Michelle Ward’s Spotlight Work Featured in Scene

Michelle Ward’s attention grabbing work, “In this town, Murder is a Form of Entertainment.

Check out what Cleveland Scene magazine has to say about Michelle Ward’s piece in Spotlight: Emerging Photographers at the Cleveland Print Room:

Michelle Ward similarly combines technical proficiency with an evocative, story-like tableaux, though her narrative’s direction and symbolism is not as clear. The atmosphere of her “In this town, Murder is a Form of Entertainment” is noir, saturated in eveningwear, night, and hidden violence. But, adding another layer of intrigue, darkness has come to the suburbs. A woman lies with the open-eyed blankness of death on a kitchen floor. The victim’s costume, a silky blue dress and string of pearls, invoke idealized mid-century domesticity. No wounds or splashes of poison hint at her murder; only her sightless gaze, unnatural pose, and eerie lighting announce her demise.

Her body is lit unevenly in faint silver. Some of the folds of her dress are soaked in black, while the goose bumps on her pale calves stand exposed in their whiteness. Above, dim yellow lights illuminate the kitchen walls just below the ceiling; they fall on decorative plates, painted with yellow chicks and children on a seesaw. (The reaper, it appears, does not fear kitsch.) Ward’s filling of a more-or-less vertical space with two different levels and colors of light is impressive, and contributes to the death scene’s sense of discord…  (read the full article here)

The article, Shining Bright also features the work of CIA students Jamee Crusan and Troy Huffman. Here are some other images from the exhibition that feature CSU photo students.

Opening Reception for Spotlight: Emerging Photographers.

Michelle Ward with another piece at Spotlight at Cleveland Print Room.

Yiyun Chen with his work at Cleveland Print Room’s Spotlight exhibition.

One of Matt Wolosz’s abstract photographs included in Spotlight at CPR.

Ryan Upp’s work featured in Spotlight.

Spotlight: Emerging Photographers is on view through June 30th.  For more information on the work by CSU photo students, click on the links below:
Michelle artist statement
Chen artist statement
Matt artist statement
Ryan artist statement

For more background on Spotlight: Emerging Photographers troll the depths that are CSU photo.

Todd Hido in the Plain Dealer

 

Todd Hido, a widely respected fine-art photographer based in Oakland, Calif., whose work is eagerly sought by magazine editors, leading museums and private collectors, was a happy guy last week at the new Transformer Station gallery in Ohio City… Read Steven Litt’s review on cleveland.com.

 

Todd Hido’s Cleveland Show in PDN

…His new exhibition and book, “Excerpts from Silver Meadows,” which is showing at the newly opened Transformer Station in Cleveland and was recently published by Nazraeli Press, is a semi-autobiographical story of “a loose, fictitious place based on inadequate memory,” Hido says. It’s the story of a fallen suburb, after generations have come and gone, a “psychological take,” Hido says, on “those things that exist and prevail in modern America.”

The book can also be viewed as a story about Hido’s work as an artist until now, about the images and details that fill in the before and after portions of the narratives he’s alluded to in his photographs of house exteriors at night, of foreclosed homes and grimy motels, of women who appear to exist at the margins of society…

Read the review on PDN’s website.

Great exhibition, great book. Look, I bought one (the book, not the exhibition). I even got it signed by Mr. Hido.

Student Photo Contest – Lighting

Todd Hido @ the Transformer Station

Todd Hido, Excerpts from Silver Meadows
Transformer Station (website)

Public Opening:  May 24, 7:00 pm
Gallery Talk: May 25, 3:00 pm

The Transformer Station is pleased to present the first museum showing of Excerpts from Silver Meadows, the latest work by Todd Hido, one of the world’s most recognized and influential photographic artists. Although Hido lives and works in California, he was born and raised in Kent, Ohio. Silver Meadows is the name of the neighborhood that Hido grew up in and this work has a strong auto-biographical undercurrent. This show is not a collection of individual photographs, but rather a world created through a sequence of images that are almost cinematic in scope and is inspired by both by Film Noir and breaking news. A story told through brooding landscapes, dangerous but vulnerable women and lonely homes, Silver Meadows is a mixture of dark memory and hard truth.

Private Preview Dinner:  May 23, 6:00 pm 
Tickets available on-line or call 216-938-5429 for reservations

For more information about these events, visit the Transformer Station website.

Spotlight @ Cleveland Print Room

Spotlight: Emerging Photographers
Cleveland Print Room
Opening Reception: May 17, 5-9pm

An exhibition of photographic work by Cleveland’s next generation of artists. Spotlight will feature work by advanced students from Cleveland State University, Cleveland Institute of Art, Tri-C, and Kent State University.

CSU Photo students featured are Yiyun Chen, Ryan Upp, Michelle Ward, and Matt Wolosz.

Check out the Spotlight Facebook event page.
Visit Cleveland Print Room’s website
Download the press release:
spotlight-emergingphotographerspressrelease

CSU Photo Students Featured at Cleveland Print Room

…

Cleveland Print Room — a community darkroom, education center, studio workspace and gallery in the ArtCraft Building in downtown Cleveland will show work from students of Northeast Ohio area institutions of higher education from May 17 through June 30.

With nearly two ­dozen photographers represented, the showcased work focuses on the ascending young photographic talent coming from Tri-­C, Kent State University, Cleveland State University, and Cleveland Institute of Art. SPOTLIGHT furthers CPR’s goal of highlighting dynamic new photographic work coming from the rich artistic environment of Northeast Ohio’s educational institutions.

The show is curated by Nancy McEntee, professor of photography and chair of the Photography & Video Department at the Cleveland Institute of Art; Lori Kella, assistant professor, Kent State University, School of Art; Mark Slankard, associate professor of the Photography department at Cleveland State University; and Jonathan Wayne, associate professor and chair of the Photography department at Tri­-C.

The work was chosen from among the faculty members’ top students in their photography programs and classes.

CSU Photo students featured are Yiyun Chen, Ryan Upp, Michelle Ward, and Matt Wolosz.

Check out the Spotlight Facebook event page.
Visit Cleveland Print Room’s website
Download the press release: spotlight-emergingphotographerspressrelease

Ryan Upp Art Exhibition

Ryan Upp
Thursday, May 30 @ 8pm
The Avenue Tap House, 18206 Detroit Ave, Lakewood (map)

Ryan Upp, CSU Photo major, also works in other media. Check out this show of his mixed media work this month.

RAW:Cleveland visual artist Ryan Upp’s incredible mixed-media paintings combine spray paint, colored pencil, and gold-leafing to create stunning depictions of females introduced in biblical stories and other manuscripts.

“I find inspiration in antique toys, found objects on the forest floor, and in the lyrics of poetry. I often take mundane domestic objects, and depict them as whimsical, dream-like, and over-embellished.”

“I utilize a palate of muted colors and a blurry shallow depth of field to obtain a feeling of dreaminess. My most recent work is inspired by female characters from the bible and illuminated manuscripts.”

The one message he aims to achieve in his work?

“Be like little children,” says Upp.

“Children have such expansive imaginations and they aren’t influenced by others opinions. They live in the present moment and their creations are genuine.”

VIEW MORE OF HIS WORK AT: http://www.ryanupp.com 

See his work on display at RAW:CLEVELAND PRESENTS EXPRESSIONS!

THURSDAY MAY 30  |  8PM  |  THE AVENUE  |  18206 DETROIT AVE  |  LAKEWOOD  |

Western Reserve Open Photography Competition

Image courtesy of Stuart Pearl

The Artists Archives of the Western Reserve (AAWR) announces its first annual Western Reserve Open Photography Competition to be held at the Beachwood Branch of the Cuyahoga County Library, opening on November 1, 2013.

For complete information, including uploading instructions, download the prospectus:
AA Photo Competition flyer final 5-1-13

Submission Information

The AAWR invites photographers working in all mediums, styles and schools of thought to participate and submit images using any photo- graphic process (silver gelatin, digital print, alternative process, etc.) Ex- perimental and mixed techniques are welcome. Only 2-dimensional work is eligible. Submissions may be made on-line at the Artist Archives web- site at http://www.artistsarchives.org.

Note: All prints must be professionally framed and wired ready for hang- ing. The AAWR retains the right to refuse any work not presented in a professional manner. Framed prints are limited to 20 x 24 inches.

Eligibility

The Call for Entries is open to both amateur and professional photographers.

Entry Fee

The entry fee is $25 for the first 3 images. Up to 3 additional images may be submitted at $5 per image.

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 2nd, 10:00 AM. A program by Show Judge Barbara Tannenbaum will be followed by the Awards Presentation.

Awards will be presented in five categories:

Best in Show: $350 Best Black and White: $150 Best Color: $150 Director’s Award: $150 People’s Choice: $150

The People’s Choice Award will be based on popular vote taken the morning of the opening reception. Come early and vote for your favorite photograph.

ALL subject matter must be appropriate for PUBLIC VIEWIING.

Judge Barbara Tannenbaum:

Dr. Barbara Tannenbaum joined the Cleveland Museum of Art as curator of photog- raphy in 2011 after a distinguished career at the Akron Art Museum. For 26 years she headed that institution’s curatorial arena. As a curator she has organized over 80 exhi- bitions, more than half focusing on photography and video.

For complete information, including uploading instructions, download the prospectus:
AA Photo Competition flyer final 5-1-13