Waste Land

Here’s a link to Waste Land the absolutely fantastic documentary on Vik Muniz we watched in Photo II & III on Oct 21st.  The film is available instantly on Netflix.

PSA: Advice from Ira Glass

 

First, read the quote above, and take some time to process it with some humility.

Secondly, if you don’t already know, Ira Glass is a genius, and creator & host of This American Life, a weekly NPR radio show that features long-form stories centered around a theme.  I am a long time fan of the show.  It’s a great treatment for artist block.  Locally you can listen on 90.3 WCPN on Sundays at 11am, or on TAL podcast.  Here’s a nice gateway episode called Blame it on Art to get you hooked and on to the harder stuff.

Next, if you like what your hear, check out NPR’s Radio Lab.  Hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich do a compelling job of uniting arts and science in a completely engaging and innovate way.

Finally, when you are in a position to do so, support your local NPR station and get a cool tote bag or coffee mug to show you like smart, creative stuff.

The Vindicator Needs Photographers (among others)

Visit The Vindicator’s Facebook page.

 

Hank Willis Thomas in Cleveland

Slack Power from Unbranded, 2006. Digital chromogenic print; 47 x 34 1/4 in.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Oct 20,2013 – Mar 9, 2014
Unbranded: Reflections in Black Corporate America, 1968-2008

Transformer Station, Dec 14, 2013 – Mar 8, 2014
Question Bridge: Black Males and other works

Back in January of 2012 I heard Hank Willis Thomas speak about his work at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Thomas was one of the best artist-speakers I’ve ever had the privilege of hearing. And now he’s coming back for two exhibitions, a lecture and other events. I strongly encourage you to view the exhibitions, hear him speak, and participate in the events. Fantastic stuff. See below for more details (download the brochure: Hank Willis Thomas CMA TS).

“Hank Willis Thomas is one of the most thoughtful, provocative young American artists of our time.  Working in photography and transmedia, he has “branded our collective memory with his studding and evocative imagery…Thomas reveals a cultural treachery of images far beyond Magritte’s purview.” -Andrew Hibbard, Duke University Chronicle

Scarred Chest from Branded, 2004. Digital chromogenic print, Lambda; 60 x 40 in.

The Cleveland Museum of Art’s photography gallery features all 82 works in Thomas’s series Unbranded: Reflections in Black Corporate America, 1968–2008. The Transformer Station hosts the video installation Question Bridge: Black Males, selections from the series Branded and Strange Fruit; the powerful video Winter in America; and new works. The Truth Booth, a traveling inflatable recording studio, will also be shown at locations around Cleveland.

ARTIST IN PERSON
Saturday, February 1, 2:00 p.m. Recital Hall, CMA.

The artist discusses his latest work and collaborative projects. $15. Thanks in part to support from Nesnadny + Schwartz, admission is free for CMA members and students (with ID at ticket center).

DISCUSSIONS: How Advertising Sold Race
Wednesday, October 30, 7:00 p.m. Photography Gallery, CMA.
Barbara Tannenbaum discusses Thomas’s altered advertisements with former advertising executive Fred Bidwell.

Flash Perspectives: Hank Willis Thomas
Thursday, February 6, 7:00 p.m. Transformer Station.

Three different perspectives, ten minutes each, on the work of Hank Willis Thomas. Blueprint Roundtables Leaders of various ages from Cleveland’s African American community discuss what it means to be a black male. These discussions are staged in connection with the video installation Question Bridge: Black Males, on view at the Transformer Station. Visit www.clevelandart.org for Roundtable dates and locations.

AROUND TOWN

In Search of the Truth (The Truth Booth) created by Ryan Alexiev, Jim Ricks, and Hank Willis Thom- as, is a portable, inflatable cartoon speech bubble with the word TRUTH on the side that records responses to the statement, “The truth is. . . . ” The Truth Booth will pop up around Cleveland during the exhibition.

Visit clevelandart.org/CMAtruthbooth or follow #CMAtruthbooth to find out more.

 

Case Reserve Review Submissions

Case Reserve Review is the student-run literary magazine at Case Western University. They publish poetry, prose, and analog/digital photography. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO TO CWRU TO SUBMIT. Submission is open to ALL UNDERGRADUATES in the United States and Grads at Case, CIA, and CIM.

Past students have had good luck with this exciting opportunity Please consider putting your nose to the grindstone (is that the saying?) and submitting. Check out some past successes from CSU Photo.

Submissions are free. For detailed instruction on how to submit your work, visit: casereservereview.org/submission

 

LaToya Ruby Frazier on Braddock, PA and Family

LaToya Ruby Frazier uses the conventions of social documentary and portraiture to expose untold stories of post-industrial decline in the United States. With her series The Notion of Family, Frazier presents images of herself and family members, with particular emphasis of collaborative portraits created with her mother and grandmother, in their hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania. Formerly a centre of steel production, the town is now in economic decline.

Frazier photographs psychological portraits of three generations of women who have been affected by adverse social and economic circumstances yet share deep and complex ties. Frazier portrays herself, her mother and her grandmother as one, conveying rich emotions both through their faces and bodies and through images of objects in their home. The photographs range from unforgiving and sombre to quietly tender. With her series Campaign for Braddock Hospital (Save Our Community Hospital), Frazier juxtaposes images of a Levi’s advertising campaign branding Braddock as a “new frontier” with photographs of her local community protesting the recent closing of the town’s only hospital and employer. See LaToya’ discuss her work work here.

Charlotte Dumas Presents to CSU Photo Students

Charlotte Dumas talks about her work to Cleveland Museum of Art’s Friends of Photography and four CSU Photo students (not shown).

Last week four CSU Photo students, Ann Scott, Lexy Washburn, Jessie Wagner and Laurie Klasa, had the opportunity to attend a talk by Charlotte Dumas. Dumas is a NYC/ Rotterdam-based artist whose photographs of animals convey a sense of personality. The event was held at the Society for Photographic Education‘s (SPE) national headquarters here in Cleveland. Afterwards we had an intimate dinner with the artist and Friends of Photography members at #1 Pho (yum).

You can participate in future CMA  Friends of Photography events by becoming a member.  Students get a discounted membership of $75. FOP is dedicated to the promotion of collecting photography, and raising funds for purchasing works for the museum. They have regular members-only events that include artists talks at members’ homes. FOP is made up of area collectors, art professionals, educators, enthusiasts and students. The next scheduled events include a photo share/potluck and an event with Hank Willis Thomas.  They are a really nice group of folks to get to know. Check out my response after my first event here: CSU Photo meets CMA Friends of Photography.

Photography and Video Exchange

The Exchange Blog is an evolving concept and a virtual space to exchange your work with your peers at other universities to receive feedback on your images/projects from more than your classmates. If you have an idea that can improve this blog – this is for the students participating – email Adriane Little whose email address is below in the posting instructions or post a comment to this post.

Send an email to Adriane Little at photographyexchange@gmail.com with the information requested

For Photographs
• The email subject field should have your school’s name and photo exchange so that I know it is not junk mail and will be tagged with the correct school – example: WMU Photo Exchange

Inside the email:

• Your First and Last Name
• The class you are taking – example ART 210: Digital Photography
• Medium – examples: silver print, digital print, installation still
• Size of the actual/physical image
• If image is in a series – how many images are there in total
• Optional – 100 word max statement about the work which will help to start a discussion about your image(s)
• website address if you have a personal website, flicker link, blog address etc that may contain more images
• Attach a maximum 2 images from the same series (4 per semester)
• Adjust image size to 418 pixels on longest side at 72 dpi
• Then use the save for the web function to prepare the image for the web – jpg
• Make sure that the image is under 100k so that the page loads quickly.

CSU Photo’s last upload was from Ryan up over a year ago.

Please note that due to an increase in the number of participating schools, at this time they will post a maximum of 2 images per posts and 2 posts a semester per student (4 images total for the semester) and 2 videos per semester. Your enthusiasm is appreciated. If you have work on a website, flickr etc we will be happy to add your address to the link section on the left. For more visit the instructions page.

Cleveland Photographer in F-Stop Magazine

Yes, thank you eagle-eyed blog readers. It is in fact yours truly, Mark Slankard. F-Stop Magazine is an online photography magazine featuring contemporary photography from established and emerging photographers from around the world. Each issue has a theme or an idea that the unites the photographs to create a dynamic dialogue among the artists, founded in 2003 and published online, bi-monthly.

I was excited to see that not only did they include several of my images in their Cities group exhibition and an interview, but they also used my image for the magazine cover (above). Please check it out. I give a few shout out to some Cleveland photography institutions, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Transformer Station, and Cleveland Print Room.