Independent Presence, an exhibition bringing the mystery, nature and narrative themes of six independent artists, delivers the power of presence through work ranging from pinhole cameras and darkroom alchemy to digital capture. Each artist, with her own style and vision, shares a connection, linked together through Salon Jane.
These innovative artists escape the deep-rooted West Coast tradition of straight photography to transcend the ordinary by creating work that captures their essence. Through their relationship in the safe and supportive environment of Salon Jane, each artist seeks to expand her creativity, experiment with artistic ideas, and receive honest feedback to push the boundaries of their craft so they can continue to innovate in an already over-saturated discipline.
Artist Talk in the Gallery
An Artist Talk precedes the opening reception giving us the opportunity to hear from these accomplished artists as they discuss their work and background, creative processes, and the connection that brings them together through Salon Jane. You can expect an engaging discussion offering insights to their individual work and the synergy generated through their commitment to supporting each other’s creative growth.
Artists of Salon Jane – Robin V. Robinson, Jane Olin, Robin Ward, Martha Casanave, Susan Hyde Greene, Anna Rheim
Sui Generis
The avant-garde rock ‘n roll diva, Nina Hagen, said it most clearly: “I know who I am and I am willing to declare myself.” To declare yourself you must first find your place in the world – a physical place, a technical place, a psychological spiritual emotional place – a place from which you can do the work you are meant to do. Without such a place it is difficult to speak authentically on the issues you mean to address.
The artists in this exhibition have found their place by the whole variety of means that artists use to decide who they are, but particularly by extracting themselves from the embrace of two photographic traditions that have become oppressive (West Coast landscape photography and conceptual photography) thereby freeing their intuitions to guide them towards the work they truly need to do. The resulting work belongs to no school of photography but is rather more sui generis – it generates itself out of intuition, out of perception, out of spiritual emotional and psychological relationships with the subject matter, and out of an intimate but lighthearted relationship with photography’s notorious technical side, all to the effect that these artists know who they are and are willing to declare themselves.
– David Bayles
Co-author of the well-known book Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
Martha Casanave has been a working, exhibiting, and award-winning photographer and educator for 40 years. She currently teaches photography at Monterey Peninsula College and Cabrillo College. Casanave has published four books of her work. Her latest monograph, Trajectories, A Half Century of Portraits (Image Continuum Press) was released in 2013. Casanave’s photographs are included in many major collections, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Bibliotheque Nationale, and the Museum of the History of Photography, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Susan Hyde Greene’s images relay stories from impressions of experiences, thoughts and memories about the world around her. She slices and mends photographs into new images. Greene received her BFA in textiles, photography and art history from the University of Hawaii, Manoa and her MFA from the University of Utah. She is represented by Smith Andersen North, Green Chalk Contemporary, and SFMOMA Artists Gallery, and is represented in various public and private collections, including Adobe Systems. She won first place in the Center for Photographic Art’s 2013 Juried Exhibition and received a Marin Arts Council Individual Artists Grant.
Jane Olin has worked as a photographer in the Monterey Bay area for over twenty-five years, and has studied with Ruth Bernhard, John Sexton, and Joyce Tenneson, among others. She loves to experiment with focus, exposure, and printing techniques, both in-camera and in the darkroom. She has exhibited throughout the U. S. and Europe, and was featured in a recent two-person show at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, CA. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, and Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego.
Anna Rheim graduated from Stanford University with a BA in History in 1966. She studied black and white photography and mixed media at Monterey Peninsula College with Henry Gilpin, Roger Fremier, and Don Anderson, and color photography and printing at University of California Santa Cruz with Jack Fulton. Anna has taken private classes with many noted photographers including David Bayles, Ruth Bernhard, Martha Casanave, Lisl Dennis, Tom Millea, and Ted Orland.
Robin V. Robinson is a fifth generation California central coast native. She received degrees in Engineering and Music from Stanford University and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Robinson studied photography with west coast photography mentors and at City College of San Francisco and Foothill College. She has received top awards in international photographic competitions, and her work is in the permanent collection of the Monterey Museum of Art, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, and the Mariners’ Museum in Virginia. Robinson is a Fine Print artist at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, CA, a Cal Poly College of Liberal Arts supporter, and a board member of the Monterey Friends of C.G. Jung.
Robin Ward discovered her love of photography at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte where she received a BA in English. She continued her photography studies by participating in various workshops, including Brooks Institute of Photography and the Center for Photographic Art where she served as a Trustee from 2010-2016. She has received several international awards, including International Photography Awards and Black & White Spider Awards and exhibited her work in numerous galleries and museums throughout the US.
The six artists exhibiting work in the Independent Presence exhibition join us at Art Intersection for an engaging and enlightening discussion about their work and backgrounds, creative processes, and interconnected working relationships through Salon Jane.
For ninety minutes you can engage in an interactive conversation with Robin V. Robinson, Jane Olin, Robin Ward, Martha Casanave, Susan Hyde Greene, and Anna Rheim, and following the Artist Talk, the conversation continues in the galleries for the opening reception of Independent Presence.
David Bayles, co-author of the well-known book Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, brings insight to the artists and concept of Independent Presence:
“The artists in this exhibition have found their place by the whole variety of means that artists use to decide who they are, but particularly by extracting themselves from the embrace of two photographic traditions that have become oppressive (West Coast landscape photography and conceptual photography) thereby freeing their intuitions to guide them towards the work they truly need to do. The resulting work belongs to no school of photography but is rather more sui generis – it generates itself out of intuition, out of perception, out of spiritual emotional and psychological relationships with the subject matter.”
Art Intersection presents Light Sensitive, an annual juried exhibition of images created using traditional and alternative photographic processes. Past work has included analog c-prints, platinum/palladium, cyanotype, gelatin silver, gum bichromate, wet plate collodion tintypes and ambrotypes, chemigrams, and other printing processes. Both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional work may be submitted.
The Art Intersection curatorial staff will select three artists from Light Sensitive to show additional work during the (re)View exhibition in November 2017.
Click here: Light Sensitive 2017 to view the PDF Light Sensitive 2017 Submission Guidelines
Important 2017 Dates
January 23 (deadline extended): Application and JPEG submissions due
January 31: Notification of selected work
February 25: Selected work due at Art Intersection
March 4: Opening reception Saturday 6 – 8pm
April 15: Exhibition closes Saturday at 6pm
About the Juror
Ann M. Jastrab is currently the gallery director at RayKo Photo Center located in the SOMA arts district in San Francisco near SFMOMA and the Yerba Buena Arts Center. RayKo is a comprehensive photographic facility with rental darkrooms, digital labs, studio and galleries that has been serving the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years. RayKo Gallery serves to advance public appreciation of photography and create opportunities for regional, national and international artists to create and present their work. RayKo Gallery offers over 1600 square feet of exhibition space and presents eight to ten exhibitions yearly with many nationally recognized artists; there is also a section of the gallery called The Marketplace that is reserved for Bay Area artists and displays a wide variety of photographic work. RayKo also has a thriving artist-in-residence program.
Besides being a curator, Ann Jastrab, with an MFA degree, is a fine art photographer, master printer, and teacher as well. Ann has curated many exhibitions for RayKo as well as juried exhibitions for the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Academy of Art in San Francisco, Artspan, SFAI, the Center for Fine Art Photography, and other national and international venues outside of San Francisco. She has reviewed portfolios at the Seoul International Photography Festival in Korea, FotoFest, Photolucida, GuatePhoto, Review Santa Fe, Review LA, PhotoAlliance (Our World), SPE, Medium, Palm Springs Photo Festival, Filter, Lishui International Photography Festival in China, and Click646 as well as being a juror for Critical Mass. She has also been teaching courses at the Maine Media Workshops (formerly the Maine Photographic Workshops) in Rockport, Maine since 1994.
Ann is always looking for new artists for the gallery, both for solo shows and group shows. She is most interested in seeing documentary projects, fine art photography, alternative processes/historical process work, and also work made with traditional film cameras as well as plastic and pinhole cameras. Ann is not interested in seeing work that is obviously digitally manipulated. Ann can offer exhibition opportunities as well as resident artist possibilities.
Application to Light Sensitive 2017 is now closed.
You can view images from Light Sensitive 2016 by clicking here.
The platinum/palladium process is one of the most beautiful and archival processes, and in this workshop, you will create platinum/palladium prints from your images. Michael will teach a one-day, introductory workshop about this luminous 19th century process in the Art Intersection Photographic Arts Lab and the participants will take home two to three prints of their images.
As a participant, you will send digital files to us and Michael will create a digital negative adjusted for his process. You will hand-coat fine art paper with the light-sensitive solution and expose the sensitized paper through your digital negative using one of our UV light sources. After processing the exposed paper, you will have your photograph as a platinum/palladium print.
Art Intersection will supply all materials for this workshop. The making of a digital negative will be discussed, but for the workshop itself, please send two color or black and white image files (300 dpi at 10” on the long side), at least one week prior to the workshop. An email with details will be provided once you are registered.
Before the workshop, learn more about your instructor and get a preview of the platinum/palladium process! Michael will give a free lecture on his artistic practice on Friday, October 28 from 6:30 – 8pm.
Michael T. Puff
Michael T. Puff lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. He’s been a visual artist since early childhood, working as a painter and sculptor. During his years in higher education studying Theater Arts and Egyptian Archaeology, Puff worked as a theater set designer and received many awards for his work from San Francisco Bay Theater Critics. Today he works as a systems computer programmer at Stanford University and builds miniatures, while also pursuing his passion of fine art photography.
Puff began photographing in 2004 and later, under the guidance of master printer Mark I. Nelson, learned the platinum/palladium printing method he uses in his current work. Puff uses modern digital image capture with the extremely permanent and hand-crafted platinum and palladium printing process, merging the contemporary with the historical to produce unique and captivating images. The time-staking printing process he uses, which incorporates platinum and palladium metals into the chemistry, allows for a unique image with a beautiful color and tonal range.
Puff’s love for the theater is evident in much of his work, as he photographs on stage-like sets, often using dancers and actors as models, with images that could function as small moments from a larger narrative. A surreal theme runs through much of his work, as he uses his strong digital editing skills to manipulate scale and mood creating complex otherworldly images.
An image that will be featured in Michael T. Puff’s solo exhibition in Ryan Gallery
Phoenix Rising by Michael T. Puff – featured in the Off the Wall exhibition and silent auction
Thanks to everyone who made it out to the opening reception for Emerge 2016! We love seeing the support these early-career artists get from their families, friends, and mentors.
Emerge 2016, our annual juried exhibition of high school-through-graduate school student photography, is one of our favorite exhibitions because we are always dazzled by the quality of work that we receive. This year was no exception! As juror William LeGoullon writes in his Juror’s Statement, “Emerge 2016 for me as a juror is about examining how students continue to challenge the ways we think about and develop the medium while simultaneously recognizing photography’s unique relationship to our culture as a whole.”
Congratulations to our award winners! Buzzy Sullivan won Best of Show, Brooke Wright took home Best of High School, and Aurora Berger received Best of Post-High School. We are grateful for our sponsors Freestyle Photographic Supplies (Best of Show), Tempe Camera (Best of High School and Post-High School), and INFOCUS (all award levels) for providing the prizes for these awards. Honorable Mentions were awarded to Boyana Babanovski, Christine Elysse Crossen, Pam Golden, Azalea Patricia Rodriguez, Adelaide West and Xana Wilcoxson.
Mia Tennant was a very talented Gilbert High School student photographer who passed away last year. To honor her memory, several of her photographs are on display alongside Emerge 2016. We were honored to have Mia’s mother, father, and brother join us for the reception.
Victoria Bridges poses with her mother
Prescott College student William Flemer with his artwork
Adelaide West with her artwork
Art Intersection intern Autumn Bibbee-Wright with her artwork
Emerge 2016 juror poses with Claire A. Warden and David Emitt Adams
Best of Show winner Buzzy Sullivan with his artwork
Best of High School winner Brooke Wright and family with her artwork
Best of Post-High School winner Aurora Berger with her artwork
Our first Tri-Color Gum Bichromate workshop with Diana Bloomfield last September was such a hit, we decided to do it all again! This past Saturday and Sunday Diana led nine students through this labor-intensive and difficult process. The workshop included many first-time gum printers, and despite the tricky nature of the process, all produced fantastic prints! As we gathered around to look at everyone’s completed work at the end of the two days, one thing was apparent: there is nothing like the magic of gum printing, and no one better to teach it than Diana Bloomfield!
We are grateful for all of our students, but we especially would like to extend a big THANK YOU to our four class participants who travelled from far, far away to take this workshop with us – Cary from Alaska, Timothy from Michigan, and Scott and Kelly from Pennsylvania. We’re so glad you could join us!
Diana discusses digital negatives during her demonstration at the beginning of the workshop
Diana “develops” an exposed print in water
Diana discusses the cyan-layer exposure she demonstrated as it hangs to dry – Terry, the student who provided the negative for this print, will later add yellow and magenta layers
Janet washes out her print after exposing the yellow layer
Karen coats her paper with a mixture of watercolor pigment suspended in potassium dichromate and gum arabic. The potassium dichromate hardens the gum arabic upon exposure to UV light; the parts of the coating blocked by the negative remain soft and wash away in water.
Tim washes out his print
Kelly very carefully registers the negative for her next layer
Janet, Tom, and Matthew attend to their prints
Each layer of pigment make a big impact when gum printing. The print on the left includes cyan, yellow, and magenta layers; the print on the right includes cyan and yellow. Both prints by Karen Hymer
Diana discusses the finished prints one by one with the class
Karen, Diana, and Tom mask off the brush-marked border of Cary King’s image in order to look at the print without visual distractions
Scott Wrage shares his tri-color print, not yet dry enough to pin up, with the rest of the class
Prints clockwise from left by Matthew Covarrubius, Kelly Wrage, Karen Hymer, and Timothy Wells
This past Saturday, March 26 we had the pleasure of hosting a Photogravure workshop taught by Tucson artist Karen Hymer! The weekend began with a lecture by Karen on Friday night – she talked about the history of photogravure and the evolution of her artwork as she continues to use the process.
Seven students joined us for the workshop and got hands-on experience making photopolymer plates from their images, then pulling prints from the plates. Karen taught the process using Solarplates, which are steel plates coated with a light-sensitive polymer emulsion. When exposed, the polymer hardens; the unexposed polymer washes away in water, leaving an “etched” plate ready for inking after the plate has dried in the sun. Ink is then applied to the plate and wiped from the highlight areas. Finally, paper is laid on top of the plate and both are run through an etching press.
We are forever grateful to our friends at Cattletrack Arts Compound and Santo Press for lending us their etching press – we could not have done this workshop without their help!
Karen demonstrates the “development” of the Solarplate in water
Exposed and developed plates harden in the sun
Karen demonstrates inking the plate
Participant Shari Trennert prepares to run her plate through the press
Shari has made a print from a “test strip” plate to check her exposure before committing to a full plate
Jean-Charles Chapuis, Cyd Peroni, Tom Moore, and Gina DeGideo hard at work inking their plates
Chris Palmer and Karen compare a test print with another print of the same image to check for contrast and density
Gina uses a cotton swab to fine-tune her ink application
Cyd lays a sheet of fine-art water color paper over her inked plate before running it through the press
Participants enjoy letting their creativity run free and working in a community environment
Participants let their finished prints dry before taking them home
Art Intersection presents the sixth annual Emerge student photography exhibition with works by photographers enrolled in Arizona high schools, community colleges, art schools, and universities. This year’s submissions to Emerge were juried by photographer William LeGoullon.
As part of our mission to support emerging artists, we offer student artists an opportunity to show their work in the North and South Galleries at Art Intersection. Art Intersection staff will also select recipients for Best of High School, Best of Post-High School, and Best of Show.
About the Juror William LeGoullon is an artist raised and currently based in Phoenix, Arizona. Since receiving his BFA from Arizona State University in 2009, he has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally including exhibitions in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Fort Collins, Santa Barbara, Seattle and Belgrade Serbia. In 2011, LeGoullon was awarded a Contemporary Forum Emerging Artist Grant from The Phoenix Art Museum and exhibited in The Arizona Biennial at The Tucson Museum of Art.
More recently he was recognized as a Klompching Gallery FRESH 2015 Finalist and took part in this years Photo Tapas by showcasing a solo exhibition at Modified Arts Gallery. In addition to exhibiting his own works, LeGoullon also explores independent curatorial work and teaches at Phoenix College. He plans to continue living and working in central Arizona.
Emerge 2016 Sponsors
Thank you to the sponsors of this Emerge Student Photography exhibition for their support of emerging Arizona student photographers. The acknowledgement of quality and the experience gained when participating in a juried exhibition can vault an emerging photographer to reach their next level of photography.
Overall Best in Show Sponsor
Freestyle Photographic Supplies
Since 1946, Freestyle Photographic Supplies has provided photographic enthusiasts and professionals across America with quality photographic products, expert advice, and superior customer support. Their staff is comprised of a dedicated team of experienced photographic professionals, committed to providing customers with a level of service that is unprecedented in this industry.
Best in Show High School and Post High School Sponsor
Tempe Camera
We thank Tempe Camera for their sponsorship of the Best in Show High School and Post High School prize. Tempe Camera is an important part of the Arizona photography community and they demonstrate their commitment to emerging photographers through their ongoing support of educational programs.
Award to Each Best in Show Artist
INFOCUS
INFOCUS, a vibrant support organization of Phoenix Art Museum (PAM), is composed of people actively interested in photography as a dynamic art form. Photographers, collectors, and photography enthusiasts working together enable INFOCUS to provide a high-quality forum for the study, display and production of fine art photographs. A Student Membership will be awarded to each of the three artists receiving a Best in Show award.
Featured Artists
Kit Abate
Charlyn Absalon
Jacob Adams
Lindsay Arnold
Kevin Ashu
Boyana Babanovski
Aurora Berger
Autumn Bibbee-Wright
Ryan Borys
Kianna Brandt
Victoria Bridges
Dawsen Brown
Luke N. Buneo
Christine Elysse Crossen
Lacey Davis
Kaden Dawson
Klarissa Escobar
Aaron James Fink
William Flemer
Abigail Elizabeth Gerald
Pam Golden
Eric Gonzales
Jessica Gradillas
Joy Gregory
Trini Guevara
Devanie Gurney
Allison Hage
Alina Hamid
Aaron Harris
Amy Hector
Austin Johns
Emily Johnston
Jean-Paul S. Kellogg
Raena Kline
Charly LaSon
Hannah Lazenby
Mario Miguel Mendez
Clyphe Jaulen Nelson
Gray Olson
Brooke D. Pusillo
Azalea Patricia Rodriguez
Raheem Sabella
Monique Sherman
Braedon Smith
Brett Starr
Buzzy Sullivan
Jessica Tanner
Andrew Taylor
Brie Tofaute
Emilio E. Trujillo
Abel Uriarte
Asrai Violet
Alyssa Walkosz
Adelaide West
Xana Wilcoxson
Dallin L. Willden
Lindsay Corinne Wilson
Brooke Wright
Kailah Zinner
Header images from left to right by Joy Gregory, Azalea Rodriguez, Christine Crossen, and Brooke Wright
Big thanks to everyone that joined us for the opening reception and InFocus pre-reception of William W. Fuller’s The City! The exhibition will be on view through February 27, and you can stop in to purchase your copy of The City any day Tuesday – Saturday, 10am-6pm.
This past Saturday, January 9, we hosted a Walk and Talk with Jonah Calinawan, Karen Hymer, Amy Rockett-Todd, and Rebecca Sexton Larson, all featured in (re)View: Explorations in Human Nature. We were so pleased that the artists could travel to Gilbert from around the country to celebrate the exhibition with us!
Amy Rockett-Todd gets personal while talking about her albumen plates
Rebecca Sexton-Larson discusses her work and the bromoil process she uses
Karen Hymer explains that her photogravures draw on the idea that beauty is not only for the young
Jonah Calinawan discusses his fantasy-inspired cyanotype self-portraits
A closing reception for both (re)View and Next Level followed the Walk and Talk. It was great to see the artists among their exhibited work and meet so many of their friends and family! Thank you to everyone that came out!
