OPENING TOMORROW: Fringe Economies: Sarina Finkelstein & Maureen Drennan at the Newspace Center for Photography

Fringe Economies

Sarina Finkelstein & Maureen Drennan

May 6th – 29th Opening Reception: Friday, May 6th 6-9pm Artist Lecture: Saturday, May 7th 1pm

Maureen Drennan, Adam, 2008

My friend and fellow SVA Alum, Maureen Drennan is in a two person show at the Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, OR. I had the pleasure of watching this body of work develop. It is a fascinating series and quite a relevant body of work to show on the west coast. If you are around be sure to get out there and see the opening and artist lecture.

from the press release:

MAUREEN DRENNAN

Maureen Drennan will be presenting work from her series “Meet Me in the Green Glen.” The series documents the life of Ben, a marijuana farmer in California. Though it is legal to grow marijuana in California, it is still an activity that carries heavy social and political stigma. Drennan’s photographs of Ben’s life, his lands, and his plants is an intimate look at a seldom seen lifestyle.

Maureen Drennan is a photographer born and based in New York City. Since receiving her MFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in 2009, her photographs have been included in numerous group exhibitions including the Chelsea Art Museum, New York City, Silvereye Center for Photography, Pittsburg and Rayko Gallery, San Francisco. Maureen has received honors from Aperture, The Photo Review, PDN, The Photographic Resource Center of Boston, Humble Arts, and Artist as Citizen. Her photographs were included in The Collector’ s Guide to New Art Photography, Volume 2. Maureen currently teaches photography at the City University of New York.

www.maureendrennan.net

SARINA FINKELSTEIN

Sarina Finkelstein will be presenting work from her series “The New 49ers.” The series is an investigation of the re-emergence of gold prospectors in California. The New 49ers are recently laid-off workers, veterans, retirees, ex-convicts and freelancers in between gigs—all dependent on the income they derive from gold prospecting. Finkelstein’s project draws a comparison between the original Gold Rush, the lesser-known surge of gold prospecting during the Great Depression of the 1930’s and the modern-day wave of gold prospectors in California during the Great Recession.

Sarina Finkelstein earned her BFA from Washington University and her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her work has been featured as the cover story forThe Daily, in SEVEN, and on TIME.com and NPR.org. She has been a guest speaker for Professional Women Photographers and a speaker and award recipient at the Society for Photographic Education National Conference. Finkelstein lives in New York.

www.sarinafinkelstein.com

OPENING TONIGHT: Debbie Grossman's My Pie Town at Julie Saul Gallery.

Debbie Grossman, My Pie Town "Jessie Evans-Whinery, homesteader, with her wife Edith Evans-Whinery and their baby." 2009-10, 10 1/2 x 14 inches

Tonight is the opening for friend and fellow SVA Alum, Debbie Grossman's project, My Pie Town. I really enjoyed her project when I first saw it at the MFA Thesis show. They popped up again at Pulse in Miami this past winter. I'm looking forward to seeing the collection of images together. The project does a good job of combining appropriated images with a seamless Photoshop collaging that results in a interesting new narrative. Also, in conjunction with the show the gallery has published a monograph of My Pie Town in an edition 100.

Statement: My Pie Town is a project by Debbie Grossman in which she reworks and re-imagines a body of images originally photographed by Russell Lee for the United States Farm Security Administration in 1940. Using Photoshop to modify Lee’s pictures, she created an imaginary, parallel world - a Pie Town populated exclusively by women. The images are revised in subtle ways, making the reading of them very complicated and compelling. The sixteen images in the series are both color and black and white, and are all based on Lee’s unpublished series on Pietown, a homesteaded community in New Mexico.

The original photographs are available either through the Library of Congress or through the Web. Grossman says of the project "I’ve begun to think of Photoshop as my medium – I’m fascinated by the fact this it shares qualities with both photography and drawing…..I enjoy imagining My Pie Town working as its own kind of (lighthearted) propaganda".

In conjunction with the show, the gallery is publishing a small monograph of My Pie Town in a limited edition 100 copies.

Debbie Grossman My Pie Town April 14-May 21, 2011 further information

For further information contact the gallery

Also opening at Julie Saul Gallery tonight:

Jeff Whetstone Seducing Birds, Snakes, Men April 14-May 21, 2011 further information

Approaching Deadline: 2011 exposure, the annual PRC juried exhibition

Last year I had the honor of being included in the Photographic Resource Center's (PRC) annual Juried Exhibition. The deadline to enter this year's competition is fast approaching (April 22nd). I encourage everyone to consider entering. More information below.

exposure: the annual PRC juried exhibition

Are you ready for some exposure? Then line up a selection of your best photographs and get ready to enter EXPOSURE 2011, the PRC’s 16th annual juried exhibition of work by its members.

Awards

• The juror will choose up to ten photographers for the exhibition at the PRC in July and August.
• The juror will select one of these artists for the Juror’s Award of $500.
• The PRC’s Executive Director Glenn Ruga and Curator George Slade will also select awards for publication in the PRC magazine Loupe and for inclusion in NEO, our monthly on-line showcase of work by regional members.
• Each of the three winners will also receive a free one year Pro account with Viewbook.com, a leading online portfolio and image sharing website, valued at $190. Viewbook.com is a sponsor of this year’s juried exhibition.

Submissions All submissions will be electronically uploaded through a 90-day trial account with Viewbook.com. Application fee for the juried exhibition is $35. Applicants must have a valid membership through August 31, 2011. If you have questions about your membership status, please contact the PRC at info@prcboston.org

STEP 1: Click here to download submission guidelines

STEP 2: Click here to pay application fee and to join/renew your membership.

Whitney Johnson, EXPOSURE 2011 Juror

The juror for EXPOSURE 2011 will be Whitney Johnson, picture editor at The New Yorker. See below for more information on Ms. Johnson.

Whitney Johnson is the picture editor at The New Yorker where she produces and researches photographs for political and cultural stories, including award-winning portfolios on the United States military and world leaders. She also writes for the magazine’s photography blog, Photo Booth. Prior to joining the magazine, Whitney worked at the Open Society Foundations, where she coordinated the documentary photography exhibition Moving Walls and an international grant competition for documentary photographers. Whitney also works with the Magnum Foundation, which supports independent documentary photographers in the field through its Emergency Fund.

Timeline Tuesday, March 1 – Submissions Open Friday, April 22, 11:59 pm – Deadline for Submissions Monday, May 23 – Announcement of Accepted Photographers Thursday, July 21 – Opening Reception for EXPOSURE 2011 Sunday, August 21 – Exhibit Closes Friday, September 2 – Deadline For Removal of Work

Updates will be posted in the PRC eNewsletter, including specifications for preparing submissions.

When the submissions open, the application form will be available on the PRC web site.