Upcoming National Exhibition ( Graphic Subject Matter )

I received notification last week that one of my photographs from the series Bell Time, has been selected to be included in the Arts & Culture Alliance's National Juried Exhibition of 2011.  The exhibition will be held in the main gallery of the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from December 12, 2011 - January 27, 2012.  The Awards Ceremony and Opening Reception will take place January 6, 2012 from 5:00 - 9:00 PM. The Arts & Culture Alliance serves and supports a diverse community of artists, arts organizations, and cultural institutions.  The Alliance receives financial support from the Tennessee Arts Commission.

EWA Cage Match Champion; Newport, Tennessee 

From the Series Bell Time

Recent Work

Perplexity, From the Series Bell Time

Recent Images and Re-edits

Sharing recent images...

Homage to Hard Knox Roller Girls

This image is currently on display at 2 Many Pixels Gallery in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

It was a recipient of a Juor's Award

Paintball Course; Jonesborough, Tennessee

Suspension; From the Series Liminal

Wave Isolation; From the Series Liminal

Recycling

While traveling home a few days ago, I drove past a familiar, featureless building. On this day, I saw what seemed to be a large piece of steel wool the size of a car adjacent to the building's edge.  Returning, it was steel shavings awaiting to be sorted and recycled. The on-duty security was very kind and gave me free run of the place. While the light was not what I had in mind for this type of imagery, I enjoyed exploring all the sunlit metal fragments and forms with my camera. I cannot wait to venture back, this time with my view camera and black and white film... Here are my discoveries:

Steel Shavings I; Recycle

Cut Outs I; Recycle

Steel Shavings II; Recycle

Torque Converters I; Recycle

 Wrench Cut Outs I; Recycle

Steel Shavings III; Recycle

Art & Culture Alliance

A&CA received nearly 625 entries from 160 artists throughout the region, and 46 pieces have been selected for the show. I received my congratulatory email this past afternoon.

The Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority (McGhee Tyson Airport) and the Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville are pleased to present “Arts in the Airport”, a new exhibition featuring selected artwork from over 40 artists in the East Tennessee region.  “Arts in the Airport” was developed to allow regional artists to compete and display work in the most visited site in the area.  The selected art features contemporary 2- and 3-dimensional artwork and will be exhibited from October 28 - April 19, 2012.

 The exhibition officially opens to the public on Tuesday, November 8, with a reception starting at 5:00 PM in front of the ticket counters (just inside the Departures entrance).  Please park in short-term parking, and bring your parking ticket with you to get it validated.  The airport staff will take up to 25 people at a time through security to view the exhibition.  You do have to pass through the security checkpoint.  Best of Show and other awards will be announced at 6:00 PM.  Please RSVP to Hughes@tys.org or 865-342-3016.

 Please join me at the reception and dinner afterwards...

Camo Chevy; Morristown, Tennessee, From the Series Phone

About the Arts & Culture Alliance
The Arts & Culture Alliance serves and supports a diverse community of artists, arts organizations, and cultural institutions. The Alliance receives financial support from the Tennessee Arts Commission (www.arts.state.tn.us).

Art & Culture Alliance Spring Exhibition 2012

Recent Additions to Bell Time

May 28, 2011 I traveled down Washington Pike to make photographs of the matches of Tennessee Extreme Wrestling. I was thrilled to arrive and discover that the venue was outdoors. The natural light adds an element of interest when I photograph wrestlers around sunset and continue into the evening. The blending of my harsh flash with the open existing light makes the scene even more surreal to me.

After the event ended, I remained and watched and photographed the ring be dismantled and packed away. Some were owners and family and others were the wrestlers. These following images were made around 11P.M. and everyone seemed exhausted...

Deconstruction

Denouement

Valediction

In the News

Peter Galassi

Very interested in Galassi's replacement at the Museum of Modern Art, as it will be an important event for the future of photography.

Arts in the Airport Spring 2011 Exhibition

Received great news… my work was juried into the exhibition along with 4 of my students from PSCC. This year’s juror was Stephen Wicks, Curator of the Knoxville
Museum of Art. Here are the two images:

Tobacco Detail, From the Series McFarlands One Season

Vacancy ; Room 4216, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
 

Credo

This past Friday, I visited Dr. Richard Cary, where his most recent work Credo, is on exhibition.  I also had the pleasure of meeting a number of students that I was able to share my passion of photography and design in a small workshop environment. The exhibition is on the campus of Mars Hill College in North Carolina. Dr. Cary's book Credo can be purchased here: Credo


Credo


Richard Cary

From the Artist Statement, " Credo. This one-sentence, "I believe" in Latin, is a simple, powerful declaration of faith with qualification of reservation. The photographs in Credo document moments in the religious lives of a small congregation of Signs Following believers and their pastor Reverend Jimmy Morrow at a Church of God in Jesus' Name Only in the southern Appalachian Mountains. The preactices of Sign Followers are based on New Testament scripture from Mark 16: 17-18: ..."

New photographs...

Sharing some new photographs from this week...

Colorful Cow; Kingsport, Tennessee

Dino; Kingsport, Tennessee

Playground Near Eastman; Kingsport, Tennessee

Sunsphere; Knoxville, Tennessee

Soon; Church Hill, Tennessee

Children; Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade, Knoxville, Tennessee

Marchers; Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade, Knoxville, Tennessee

Additional Images from South High School

Custodian Closet

Blue Doors with Face

Pencil with Peeling Paint

Entrance

Spending Time with Posterchild

I came across this because of my interest in public pay phones. I revel in this transformation from advertisement to art! If I did this, I would get arrested! I will say if our local phone booths were not metal, I would be so tempted to try this... Enjoy!

South High

Abandoned buildings are always interesting and at the same time sad to me. When it involves a school, we can only hope the forgotten was replaced. Schools are part of our fabric. Schools have their own ambience. The second I step into one, time spins rapidly in reverse. I am taken back to my youth... South High in Knoxville, Tennessee is in the process of being transformed into some type of storage for the Board of Education. I cannot decide. I can only discover and investigate what is front of my camera.


Classroom Chalkboard

" I really don't love anybody but I felt compelled to write."  Unknown

Blue Door with Peeling Paint

Algebra and History Books

Locker Detail

Band Room

"Can you play an instrument? Unknown

Bulletin Board with Stain

Office

2010 Best Photography Book List

Check out the list here at photo-eye: photo-eye

Featured Artist S. Billie Mandle - Griffin Museum of Photography

We are bombarded with images. At times it is difficult to discover the really meaningful ones. Fortunately, others are searching too and steer us via their blogs. This morning I discovered Mandle's work Reconciliation at the Griffin. Not only powerful photography, but an accompaniment of an intriguing Artist Statement. You are encouraged to enjoy both...

Here is the link to the Featured Artist Page: Griffin Museum of Photography

Clip of new work...

Clip of new images displaying work from the Series of: Liminal, Photographers, & Phone...

Phone

July 18th 2005, while out driving, I noticed a location where some type of accident occurred. Maybe it was no tribulation but rather a prediction of things to come. Today almost everyone has a small portable cell phone. Even young children in elementary school are avid phone-junkies. It seems the population feels the need to be connected to the World Wide Web twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week. The outdated pay phone is quickly becoming nothing more than a site-specific sculpture, on display for a limited time. I truly cannot remember the last time I dropped a coin in the slot and used one…

While investigating this particular object, I noticed another pay phone just up the street. I recalled a photographer from my history of photography lectures, O. Winston Link. I am theorizing, but I contemplate while he sat waiting for a train to pass from the tracks, it dawned on him the steam engine locomotive's popularity was diminishing. Could photography save this powerful dinosaur? The romantic sight and sound of this huge, powerful ebony machine billowing out ash and white steam coming into your town is gone. 

One can visit theme parks to see their outer pistons displaying  archaic strength.  Now the diesel engine lumbers by as the air-horn atop blasts prior to each intersection of asphalt.  Link went on to make some of the most important photographs in American history. If you are unfamiliar with his work, pleasure awaits you. Visit Link Museum.

My comparison here is similar thoughts. Link's photography, with his passion for the steam engine served him well. With my Phone series, I am documenting the actual phone and the space in which it is located. Time will tell of my observations, but I am interested in the use of this public object to have a private conversation albeit with someone at another place. 

As I posted this morning, I searched for my first pay phone image. Here is the first, I think, and I will be sharing numerous others in the days to come… 


Buffalo Trail; Morristown, Tennessee 2005