PhD bound and other news

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 for some time to come. My last day at the PRC will be in mid August. Classes start September 2nd. I will focus on the history of photography. It's a wonderful program - with a history of amazing scholars, professors, and curators - and I am thrilled to be a part of it.

I am honored and humbled to have served and been a part of the PRC and will have worked here for almost 25% of its existence. I am not the best with change and letting go - it will be hard, maybe in some ways easier and some ways harder as I will not be moving - but the time and place is right.

My aim is to emerge on the other side as a curator/educator and will try to stay involved in the contemporary photoworld in the meantime. Although I might take a break from reviewing portfolios and some other things, I hope to stay connected to this incredible community, regionally, nationally, and beyond.

As when it rains, it pours - on a sad note, my father found out he has esophagus cancer and had an operation. But, it's very early, thus he doesn't have to have radiation or chemo and the prognosis is good. Thus, I am even more grateful that I am close to home. In addition, I also was in an accident on my way to Bruce's thesis show (I am absolutely fine), and the insurance totaled my car (it was old). Thus, I also have to look for and buy a new-to-me car amidst all of this (a 2001 Subaru outback, midnight blue). Ah life, funny isn't it?

Bruce passed his orals, finished the thesis, and graduated. He is teaching four classes this summer at the New England Institute of Art and will be there again in the fall. He also will teach view camera at RISD! My folks, Bruce, and I are looking at wedding venues near Woodstock, NY for a summer 2010 wedding. We have come to love the Catskills and it's halfway between Rochester and Boston. We are eager to begin the next phase of our life.

On another note, I am excited to select my classes and also that I never have to take the GRE again!

I hope that you are enjoying your summer (and let’s all hope that it stops raining soon).

Very best, Leslie

ABOVE: Someday, several years from now, I hope to don BU's elegant PhD regalia and be called, yes, Dr. Brown.

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

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 dream.

For those curious, you can read about Bruce's road to grad school here on Henry Horenstein's Teaching Photo. Henry wrote and featured several articles on the MFA graduate experience this past spring on teachingphoto.com - you can read ruminations here, grad school alternatives here, and another student's experience of a low-residency MFA program here.

To those who are not fresh out of undergrad and are considering going to grad school for an MFA, or to those newly-minted BFAs who are considering whether to wait or jump right in, let these stories inspire you and let you know you are not alone.

Next up for the Bruce?

Move part of his thesis show to NYC to Soho20 in Chelsea opening later this month, send off work that was just selected for Houston Center of Photography's 27th annual juried exhibition by Katherine Ware and get ready for a show at NEIA. Oh, and teach four classes (theory among them) this summer. No rest for the weary!

ABOVE: After being hooded, Bruce gets ready to receive his degree! Photo by Gordon Brown.

Round up of SYNTAX Cyberarts press...

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 following: "The best curated group show I saw as part of the festival was "Syntax" at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University (reviewed in the Globe by Mark Feeney, April 3)."

In Nina Barber's Big, Red, and Shiny's interview with Boston Cyberarts Festival's amazing Director George Fifield: "The organizations have a very good sense of what the festival is about. Somebody like the Photographic Resource Center's Leslie Brown has done these great exhibitions where she really gets under the ideas of what technology is when you use the phrase in terms of art. Their current show, "SYNTAX," is about artists who are mainly photographers, but they are approaching the data that's actually in the photos in interesting ways."

Below is a list of links and press that SYNTAX has garnered:

Art New England, April/May 2009 (not posted online yet)

Boston Phoenix, Greg Cook, “Our digital landscape, The 2009 Boston Cyberarts Fest,” Greg Cook, April 28, 2009

BU Today, AV Slideshow, “The Artistic Semantics of Syntax, New exhibition opens today at Photographic Resource Center,” Kimberly Cournelle, March 30, 2009

Stuff, “Syntax,” Jacqueline Houton, March 23, 2009

Boston Phoenix, “Digital language at the PRC, Syntax, at Boston University's Photographic Resource Center,” Evan J. Garza, March 11, 2009

Off to repeat & return over the pond

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 me luck!

The Framing Time and Place conference will address a number of research issues relating to capacities of photography as systematically generating narratives of stasis and change in relation to land and environment.

Featured Speakers:

Mark Klett (Regents Professor of Photography and Director of the Third View project, Arizona State University. Publications include: Second View: the rephotographic survey project (with Ellen Manchester, 1984); Third Views, Second Sights (2004); Yosemite in Time (2005); After the Ruins, 1996 and 2006: rephotographing the San Francisco earthquake and fire (2006).

James Ryan (School of Geography, University of Exeter (Cornwall Campus), Publications include Picturing Empire: photography and the visualization of the British Empire (1997) and Picturing Place: photography and the geographical imagination (with Joan M. Schwartz, 2003).

Themes will include:

• Investigation of photographic methodologies central to re-photography
• Situation of re-photographic explorations within broader socio-historical, geographic, scientific and technological contexts
• Critical consideration of ‘space’ and ‘time’ as concepts informing photographic repeats and returns
• Analysis of the relation of photographic ways of seeing and processes to the construction of specificity and distinctiveness of place
• Interrogation of processes of interpretation, including address to histories implied, and to theories of the production of (photographic) meaning
• Critical appraisal of the limitations of photo-imagery in the construction of landscape fictions

PRC show Syntax in Boston Phoenix

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

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

My Critical Mass reviewer scrapbook

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 entering your work!

Artists included: Nan Brown, Pelle Cass, Livia Corona, Steve Davis, Angela Buenning Filo, Andy Freeberg, Laura Heyman, Jesus Jimenez, Adam Lampton, Alison Malone, Rania Matar, Eric Percher, Cara Phillips, Alexis Pike, Ellen Rennard, Suzanne Revy, Christina Seely, Dustin Shum, Charlie Simokaitis, Rebecca Sittler, Aline Smithson, Will Steacy, Barry Stone, Lex Thompson, and Daniel Traub.

Image: Dustin Shum, Chengan, 2006 長安，2006, from the series "it isnae disney!"

Rare photograph of a rainbow's end

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...

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

You have 2 days left to be exposed

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 images to a cd and gather your materials! If you join online and don't have a card, don't worry, just make a note of it, we check everyone. Run, don't walk to the post office. (Not that I am encouraging procrastination, but you can find the branch that is open til the wee hours online for that coveted postmark).

The juror this year is Russel Hart, Executive Editor at American Photo magazine and Editor of American Photo On Campus. This year, he will be on the jury of AP's "Emerging Artist" and "Student Portfolio" showcases.

Not only that, but all of us jurors are a part of a secret society (just kidding), but understand that we do talk to each other and recommend artists to each other. Who knows what this might lead to? Not only that, but gathering up a handful of juried show wins at places like the PRC and its other kindred spirits speaks volumes on your resume. A good investment, to be sure.

Read about the submission details and get the required entry form as a PDF here. See pics of last year's show here. Now, git!

ABOVE: An installation shot from EXPOSURE 2008

Rush to the Rose

Rose Art Museum to close

Brandeis to sell school's art collection

By Geoff Edgers and Peter Schworm - Boston Globe Staff
January 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 here. And more here and even more here. And more from the Globe again here and here.

UPDATE:
A must-read. Modern Art Notes Q&A with Michael Rush, Rose Art Museum Director. It offers a whole new perspective...

Petition here.

Polaroid...possible?

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 sure to stick with it. The images are amazing; this duo is the bee's knees!

Vote vote vote! for the Boston Art Awards

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 a couple categories (Best reflection of our local community, Big idea show, and Local curator of locally made art), but of course participation is what counts. It's good for you and good for the community.

Hurry, though, you have only until next Friday, January 23rd at 6pm. Now, go vote!

Witness a whole year in 40 seconds

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 manually as stills using his Canon from the same location. After converting to HDR, he used photoshop to layer them into a stack (so they would all line up exactly), cropped, and then pulled them into final cut pro. Eirik's blog is quite great and has some other interesting photo tech stuff, so I encourage those who lean towards social media, internet, blogs, etc. to check it out - this is you DK!

Time has been on my mind as of late (see my show Keeping Time), as has landscape (see New England Survey). Although on a more vernacular level, this video idea certainly also recalls Jem Southam's work as well as Boston's own Karl Baden (who has been photographing himself for over 20 years). Southam's work was on view at the Davis Museum this past year (you can read a great interview with him here) and Baden's entire "Every Day" project was on display at Howard Yezerski's in 2007. In the latter, contact prints were for sale for $10 on a first-come, first-served basis. I bought three.

Hopefully 2009 won't go as fast as the above. Enjoy!

Nominate Nominate Nominate!

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 venue using a three letter acronym that starts with a P and ends with a C, it would be much appreciated!) Either way, it's just good to get involved and support our local arts community. I just submitted mine and it was fun!

In order to jog your memory of Boston area exhibitions and events from the last year, browse the following Spring and Fall 2008 previews from the Phoenix as well as scroll through a whole year of Randi Hopkins's picks.

Nominations are accepted via posting in the comments or via email. Instructions are at this link as well as a partial list of those submitted so far.

Put your thinking cap on and ponder the below categories:

When making nominations, please list name of artist or curator and place and date of exhibit. Also, some broad categories to consider: favorite local artist, local curator, local show, new media, photography, conceptually-driven installation/performance (including video thereof), favorite gallery show, favorite school show, favorite museum show, favorite historical show, favorite contemporary show, best survey/retrospective, favorite solo show, favorite group show, favorite public art (or best non-exhibition space project), favorite on-line project, favorite outdoors project, favorite art book/publication.

Mappy Nude Rear!

In a reprise of a few years ago, I present you with 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." The newest creation is pictured above.

You can find out more info and purchase a set of postcards here. Tim is the co-founder of www.photobooth.net, which we featured in the PRC's 30th anniversary exhibition along with Tim's own photobooth art. Tim was nominated by our local fav Henry Horenstein. We had an awesome time when Tim visited, as you can well imagine.

From www.fullchordpress.com

Chocolate letters for all and to all a good night

Every year my Aunt gets our whole family chocolate letters for Christmas. Since the closing of the Dutch shop in Rochester, they have been harder and harder to find.

Chocolate letters are a Dutch tradition (my mom's maiden name is Van Hooydonk and my great grandparents came over from Holland) and are associated with Sinterklaas. Pictured is an an example of a contemporary chocolate letter from Droste as well as a depiction in a 17th century still-life painting.

Below is the definition from wikipedia, but you can read much more at the Saint Nicolas Center or if you know Dutch, at chocolateletter.net. Apparently, I ought to look to www.chocolatelettershop.com next year to stock up!

Happy holidays all!

Celebrants of the Sinterklaas celebration are traditionally given their initials (or occasionally the neutral letter S (for Sinterklaas) or P (for Zwarte Piet) made out of chocolate. Various sizes, types and flavours are available.

In order to use the same amount of chocolate for each letter the manufacturer varies the thickness or the depth of the grooves in the letter. This way one letter is not favoured over another, for example the W, or the M over the I or the J. An often used typeface is Egyptienne.

Flickr image above from here
Painting above is from here. Still life with Letter Pastries, Peter Binoit, ca. 1615, Museum Amstelkring on loan from the Groninger Museum Photo: C Myers (click for a close up)

PRC Landscape show is bright spot

The intrepid Greg Cook of the The New England Journal of Aesthetic Reseach cited my PRC exhibition New England Survey in his year-end review in this week's Boston Phoenix, "Year in Art: Beyond the Gloom."

Under the heading "A sense of where you are," he writes:

New England Survey at the Photographic Resource Center offered ravishing photos of this region's landscape that reminded us why we return again and again to our outdoors to find our roots, to find solace, to find awe.

Thanks Greg! NES just closed at Harvard's Fruitlands Museum, but you can still visit it online here.

Be sure to also check out Greg's call for nominations for the first annual Boston Art Awards. Likely initiated in part to make up for the AICA award hiatus, Greg has valiantly taken up the torch.

Click here to read more about the Awards and nominate your favorite [insert below here]....

"Also, some broad categories to consider: favorite local artist, local curator, local show, new media, photography, conceptually-driven installation/performance (including video thereof), favorite gallery show, favorite school show, favorite museum show, favorite historical show, favorite contemporary show, best survey/retrospective, favorite solo show, favorite group show, favorite public art (or best non-exhibition space project), favorite on-line project, favorite outdoors project, favorite art book/publication."

Holiday cookies gone bad

It's a crazy snowy, blustery weekend in New England. In honor of my previous post, Amy Elkins's fantastic last couple of holiday card posts (here and here), and the ever-fun blog Cake Wrecks, I did a a little flickr searching for "bad holiday cookies" or "ugly christmas cookies."

Below are the results of my search, with links to the original photos. I decided to cull only ones that the authors admitted were bad or ugly themselves. I think some of these, preserved of course, could be contenders for the Museum of Bad Art, now with a second outpost in the basement of the Somerville Theatre.

Happy snow day!

Thanks to Merfam, Steveningen, and Tammi Marie