Thank you. William. fotoart1@cox.net
8.31.2009
EXHIBITION OPP.
Looking for coherent and complete bodies of photographic work ready for exhibition (approx. 12-20 works) in an alternative exhibition space (food-wine retailer/bistro), which offers great visibility and high traffic. There are no themes or requirements other than, the work be framed and ready to hang. Hang sometime in September for 45-90 days. Please send me an email with short description of the work and 3-5 examples.
8.30.2009
Blake Haney's exhibit: "Wonder Around"
Blake's show opens on Sat., Sept. 5 and runs through the month at the Canary Gallery. It's all film, shot with Mamiya 645 and Holga cameras in New Orleans, New York and Brazil.
"Portrait(s)" closing reception for Zack Smith
CANARY Gallery is giving the New Orleans public one more opportunity to view Zack Smith's newest portrait show, Portrait(s) - on Tues., Sept. 1, 6p-8p. Cocktails will be served.The show features 4x5 portraits of artists that played the Preservation Hall Tent at the 2008 Voodoo Music Experience, and some of his recently shot portraits, such as Deacon John, Alec Ounsworth (of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), Ben Jaffe (Preservation Hall), and The Noisician Coalition.
Zack Smith is a photographer, musician, and educator living and creating in New Orleans. He is the curator of CANARY Gallery, 329 Julia St., in New Orleans, LA.
NOPA Gallery Facelift - We Need Furniture!
Members & Friends of NOPA,
We are sprucing up the gallery in preparation for PhotoNOLA in December, and we are looking for a few pieces of nice furniture.
We need:
1. Love-seat or small sofa (needs to be in good shape and match our soon-to-be-newly-painted-floor color: rusty-red)
2. Two small end-tables
3. Coffee table
4. An 8x10 area rug (again, needs to match rusty-red)
5. Low wooden bookshelves, that could possibly double as seating
6. Light-blocking curtains or window treatments (for use during slideshows, movies)
Please contact Michelle at gallery@neworleansphotoalliance.org if you have items to donate!
We are sprucing up the gallery in preparation for PhotoNOLA in December, and we are looking for a few pieces of nice furniture.
We need:
1. Love-seat or small sofa (needs to be in good shape and match our soon-to-be-newly-painted-floor color: rusty-red)
2. Two small end-tables
3. Coffee table
4. An 8x10 area rug (again, needs to match rusty-red)
5. Low wooden bookshelves, that could possibly double as seating
6. Light-blocking curtains or window treatments (for use during slideshows, movies)
Please contact Michelle at gallery@neworleansphotoalliance.org if you have items to donate!
8.29.2009
PEOPLE * LOVE * PHOTOS
The folks who brought us a documentary about adolescent photographer Jock Sturges (aired on the european TV-channel ARTE in July, 2009) have a new film, PEOPLE * LOVE * PHOTOS, available on DVD.
Their words: "This is a film about photography and family life, sexuality and love. It looks at different human role models, whether in sexual releationships or in family life ... filmmaker Christian Klinger journeys into the life and work of Tanyth Berkeley, Ashley MacLean, Traci Matlock and Elinor Carucci."
The trailer is worth a look. The DVD costs $28.
For info, contact Rosalyn Becker, Head of Communication, amadelio film Ltd. in London.
Sandra Clark presents "JuJu"
Join Sandra Russell Clark for the opening reception of her new exhibit, JuJu, at the Collins C. Diboll Art Gallery (4th floor of the Monroe Library at Loyola University), Thur., Sept. 10, 5-8pm.
The exhibit runs Sept 10 - Oct 23. For more info, call the library, 504.864.7248.
Frank Relle in Color Magazine
Frank was the cover subject for the Artist Spotlight in the July-August issue of Color Magazine.
He spent some time in South America recently, and says we'll get to see some of those shots soon: "I went to Peru to watch the Macaws eat clay on the Rio Tambopata. I highly recommend this excursion. My pictures of these subjects are developing slowly. Now it is time to get back to work. I will soon update my website and share some long overdue new work. Please check out the news below. I hope you all are feeling good. Thank you for following my work."
He is also teaching intro photography classes. For info on that, email him.
8.28.2009
Alec Soth to speak at LSU Wednesday, September 2nd
BATON ROUGE – The LSU College of Art + Design will present photographer Alec Soth Wednesday, Sept. 2, as part of the college’s Distinguished Lecture Series.
The lecture is free, open to the public and will be held in Room 103 of the LSU Design Building at 5 p.m.
Born and based in Minneapolis, Minn., Soth has received several major fellowships from the Bush, McKnight and Jerome Foundations and was awarded the 2003 Santa Fe Prize for Photography. He currently holds the title of Nadine Carter Russell Endowed Chair in the LSU School of Art.
Soth’s work is represented in major public and private collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Soth’s photographs have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the 2004 Whitney and S?o Paulo Biennials. His first monograph, “Sleeping by the Mississippi,” was published by Steidl in 2004 to critical acclaim. Since then, Soth has published “NIAGARA” (2006), “Fashion Magazine” (2007), “Dog Days, Bogotá” (2007) and “The Last Days of W” (2008). Soth is represented by Gagosian Gallery in New York, Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis and is a member of Magnum Photos.
For more information on Alec Soth, visit www.alecsoth.com.
This presentation of the LSU College of Art + Design Distinguished Lecture Series is sponsored by a generous endowment by the Nadine Carter Russell Chair and the School of Art.
To learn more about the LSU College of Art + Design, visit www.design.lsu.edu or by contact Debra Langlois at 225-578-5868 or e-mail dlanglo@lsu.edu.
8.26.2009
2009 PhotoNOLA Website Is Now Online!
PhotoNOLA is an annual celebration of photography in New Orleans, coordinated by the New Orleans Photo Alliance in partnership with galleries, museums and photographers citywide. December 2009 marks the fourth annual festival. Most of the scheduled events will take place from Dec 3-13, with broad ranging photography exhibitions on display throughout the month of December.
PhotoNOLA festivities will begin with a series of French Quarter openings on Dec 3. We are thrilled to be hosting our first Slideluck Potshow on Friday, Dec 4 at Studio 527. Saturday Dec 5 will be filled with educational offerings, art openings and an after party at The Big Top featuring Ballzack.
The PhotoGALA Benefit Party & Auction on Thursday, Dec. 10 at the New Orleans Museum of Art is not to be missed. An Education Day on Dec 11 will feature a Blurb Self-Publishing seminar followed by a Mary Virginia Swanson lecture, and will wrap with a slideshow presentation by Lauren Greenfield, sponsored by Canon. Portfolio Reviews with a national cast of curators, editors and gallerists will take place December 12 & 13. The Saturday evening PhotoWALK featuring review participants will offer the public a peek at 60 rising photographers from across the nation.
Exhibitions will feature work by Susan Burnstine, Debbie Fleming Caffery, William Greiner, David Halliday, Louviere + Vanessa, Robert Polidori, Jonathan Traviesa, Alvaro Villela, POYi’s “Visions of Excellence,” Sarah Wilson and many others. Gallery talks, art openings, workshops, book signings, lectures and panel discussions are also included in the lineup.
Please join us to celebrate the art of photography, New Orleans style!
Portfolio Review registration opens on Tuesday, September 1, at 10 an Central Time.
8.25.2009
Lesley Wells is exhibiting her show, "Facade," at Julie Neill Designs, 3908 Magazine St., as of Aug. 22.
Lesley has a background in architecture and is interested in the relationship between buildings and their environments. She says: "I see a confluence between the planned geometric forms of architecture and the effects of nature and human interaction. For most of us, commonplace buildings tend to fade into the background of our daily routine. I derive satisfaction in finding the neglected in our daily experience and capturing its mundane elegance."
8.24.2009
The Spirit World: Deadline is Midnight!
The New Orleans Photo Alliance is seeking photography-based works that explore the theme of spirits and the spiritual world during the season of Halloween and All Saints Day. Submissions may include but are not limited to: documentary, fine art, and conceptual images that depict or evoke the spiritual, supernatural and unearthly; including places, people and rituals here on earth which relate to the topic. The show will be juried by Russell Joslin, editor and publisher of Shots Magazine.
Selected entries will be exhibited in the New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery during the months of October and November 2009. They will also be featured and archived in the Alliance’s online gallery and considered for publication in the New Orleans Photo Alliance Best of 2009 Photo Annual. In addition, the juror will award cash prizes.
More information here: http://neworleansphotoalliance.org/callEntry.php
Selected entries will be exhibited in the New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery during the months of October and November 2009. They will also be featured and archived in the Alliance’s online gallery and considered for publication in the New Orleans Photo Alliance Best of 2009 Photo Annual. In addition, the juror will award cash prizes.
More information here: http://neworleansphotoalliance.org/callEntry.php
8.19.2009
Childhood: An International Photo Exhibition
Juried by Jamie Lee Curtis.
http://www.texasphoto.org/TPS-Children.html
Amateur and professional photographers are invited to submit digital files of their color and black and white works to the Texas Photographic Society (TPS) by October 2, 2009 for Childhood: An International Photo Exhibition. The Exhibition will open at the Dougherty Art Center in Austin, TX in January 2010 and then tour the state of Texas for one year. A color catalogue of the exhibition will be printed and sent to all entrants, select museum curators and photography magazines. Accepted entrants receive three catalogues.
Juror's Statement
Childhood is fleeting – yet sometimes, in a fraction of a second, photographers can capture its essence: joy, pain, play, boredom, frustration, elation. As an author of children's books I have tried to capture what it feels like to be a child - the good and the bad - and to stimulate a dialogue between children and parents regarding the issues raised in the book. I hope to see creative work that captures childhood's many guises.
About the Juror
Jamie Lee Curtis is a film actress with starring roles in such acclaimed films as Freaky Friday, True Lies, Trading Places and A Fish Called Wanda. In television, Ms. Curtis co-starred opposite Richard Lewis in the sitcom Anything But Love, as well as the title role in TNT’s adaptation of Wendy Wasserstein’s play, The Heidi Chronicles, and the CBS telefilm, Nicholas’ Gift.
Ms. Curtis is also an author of best-selling children’s books with net sales of all editions exceeding 4.6 million units. In addition to her eighth book, BIG WORDS for Little People which was released in September, 2008 and debuted as #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List, she is the author of Is There Really A Human Race?, It’s Hard To Be Five, Learning How To Work My Control Panel, I’m Gonna Like Me, Letting Off A Little Self Esteem, Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery, Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day, Tell Me Again About The Night I Was Born, and When I Was Little, A Four-Year-Old’s Memoir of Her Youth.
Jessica Lange exhibit
An Art for Art's Sake event: the Gallery for Fine Photography presents Jessica Lange's photographs, Sat, Oct 3. More events to be connected with the show--a book signing, reception for the artist and a panel discussion at the Ogden Museum. You can see some of her exhibit online currently via the Rose Gallery in Santa Monica.
Contact: Edward Hébert
Photomedia Center
We received a PDF from these folks about current events. I don't see something specific for NOPA. But it's worth a look--they've got a Holga contest coming up, deadline Nov 7 @ just $1 per submission; and there are some neat images by James Arnold. More info: info@photomediacenter.org
KIDS IN FOCUS Exhibition and Silent Auction
It's a viewing and auction for photographs taken by kids in NO.
The City of New Orleans presents Kids in Focus, an exciting new program designed to capture our City's recovery through the eyes of the children of New Orleans. The goal of Kids in Focus is not only to create an environment that embraces and fosters creativity and individual expression through the art of photography, but also to show them the importance of giving back to their community. Join us to view and purchase Kids in Focus photographs to benefit New Orleans. All funds will be donated to local charities the children have chosen.
Fri, Aug 21, 2009 6 – 8 pm
@ New Orleans African American Museum, 1418 Governor Nicholls Street
RSVP jplonk@mayorofno.com | Julie Plonk | 504-658-4957
The City of New Orleans presents Kids in Focus, an exciting new program designed to capture our City's recovery through the eyes of the children of New Orleans. The goal of Kids in Focus is not only to create an environment that embraces and fosters creativity and individual expression through the art of photography, but also to show them the importance of giving back to their community. Join us to view and purchase Kids in Focus photographs to benefit New Orleans. All funds will be donated to local charities the children have chosen.
Fri, Aug 21, 2009 6 – 8 pm
@ New Orleans African American Museum, 1418 Governor Nicholls Street
RSVP jplonk@mayorofno.com | Julie Plonk | 504-658-4957
La. Cultural Economy Summit
Luncheon: Fri, Oct 30, 2009, 12:00 – 2:00 pm
Forum: Fri, Oct 30, 2009, 2:00 – 5:00 pm
Louisiana’s Cultural Economy Summit to be held in New Orleans, October 29-30. At The Summit’s Arts-in-Education discussion, “When Art Makes the Grade”, a panel of nationally-known educators will tell of their experiences and give you a roadmap to help create a comprehensive arts program in your school.
There will also be an arts-in-education luncheon at the Bourbon House in the historic French Quarter (included in registration fee) where you can network with other educators and administrators to discuss this creative and imaginative new program in a more intimate setting.
Beginning with the 2010-11 school year, all Louisiana K-8 public schools will be required to embrace an innovative and comprehensive arts program, requiring 60 minutes of instruction in the performing arts and 60 minutes of instruction in the visual arts each week.
Register or call (225) 342-8200.
8.18.2009
"The Struggle For Cool" at Studio 527
Robert Hannant notifies us of his current show, The Struggle For Cool, at Studio 527 on Julia St., open Thur-Sat, 1 - 5pm. There will be a reception and film screening on August 29. Contact the gallery at 504-638-3057.
Debbie Caffery DVD release
ANTHROPY ARTS releases its third installment in The Photographers Series with a DVD featuring Debbie Fleming Caffery, who has been documenting the Louisiana sugar cane harvest, the plight of prostitutes in Mexican brothels, and more recently the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The documentary travels with her through the mud of the sugar cane mills, to the devastated homes of New Orleans’s Ninth Ward, and to the South of France for the Les Rencontres Arles Photography Festival. In the Photo Commentary, she divulges the stories behind some of her most touching images and her creative process.
The DVD is $40, available at anthropyarts.com/caffery/index.php. An article on Caffery will appear in the Fall issue of Aperture.
Her recent book is The Spirit & The Flesh (Radius Books, 2009). gittermangallery.com/html/news.asp
These folks are in New York. For more: 212.734.0868, info@gittermangallery.com, or gittermangallery.com.
International Photography Festival, Aug-Oct in Texas
The FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA-SAFOTO 15th Anniversary International Photography Festival takes place in San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country, Aug 20 - Oct 8, 2009. That graphic above isn't from the event but it was the only related one I could find after ten minutes of searching their site. The blog is worth some clicks, though. I dug out these links from the PDF they sent us:
schedule
fotoseptiembreusa.com/fotoseptiembre-2009.html
exhibitions and events
fotoseptiembreusa.com/pdf/2009-Fotosep-Program.pdf
exhibitions and events QUICK SHEET
fotoseptiembreusa.com/pdf/FOTOSEP-2009-Quick-Sheet.pdf
2009 SAFOTO WEB GALLERIES
fotoseptiembreusa.com/galleries
Photographic documentation of most exhibit openings and events will be posted in the SAFOTO BLOG at fotoseptiembreusa.com/blog. Contact: info@fotoseptiembreusa.com.
Melisa Roberts of the BECA foundation is working on publishing a small New Orleans weekly (print and online) that focuses on progressive, contemporary art + culture in NOLA. Writers and other diverse contributors are key. A launch party for the magazine, 'contemporary NOLA', will take place the evening of October 7, 2009, but we don't have more details on that yet. If you're interested, please check out melissaroberts.typepad.com, also contemporarynola.com, which is the current Beta version of the contributors pages.
Call for entries: war trauma photos
The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) is sponsoring Wounded in Action: An Art Exhibition of Orthopedic Advancements with the partnership of several Orthopedic specialty groups (Society of Military Orthopedic Surgeons, Orthopedic Trauma Association and the Orthopedic Research Society) and is sending out a call for entries for artwork:
www.woundedinactionart.org
This coincides with the 2010 Annual Meeting in New Orleans which will focus on the impact of war injuries, the trauma care orthopedic surgeons provide, and the research advancements that have allowed them to provide life and limb-saving treatments.
They would like to have local artists participate since the exhibit will be held in New Orleans. Artwork entries will be accepted from wounded troops, their families, Orthopedic surgeons, injured civilians, and artist touched by the impact of war. Note that artists need not have been military personnel, surgeons or personally injured in war themselves.
This exhibit will be on display at the E. Morial Convention Center. Submission deadline is October 15, 2009.
For more, contact Kayee Dooley , Coordinator, Public Relations, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, 6300 North River Road, Rosemont, IL 60018 | p 847-384-4035 | f 847-823-7268 | www.aaos.org
8.16.2009
August Programming Committee meeting
All right kids, Summer is over and it's time to get back to work! We've got a lot going on in Programming and need as many enthusiastic, hard-working people as we can muster to get us through the remainder of the year.
The next exhibit is just around the corner and we will need help taking down Caliente and hanging Spirit World. In conjunction with Spirit World we would like to collaborate with the Vampire Film Festival that is moving from L.A. to New Orleans. (http://www.vampirefilmfestival.com/Home.html) We would like to help them put on a block party Saturday night, October 24 in front of our gallery. This will takes lots of coordination and we need someone to help us in that regard.
We also have the next Six Shooters scheduled for October 7 and another for December during PhotoNOLA. We are recruiting an Education Coordinator who will oversee this and other activities but still need ideas on who should be on the panel, etc.
As always, your ideas are most welcome. We are looking for workshops, speakers, etc. that will be of benefit to our membership.
The meeting will be Tuesday, August 18, 7 pm at the Photo Alliance gallery, 1111 St. Mary St. Pizza will be provided; byob. If you have any questions please feel free to email me @ 51Deardorff@gmail.com.
8.13.2009
Sell your used gear
Lakeside Camera Photoworks will be hosting KEH at a HUGE buying event on Saturday, August 15th from 9am to 5pm. KEH will be buying your used photo gear, film and digital, at top market prices. We have raised our "buy" prices on thousands of photographic items. Dig through your closets for that camera gear you're no longer using and cash in.
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8.12.2009
Great Opening Night!
Last Thursday the New Orleans Photo. Alliance had a fantastic turn out at the Caliente opening. Thank you to everyone who made the event come together and to everyone in the community who came out to show their support. The show will be on display until September 19th. The gallery is open Friday from 3-6pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 12-4pm. Come pay us a visit and see some great photography!
8.07.2009
NOPA Open This Saturday! August 8th (6-9)pm
Missed the opening for the Caliente show this past Thursday? Then come stop by this Saturday, August 8th. We'll be open from 6-9pm to help support our neighbors, Bayou Rebirth and New Orleans Dog. They're are hosting an open house starting at 5pm. Bayou Rebirth preserves and restores communities in Southeast Louisiana through hands-on wetlands stewardship projects.
"Bayou Rebirth is committed to broadening our national understanding of the importance of Louisiana’s wetlands and making wetlands restoration a national priority, by transforming visitors from around the country, and Louisiana youth especially, into advocates and agents of change." Their open house will include art raffles, snacks, and of course wine! So come support a great cause and see the Caliente show at the New Orleans Photo. Alliance located at 111 St. Mary. Hope to see you there!
"Bayou Rebirth is committed to broadening our national understanding of the importance of Louisiana’s wetlands and making wetlands restoration a national priority, by transforming visitors from around the country, and Louisiana youth especially, into advocates and agents of change." Their open house will include art raffles, snacks, and of course wine! So come support a great cause and see the Caliente show at the New Orleans Photo. Alliance located at 111 St. Mary. Hope to see you there!
8.06.2009
Call for Entries: Currents 2009
Currents 2009: New Orleans Photo Alliance Members Showcase
Curator: Edward Hébert, Director, A Gallery for Fine Photography
New Orleans Photo Alliance members are invited to submit work for consideration in Currents 2009, which will be on display at the Crescent City Brewhouse during PhotoNOLA. The exhibition will showcase works by up to 15 Alliance members, and will include 5 or more works by each selected photographer.
The opening reception will be held on the kickoff night of the 2009 PhotoNOLA festival, the fourth annual celebration of photography in New Orleans. The exhibition will be promoted on the NOPA and PhotoNOLA websites, and listed in PhotoNOLA brochures and posters.
The Crescent City Brewhouse is a high traffic restaurant and brewpub located in the heart of the French Quarter. The show runs through the Sugar Bowl (Jan 1), and will be seen by thousands, including the patrons of private holiday parties hosted there.
Important: Accepted artists MUST be available to hang their own work on November 30, 8am – Noon, and take it down on January 4, 8am – Noon.
About the Curator:
Edward Hébert serves as Director of A Gallery for Fine Photography (A Gallery), a world-renowned gallery located in New Orleans’ French Quarter. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Hébert's formal arts education began at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of New Orleans in 1986 after which he relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, to pursue painting, drawing and developing color photography (1987-1991). His works have been exhibited in numerous venues in New Orleans for the past eighteen years.
Hébert joined A Gallery in 1993. In his sixteen years there he has imparted his knowledge of art history and the history of photography to gallery patrons, helping to build an extensive client base. Hébert has traveled to represent the gallery at international photography and art fairs such as AIPAD in New York City, Paris Photo and Art Basel in Switzerland. He maintains a constant and current working knowledge of all aspects of the photographic art world. Please visit www.agallery.com for more information about A Gallery, currently in its thirty-sixth year of operation.
Eligibility: Submission is open only to members of the New Orleans Photo Alliance
Submission Fee: $10
Deadline: September 15, 2009.
For guidelines click here.
Curator: Edward Hébert, Director, A Gallery for Fine Photography
New Orleans Photo Alliance members are invited to submit work for consideration in Currents 2009, which will be on display at the Crescent City Brewhouse during PhotoNOLA. The exhibition will showcase works by up to 15 Alliance members, and will include 5 or more works by each selected photographer.
The opening reception will be held on the kickoff night of the 2009 PhotoNOLA festival, the fourth annual celebration of photography in New Orleans. The exhibition will be promoted on the NOPA and PhotoNOLA websites, and listed in PhotoNOLA brochures and posters.
The Crescent City Brewhouse is a high traffic restaurant and brewpub located in the heart of the French Quarter. The show runs through the Sugar Bowl (Jan 1), and will be seen by thousands, including the patrons of private holiday parties hosted there.
Important: Accepted artists MUST be available to hang their own work on November 30, 8am – Noon, and take it down on January 4, 8am – Noon.
About the Curator:
Edward Hébert serves as Director of A Gallery for Fine Photography (A Gallery), a world-renowned gallery located in New Orleans’ French Quarter. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Hébert's formal arts education began at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of New Orleans in 1986 after which he relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, to pursue painting, drawing and developing color photography (1987-1991). His works have been exhibited in numerous venues in New Orleans for the past eighteen years.
Hébert joined A Gallery in 1993. In his sixteen years there he has imparted his knowledge of art history and the history of photography to gallery patrons, helping to build an extensive client base. Hébert has traveled to represent the gallery at international photography and art fairs such as AIPAD in New York City, Paris Photo and Art Basel in Switzerland. He maintains a constant and current working knowledge of all aspects of the photographic art world. Please visit www.agallery.com for more information about A Gallery, currently in its thirty-sixth year of operation.
Eligibility: Submission is open only to members of the New Orleans Photo Alliance
Submission Fee: $10
Deadline: September 15, 2009.
For guidelines click here.
8.04.2009
Interview with Jose Torres-Tama
Caliente/Hot is the latest show at the New Orleans Photo Alliance gallery and we were fortunate to have the show juried by internationally acclaimed writer/visual & performance artist Jose Torres-Tama. Interviewed here by Ann Marie Popko, Jose shares some insights about jurying the show and also informs us about his own work.
1. How do you describe your initial reaction to the pool of submissions for NOPA's Caliente/Hot?
I was on the road performing in Alaska last March when Mark Sindler, President of NOPA, approached me with the idea of being the juror for a show called Caliente/Hot. It was a bit ironic because I was surrounded by a few feet of snow in Anchorage. However, I found the theme intriguing and appropriate for a summer show in New Orleans. When the submissions rolled in, the first files I opened were Dede Lusk’s surreal photos of mannequins in night window displays. They were haunting and seductive. Next, I saw Francisco Aracuate’s sepia-toned horizontal landscapes of collaged urban scenes, and they were well composed and enigmatic. Then, I opened Ana Mejia’s dramatic stills of prisoners and Abdul Aziz’s image of a wounded soldier in the Middle East, and it was evident that the entries were of a high quality, with a diversity of artists responding to the theme.
"El Conflicto Armado/The Armed Conflict" by Ana Mejia
2. You have been involved with visual art for many years...is this the first time you have juried a photography show?
I have lived in New Orleans since 1984, and I have had the privilege of engaging in all manner of art activity on various levels. In ’93 and ‘94, I curated two group exhibitions called Latin Perspectives I & II featuring Latino artists at the Contemporary Arts Center and the now defunct Bienville Gallery respectively. More recently in September of ’07, I organized a show of four New Orleans photographers for a Vanderbilt University exhibit, but this is the first time I have served as a juror. It is an honor because the Photo Alliance has had a number of distinguished jurors for previous exhibits, and NOPA has become an important artist-run organization in post-Katrina New Orleans.
"Seduction" by Dede Lusk
3. The title of this show is bilingual and you often incorporate both Spanish and English words into your performance art...is this why you were attracted to this exhibition?
The hip bilingual strategy was Mark Sindler’s concept, and it attracted me instantly because it seems to reflect a bilingual direction that we should be progressing towards. Everyone in the United States would benefit greatly by speaking at least another language, and Spanish was the first European language spoken in the Americas. Conveniently, we forget that the entire Southwest from Texas to California (including Nevada, Arizona, and Utah) was once part of Northern Mexico. These territories only became part of the Union after the Mexican American War, and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo in 1848. Also, Louisiana was under Spanish rule for four decades from 1763 to 1803, and in New Orleans, the vestiges of its Iberian history are evident through streets names like Galvez, Gayoso, and Perdido, which means lost. City Hall is actually located at 1300 Perdido Street, and it is probably the premiere reason why so little is to be expected by the bureaucrats feigning to lead from this address. Also, New Orleans is one of the most uniquely Latin cities in the country, and it should be at the forefront of dismantling all foreign language fears. Ideally, our city should be tri-lingual, English, Spanish and French.
4. When and how did you start your career as a performance artist?
My studies were in the visual arts and creative writing, but as I was developing my artistic vision, it evolved naturally from traditional drawings and paintings to mixed media works, to installations with live art elements, and to my hybrid brand of performance art, which is informed by movement, rituals, film, soundscapes and exaggerated characters. My first solo exhibit in New Orleans took place at the Bienville Gallery in 1991, and it included large mixed media drawings as part of an installation which explored a variety of political themes such as censorship, gun worship, and the media propaganda of the first Gulf War. During this time, I was also actively involved in the underground spoken word and poetry scene here and eventually debuted my first multimedia solo at the Contemporary Arts Center in 1994 as part of The Live Arts Festival. Also, I performed in the first ever DramaRama event that same year, and served on its artistic steering committee from ’95 to ‘96.
José Torres-Tama, Writer/Visual & Performance Artist
Image from "The Cone of Uncertainty: New Orleans after Katrina"
Image: Pamela Thompson
5. As a successful visual artist, do you have any advice for artists who want to get their work into museums?
My mentor Ben Jones, the renowned African American visual artist, would recommend, “Do the work and then let people know about it.” So, you have to be engaged in making work that excites you while developing a personal and eclectic aesthetic vocabulary. Then, you have to learn how to navigate the monster called the art world, which offers even greater challenges than making the work. Also, artists need the support of institutions and collectors. I have been quite fortunate to have a handful of collectors for my drawings, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art has literally pulled my work from the art closet and thrust it into greater prominence with their support over the past seven years. In performance, the National Performance Network catapulted my work onto the national and international stage in 1994, and since, I have been touring my multimedia solos across the country and across the Atlantic. Most importantly, you have to be committed to your vision and obsessed with making the work, a healthy obsession that is.
6. Do you have a motto or mantra that you follow in your creative life?
Make art that matters to you and your community. Make art that speaks about the unspoken. Make art that seduces with craft and content. I hold steadfast to a belief that artists can serve as the conscience of our times, and I aspire to forge a divine marriage between experimental form and political content, which will hopefully serve as an exemplary artistic imprint of a conscious life.
7. If you weren't a performance artist, what would you be doing?
I would be happy to concentrate on more art making and writing. Since the storm, the one creative act that has kept me sane enough to deal with the lies that have submerged this country for the past eight years has been writing in various forms, essays, poetry, and performance monologues. I have written a number of post-Katrina radio commentaries for NPR’s Latino USA, and they have aired them locally on WWNO. Over the past four years, writing has saved me from deep despair. Recently, I finished a group of short stories called Red Hours Inside Nocturnal New Orleans, which chronicles my life before the storm and the debauchery that is intrinsic to this Babylon by the bayou. If I were not inclined to any artistic expressions, I would probably study languages and travel more with my beautiful little family.
8. What are you currently working on? Any upcoming shows/projects/news?
This spring, I received a Creation Fund award from the National Performance Network for the commissioning of a new solo piece called Aliens, Immigrants & Other Evildoers, which documents the rise in hate crimes against Latinos and the current criminalization of immigrants. I have three commissioning theatre partners, and they are Gala Hispanic Theatre in Washington D.C., MECA in Houston, and the Ashé Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans. Aliens will debut in the fall of 2010, and I am beginning to work on the script. This October during Art for Art’s Sake, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art will debut the catalog for my exhibit called New Orleans Free People of Color & Their Legacy, which opened at the museum last January. This publication was made possible through a generous grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation in New York, and it documents the pastel portraits of Creoles of color that I have developed for the past seven years.
The show is one of the Ogden’s traveling exhibits, and the plan is to tour it to other Louisiana museums and across the South. It is a visual history project that explores the complex racial mixing that occurred in New Orleans, where a free people of color of African, French, and Spanish descent were born into freedom during the slave era. The portraits shed light on prominent Creoles who were engaged as activists in pre-Civil War times. Nowhere else in the slave South did you a have a free people of African descent who were educated, owned property, and were able to contest racial injustices because of their hybrid identity, and the privilege of freedom when others were enslaved.
9. Was there any advantage to jurying a show about heat during the summer in New Orleans?
The summertime heat in New Orleans is hallucinatory, and many of the works in the show thrive on a magical realist vision akin to the peculiarity of our lives in this recovering mini metropolis. I think it makes for an appropriate time to consider organizing a show about heat, and I look forward to seeing all these caliente images together in one room at the NOPA Gallery.
For more information about Jose's work, visit www.torrestama.com
Caliente/Hot runs from August 6 through September
New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery
1111 St. Mary Street, NOLA
www.neworleansphotoalliance.org
1. How do you describe your initial reaction to the pool of submissions for NOPA's Caliente/Hot?
I was on the road performing in Alaska last March when Mark Sindler, President of NOPA, approached me with the idea of being the juror for a show called Caliente/Hot. It was a bit ironic because I was surrounded by a few feet of snow in Anchorage. However, I found the theme intriguing and appropriate for a summer show in New Orleans. When the submissions rolled in, the first files I opened were Dede Lusk’s surreal photos of mannequins in night window displays. They were haunting and seductive. Next, I saw Francisco Aracuate’s sepia-toned horizontal landscapes of collaged urban scenes, and they were well composed and enigmatic. Then, I opened Ana Mejia’s dramatic stills of prisoners and Abdul Aziz’s image of a wounded soldier in the Middle East, and it was evident that the entries were of a high quality, with a diversity of artists responding to the theme.
"El Conflicto Armado/The Armed Conflict" by Ana Mejia2. You have been involved with visual art for many years...is this the first time you have juried a photography show?
I have lived in New Orleans since 1984, and I have had the privilege of engaging in all manner of art activity on various levels. In ’93 and ‘94, I curated two group exhibitions called Latin Perspectives I & II featuring Latino artists at the Contemporary Arts Center and the now defunct Bienville Gallery respectively. More recently in September of ’07, I organized a show of four New Orleans photographers for a Vanderbilt University exhibit, but this is the first time I have served as a juror. It is an honor because the Photo Alliance has had a number of distinguished jurors for previous exhibits, and NOPA has become an important artist-run organization in post-Katrina New Orleans.
"Seduction" by Dede LuskThe hip bilingual strategy was Mark Sindler’s concept, and it attracted me instantly because it seems to reflect a bilingual direction that we should be progressing towards. Everyone in the United States would benefit greatly by speaking at least another language, and Spanish was the first European language spoken in the Americas. Conveniently, we forget that the entire Southwest from Texas to California (including Nevada, Arizona, and Utah) was once part of Northern Mexico. These territories only became part of the Union after the Mexican American War, and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo in 1848. Also, Louisiana was under Spanish rule for four decades from 1763 to 1803, and in New Orleans, the vestiges of its Iberian history are evident through streets names like Galvez, Gayoso, and Perdido, which means lost. City Hall is actually located at 1300 Perdido Street, and it is probably the premiere reason why so little is to be expected by the bureaucrats feigning to lead from this address. Also, New Orleans is one of the most uniquely Latin cities in the country, and it should be at the forefront of dismantling all foreign language fears. Ideally, our city should be tri-lingual, English, Spanish and French.
4. When and how did you start your career as a performance artist?
My studies were in the visual arts and creative writing, but as I was developing my artistic vision, it evolved naturally from traditional drawings and paintings to mixed media works, to installations with live art elements, and to my hybrid brand of performance art, which is informed by movement, rituals, film, soundscapes and exaggerated characters. My first solo exhibit in New Orleans took place at the Bienville Gallery in 1991, and it included large mixed media drawings as part of an installation which explored a variety of political themes such as censorship, gun worship, and the media propaganda of the first Gulf War. During this time, I was also actively involved in the underground spoken word and poetry scene here and eventually debuted my first multimedia solo at the Contemporary Arts Center in 1994 as part of The Live Arts Festival. Also, I performed in the first ever DramaRama event that same year, and served on its artistic steering committee from ’95 to ‘96.
José Torres-Tama, Writer/Visual & Performance ArtistImage from "The Cone of Uncertainty: New Orleans after Katrina"
Image: Pamela Thompson
5. As a successful visual artist, do you have any advice for artists who want to get their work into museums?
My mentor Ben Jones, the renowned African American visual artist, would recommend, “Do the work and then let people know about it.” So, you have to be engaged in making work that excites you while developing a personal and eclectic aesthetic vocabulary. Then, you have to learn how to navigate the monster called the art world, which offers even greater challenges than making the work. Also, artists need the support of institutions and collectors. I have been quite fortunate to have a handful of collectors for my drawings, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art has literally pulled my work from the art closet and thrust it into greater prominence with their support over the past seven years. In performance, the National Performance Network catapulted my work onto the national and international stage in 1994, and since, I have been touring my multimedia solos across the country and across the Atlantic. Most importantly, you have to be committed to your vision and obsessed with making the work, a healthy obsession that is.
6. Do you have a motto or mantra that you follow in your creative life?
Make art that matters to you and your community. Make art that speaks about the unspoken. Make art that seduces with craft and content. I hold steadfast to a belief that artists can serve as the conscience of our times, and I aspire to forge a divine marriage between experimental form and political content, which will hopefully serve as an exemplary artistic imprint of a conscious life.
7. If you weren't a performance artist, what would you be doing?
I would be happy to concentrate on more art making and writing. Since the storm, the one creative act that has kept me sane enough to deal with the lies that have submerged this country for the past eight years has been writing in various forms, essays, poetry, and performance monologues. I have written a number of post-Katrina radio commentaries for NPR’s Latino USA, and they have aired them locally on WWNO. Over the past four years, writing has saved me from deep despair. Recently, I finished a group of short stories called Red Hours Inside Nocturnal New Orleans, which chronicles my life before the storm and the debauchery that is intrinsic to this Babylon by the bayou. If I were not inclined to any artistic expressions, I would probably study languages and travel more with my beautiful little family.
8. What are you currently working on? Any upcoming shows/projects/news?
This spring, I received a Creation Fund award from the National Performance Network for the commissioning of a new solo piece called Aliens, Immigrants & Other Evildoers, which documents the rise in hate crimes against Latinos and the current criminalization of immigrants. I have three commissioning theatre partners, and they are Gala Hispanic Theatre in Washington D.C., MECA in Houston, and the Ashé Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans. Aliens will debut in the fall of 2010, and I am beginning to work on the script. This October during Art for Art’s Sake, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art will debut the catalog for my exhibit called New Orleans Free People of Color & Their Legacy, which opened at the museum last January. This publication was made possible through a generous grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation in New York, and it documents the pastel portraits of Creoles of color that I have developed for the past seven years.
The show is one of the Ogden’s traveling exhibits, and the plan is to tour it to other Louisiana museums and across the South. It is a visual history project that explores the complex racial mixing that occurred in New Orleans, where a free people of color of African, French, and Spanish descent were born into freedom during the slave era. The portraits shed light on prominent Creoles who were engaged as activists in pre-Civil War times. Nowhere else in the slave South did you a have a free people of African descent who were educated, owned property, and were able to contest racial injustices because of their hybrid identity, and the privilege of freedom when others were enslaved.
9. Was there any advantage to jurying a show about heat during the summer in New Orleans?
The summertime heat in New Orleans is hallucinatory, and many of the works in the show thrive on a magical realist vision akin to the peculiarity of our lives in this recovering mini metropolis. I think it makes for an appropriate time to consider organizing a show about heat, and I look forward to seeing all these caliente images together in one room at the NOPA Gallery.
For more information about Jose's work, visit www.torrestama.com
Caliente/Hot runs from August 6 through September
New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery
1111 St. Mary Street, NOLA
www.neworleansphotoalliance.org
8.02.2009
Seeking PhotoNOLA Workshop Coordinator
Volunteer Opportunity
PhotoNOLA Seeking Workshop Coordinator
The PhotoNOLA Committee seeks a dedicated volunteer with a passion for education to serve as Workshop Coordinator for PhotoNOLA 2009. Responsibilities include acting as a liaison between workshop presenters (Blurb, Canon, Mary Virginia Swanson), participants and hosting venues. The ideal candidate should possess strong organizational abilities and communication skills. Duties will run from Mid August through Dec 13. Interested persons should contact Jennifer Shaw at info@photonola.org.
PhotoNOLA Seeking Workshop Coordinator
The PhotoNOLA Committee seeks a dedicated volunteer with a passion for education to serve as Workshop Coordinator for PhotoNOLA 2009. Responsibilities include acting as a liaison between workshop presenters (Blurb, Canon, Mary Virginia Swanson), participants and hosting venues. The ideal candidate should possess strong organizational abilities and communication skills. Duties will run from Mid August through Dec 13. Interested persons should contact Jennifer Shaw at info@photonola.org.
8.01.2009
PhotoNOLA Listings Deadline TODAY!!
PHOTONOLA 2009 - CALL FOR DECEMBER PHOTO EXHIBITION LISTINGS
Are you showing photography in December 2009? Let us know the details so we can include your information on the PhotoNOLA website (www.photonola.org) and in our printed brochure.
Deadline for inclusion is August 1. No charge; limited to venues within the greater New Orleans region.
Submission form: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cnpjNlZrTFJZVTlPaG4zVFc4TUJFOUE6MA
About PhotoNOLA:
PhotoNOLA is an annual celebration of photography in New Orleans, coordinated by the New Orleans Photo Alliance in partnership with galleries, museums and photographers citywide. PhotoNOLA draws hundreds of photography professionals to the city to partake in a variety of educational programs, and reaches broadly into the local community with a series of exhibitions and events that are largely free and open to the public. The fourth annual PhotoNOLA festival will take place in December 2009.
Questions? Email Jennifer Shaw at info@photonola.org
Are you showing photography in December 2009? Let us know the details so we can include your information on the PhotoNOLA website (www.photonola.org) and in our printed brochure.
Deadline for inclusion is August 1. No charge; limited to venues within the greater New Orleans region.
Submission form: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cnpjNlZrTFJZVTlPaG4zVFc4TUJFOUE6MA
About PhotoNOLA:
PhotoNOLA is an annual celebration of photography in New Orleans, coordinated by the New Orleans Photo Alliance in partnership with galleries, museums and photographers citywide. PhotoNOLA draws hundreds of photography professionals to the city to partake in a variety of educational programs, and reaches broadly into the local community with a series of exhibitions and events that are largely free and open to the public. The fourth annual PhotoNOLA festival will take place in December 2009.
Questions? Email Jennifer Shaw at info@photonola.org
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