00

A group of past Polaroid employees and visionaries have acquired an old Polaroid factory in the Netherlands in the hopes of reviving instant pack film. And there was much rejoicing!Dubbed "The Impossible Project," this intrepid group has a fascinating web site. Check it out here and enjoy the wonderful vintage video about SX-70s by Charles and Ray Eames above. It's worth the 10 minutes, so be

Vote vote vote! for the Boston Art Awards

2009-01-16T07:21:00.006-05:00

Greg Cook of the New England Journal of Aesthetic Research just posted the ballot for the first (and hopefully annual) Boston Art Awards. Thank you for your efforts!The rules are here and the ballot is here. Greg recommends pasting the ballot into an email and deleting those who don't get your vote, thus leaving those for whom you are voting. The PRC's landscape show New England Survey is up in

Witness a whole year in 40 seconds

2009-01-04T10:11:00.012-05:00

I came across this fascinating video on yahoo. It's a whole year of a landscape in Oslo, Norway seen in 40 seconds. Similar to condensed multi-year video portraits on youtube (which seems to have continued according to his website), it's a viral hit.I did a little digging on the photographer's web site, eirikso.com, and found some interesting tidbits. In short, he took all of the images

Nominate Nominate Nominate!

2009-01-03T14:48:00.015-05:00

The gregarious Greg Cook of NEJAR (New England Journal of Aesthetic Research) has initiated the 2008 Boston Art Awards, in part to make up for the AICA awards not being held this year. Thanks Greg - Boston needs this and we appreciate all of your hard work.Please help by nominating your favorite everything in the below categories. (Of course, if you particularly enjoyed an exhibition held at a

Mappy Nude Rear!

2009-01-03T01:26:00.010-05:00