Author Archives: karendavis

Howard Saunders’ “Axeman” Cometh

Axeman - who will be 70 in the year 2010 by Howard SaundersWe are pleased to announce that “Axeman Who Will be 70 in the Year 2010,” the faux graphic memoir by Howard Saunders: “Artist/Writer/Agent Provocateur” has arrived!!  Funded by 73 contributors through kickstarter, (we wonder if reaching his goal set a new kickstarter record), Axeman… has the scope of history along with diaristic intimacy.  Now available available through Davis Orton Gallery, the book is featured in the electronic, peer-reviewed, international journal of poetry, literature and culture, Reconfiguration Volume 4: Emergence.

urmonumental, a book by howard saunders Saunder’s “URmonumental,” is also available at the Davis Orton Gallery. Of “URmonumental,” John Haber writes, “The New Museum may have opened on the Bowery with “Unmonumental,” but its architecture looks more monumental every day. A year past its opening, the metallic surface that seemed to dissolve into sky looks flat and sleek. Sanaa’s stacked boxes that seemed so playfully haphazard—or ready for unwrapping this very day—now resemble a step pyramid. Who knows which dynasty of art will end up buried inside?

[Saunders] got the idea for his urtext on his return home from “Unmonumental” to Hudson, New York. A flea market there felt to him an improvement on the show’s assemblages, and he set out to photograph its “random arrangements.” Some of them indeed suggest Surrealism’s “chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella,” although not all the operations are exactly a success. His self-published booklet, I find, opens with a quote from me: “Biennials and recycling centers alike fill up quickly.” So, I guess, do blogs, and I am grateful for the compliment.” URmonumental is in the collection of CCS Bard Library and Archives.

Saunders will exhibit mixed media compositions based on “Axeman Who Will Be 70 in the Year 2010: at the Davis Orton Gallery from April 1 to May 8, 2010.

Vaughn Sills’ “Places of the Spirit” Wins Wide Praise

Book cover, Places of the Spirit: Traditional African American Gardens by Vaughn SillsVaughn Sills‘ book, “Places of the Spirit: Traditional African American Gardens,” published by Trinity University Press with an intro by Hilton Als, has been receiving much deserved praise from several quarters. Filled with beautiful black and white photographs of gardens and gardeners throughout the South, Vaughns images honor these places of the spirit.

Last December, in MarthaStewart.com, Stacey Hervela wrote: “Every year, dozens of books cross our desks (a real perk of this job!) but my hands-down favorite of 2010 was Places for the Spirit: Traditional African American Gardens by photographer Vaughn Sills.”  Doug Oster, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes: “Every once in a while, a unique and wonderful book appears. “Places for the Spirit: Traditional African American Gardens” from Trinity University Press is one of those extraordinary books.”  This article also includes a terrific multi-media slide show of Vaughn’s photographs and her narration.

In 2009 she exhibited images from this portfolio at the U.S. Botanical Garden‘s West Orangerie Gallery in Washington DC.  She will also be exhibiting them at the Trustman Gallery, Simmons College, Boston later this year and the Gibbs Museum of Art, Charleston SC in 2012. Vaughn exhibited photographs from her series, “Beyond Words” at the Davis Orton Gallery in July, 2010.

Meg Birnbaum online at Texas Photographic Society AND ….

Donna as Alexanderia the Great by Meg BirnbaumMeg Birnbaum’s portfolio, Person/Persona was selected for exhibition in Texas Photographic Society’s online gallery by juror Chris Bennett, Founder and Director of Newspace Center for Photography, Portland OR. (above: Donna as Alexanderia the Great – escape artist extraordinaire and wife, mother and health club manager.) And, Meg was recently interviewed in Talking Writing in Judith A. Ross’s article, Opening Herself to the World. “Meg Birnbaum takes us into both the lives of her subjects in her series Person/Persona as well as her selected subjects’ impact on her.” AND her photograph of Jim Cook as John Quincy Adams appeared in the Boston Globe January 28, 2011.
AND Meg will exhibit work from her portfolio Person/Persona at the Davis Orton Gallery, April 1 to May 8.

Karen Marshall offers course at International Center of Photography (ICP)

Photographer Karen Marshall, who is lecturing tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan 25 from 3-5pm) at B&H’s Event Space on “Establishing a Relationship With Your Work: From Intent to Edit” is offering a ten-week course at the International Center of Photography (ICP), “Photographing the Social Landscape” beginning on February 1.  Karen also leads the “Winter Living Room Critique” series and individual critique sessions for photographers. Karen Marshall, With a Rolleoflex The 1970's

Her photobook, “With a Rolleiflex The 1970’s,” was selected for inclusion in PHOTOBOOK!!2010 at the Davis Orton Gallery.

Jeff Jacobson Exhibition and Talk at PRC/Boston

jeff jacobson exhibits at the prc/boston January 18 to March 20, 2011Prints from Jeff Jacobson‘s “Melting Point” series (and book, Nazraeli, 2006) will be exhibited at the Photographic Resource Center (PRC) Boston from January 18 to March 20, 2011 with a reception for the artist Thursday, February 3 from 6:30 to 8pm.

Read a great photography review of the exhibition by Mark Feeney in the Boston Globe: “A Dislocated Sense of Beauty and Fear. Jacobson’s images intrigue, unnerve.”  Jeff will also participate in a the PRC’s Master Lecture Series with “Dialogue with Photographs: Jeff Jacobson and David Strick” Tuesday March 8.

We hope our Boston area readers will have a chance to see this show and/or the lecture.  If you do, please send Jeff our best wishes.

Also, we are very pleased to announce that Jeff will be exhibiting photographs from Melting Point and other works at the Davis Orton Gallery from August 5 to Sept 4, 2011.

Art Institute of Boston awards Moira Barrett MFA in Visual Arts

woman basketball playerCongratulations to Moira Barrett upon receiving her Visual Arts MFA from the Art Institute of Boston/Lesley University.  Moira exhibited her series, “Thicker Than Water,” at the Davis Orton Gallery in April 2010.  She showed large format prints from her latest series, “Power and Grace” at the 13th Graduate Exhibition in January.

Interview with Elliot Ross on New York Photo Festival site

Animal, a new book of photographs by Elliot Ross, copyright 2010A terrific interview with Elliot Ross about his portfolio and book, “Animal” has been published on the New York Photo Festival Website.  It originated on e-photoreview.  About six minutes long, you’ll enjoy seeing the slides of many of his images and hearing about his unique process for creating the prints.  “Animal,” published by Schilt Publishing in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is available through Amazon, and was included on Amazon’s list of holiday books.

Elliot exhibited “Animal” at the Davis Orton Gallery in June, 2010.  Although we’re closed for winter break January through March, Ross’s “Animal” portfolio can be seen by appointment throughout this period; contact the gallery to set up an appointment.

PHOTOBOOK!!2010 Artists Exhibit Around the Country

Cara Barer

photograph, book as sculpture, Journey to ZaragozaNovember/December is a busy time for Cara Barer. San Francisco’s Andrea Schwartz Gallery will be showing new work of Cara Barer in a two-person show with Emilio Lobato from November 17–December 22, 2010.  “Olive Branch” Group exhibition at Foster White Gallery, Seattle, WA and “PAGES: Book as Medium, Catalyst, Venue” Group exhibition, Paragraph Gallery, Kansas City, MO 64105.

Left: Journey to Zaragoza, 2009, archival inkjet on rag paper, 24″ x 24″ available at Davis Orton Gallery.

Tomako Daido‘s photographs are included in an exhibition of “35minutesmen” through December 19 at Fordham University Center Gallery, Lincoln Center Campus, 113 West 60th Street at Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10023. “35minutesmen” brings together a sampling of work from a Tokyo based collective of photographers in the format of a gallery exhibition and accompanying book with essay.

Emily Corbato

photograph of synagogue, Kharkov, Ukraine

Emily will be exhibiting three photographs from her series from Eastern Europe in the Palm Beach Center for Jewish Art in Boca Raton. ( Left: Reconstruction of Synagogue, Kharkov, Ukraine.) Her photograph, Bleecker Street, NYC is featured in “Blue,” from Nov 18 to Jan 12, 2011 at Cambridge Art Association’s University Place Gallery, Cambridge MA.

 

Fritz Liedke

magazine with Skeleton in the Closet imagePhotoLife Magazine‘s October/November 2010 issue includes a 2-page spread of the Skeleton in the Closetseries. And if you prefer your magazines in French, you can read and view the 3-page spread in their sister magazine, PhotoSolution. Get your copy in either English or French!

Performance Art: Hudson Celebrates With First Halloween Parade

The First Halloween Parade in Hudson, sponsored by COARC, Hudson Department of Youth and the Greenport Rescue Squad kicked off at 5:30 at 5th and headed down Warren Street to Promenade Hill Center where an all-ages Costume Contest was held.  It was preceded by trick-or-treating by young and old in Warren Street shops that sported a Halloween-Whale logo (only in Hudson.)  There was also a Haunted House for most and a  “Pumpkin Patch” (less frightening) for the little ones!

Hudson Halloween Parade 1 by Karen DavisWaiting for the Parade

Halloween Parade arrives belo3rd, photograph by karen davisParade Arrives belo3rd (Warren Street, below 3rd Street)

Parade passes Davis Orton Gallery, 114 Warren StreetParade passes Davis Orton Gallery, 114 Warren Street