Very happy to be part of the Aspect Initiative family of artists and featured in the launch of their new website with my series The Good Dishes. Aspect Initiative is an online gallery dedicated to sharing art and ideas in photography. Often with a focus on artists living in the New England states, but not exclusively, AI enjoys finding unique voices in camera based art making – providing a gateway to give exposure to and support talented artists everywhere.
Marchesa Camellia with Rhubarb
I will be having an upcoming solo exhibition featuring 20 images from the series The Good Dishes at FotoRelevance Gallery in Houston, TX.
The exhibition opens August 15 and runs until September 25, 2020.
Spode Kingsley with Biquinho Peppers
I will be participating in Session 3 of Houston's FotoFest 2020 from March 18 - 21st. I'm looking forward to connecting with old friends and making new ones. It's the first time that I've ever participated in FotoFest so I'm a little anxious but excited.
I am happy to say that after six weeks of intense work, I've just completed my handmade leave behinds for both The Good Dishes and Descendants that I will be showing at FotoFest . I was a little rusty with my bookmaking skills, but after a few rejects and looking over my notes from Cig Harvey's bookmaking class, I think they came out nicely.
How do we define ourselves beyond our physical presence? Can photography convey who we are without including the human form?
These were the questions writer and curator Roula Seikaly asked and posed when selecting The Hanging Shirt which will be featured in the exhibition "Portraits Without People." at Axis Gallery in Sacramento, CA The exhibit will be on view March 6 - April 26 and is part of Sacramento's Photography Month.
Photo-Eye recently announced that we are celebrating their 40th year with their first-ever juried exhibition, called FRACTURED. Within Fractured, viewers can look forward to a very diverse exhibition of work that considers “fractures” both literally and from perspectives a bit more nebulous.
My response to the theme dealt with grief and family loss and how that can "fracture" ones identity. I am pleased that Nazzareno/Great Uncle from the series Descendants was chosen for this exhibition along with 25 Fractured artists that include: Charles Anselmo, Tom Atwood, Edward Bateman, David Paul Bayles, Jo Ann Chaus, Heidi Cost, Kelly Cowan, Lauren Davies, Monica Denevan, K.K. DePaul, Marcus DeSieno, Virgil DiBiase, Peter Essick, Jon Feinstein, Meg Griffiths, Jennifer Steensma Hoag, Ruth Lauer Manenti, William Lesch, Christine Lorenz, Marie Maher, Jennifer McClure, Daniel McCullough, Leigh Merrill, JP Terlizzi and Ira Wagner.
Exhibition Runs: February 28 - May 23, 2020
In January, I was invited to participate in an exhibition curated by Aline Smithson, called Beyond the Surface: The Photograph as Object at Cal Poly's University Art Gallery. The exhibition was in response to the loss of evidence of the artist's hand and how many artists are reconsidering the potential of an image with a move towards making rather than taking photographs. Six images from the Descendants series were showcased.
The exhibition featured work from: Diane Meyer, Christopher Russell, Sandra Klein, Joe Rudko, Adriene Hughes, K.K. DePaul, JP Terlizzi, Marina Font, Liz Steketee, Bootsy Holler, and Natalie Obermaier.
It was nice to be able to get away from the cold of NYC and visit Central California. Educator and artist Lana Caplan, welcomed us with open arms to Cal Poly. The opening was attended by roughly 150 people and each of the artists that attended spoke about their work, inspirations and motivations. The next day we worked with the students from the photography department and conducted portfolio reviews of their work which was in itself rewarding and a beautiful experience.
Every year Houston Center for Photography hosts a lively Print Auction & Dinner, bringing together artists, gallerists, collectors, and curators from all over the world in support of HCP’s exhibitions, educational initiatives, Community Education programs, and spot magazine. The elegant evening was held on Thursday, February 13th at the Briar Club in Houston. It showcased a live auction of nearly 40 prints from emerging photographers to icons of the medium as well as a silent auction. I was happy to be a contributor in partnership with my gallery FotoRelevance, donating one of my larger prints from the series, The Good Dishes and have the work sell at the auction. The monies raised from the auction will go towards Houston Center of Photography exhibitions, educational initiatives, access and community programs.
Words can not express how thrilled, honored and appreciative I am to be in the Critical Mass Top 50 two years in a row. A big thank you to the panel of 200 jurors and Photolucida for recgonizing the series, The Good Dishes. I am very grateful to all my friends for their support and encouragement to take a chance and putting the series out there. But most of all a very special and warm thank you to my cousin Kelsey Kirchner. It began with this image while cleaning out my godmothers home. My cousin Kelsey handed me my Aunt Rita’s dishes and said; here, do something creative with them in honor of her memory. This began the impetus for the series.
Here are some installations photographs of my self portrait Hydrangea selcted by juror Ann Jastrab from the opening of the Contemporary Portraiture Exhibition at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO. This image was taken in October 2018 in Grand Manan Canada. The island is a remote island off the coast of Maine and Nova Scotia and I go there each year to make new work. It is a special place for me. I love its remoteness, beauty and quietness. It gives me a chance to recharge from the chaos of NYC and spend a week on just focusing on my creativity.
This past September Nazzereno from my Descendants series was selected by jurors Kris Graves and Hamidah Glasgow for The Center Forward Exhibition. I am pleased to announce that the image has been acquired by The Center for Fine Art Photography in Ft. Collins Colorado. This will make my second acquisition in 3 months. I am very honored that my Descendants series has gotten so much recognition and interest. The series started out as something I wanted to create just for myself and had no intentions of exhibiting the work. Thank You to Douglas Ramirez for your encouragement and advice to put the series out there to see what happens.
Nazzareno
I was honored to have two images from my Descendants series selected by Gordon Stettinius and Ashby Nickerson in this summers Unbound 7 exhibition at Candela Gallery in Richmond VA. I was even more honored to have my grandfather Alfredo, acquired to the gallery's permanent collection. This was my first gallery acquisition and what a thrill to learn the news.
This has been an incredible year. I am excited to share that I have been selected for Photolucida 2018 Critical Mass Top 50 for my series Descendants. I have been selected as a finalist for three years and never in my wildest dreams thought that I would ever make into the Top 50. I humbled and grateful for the recognition. Thank you to Laura Moya and to all the jurors of Photolucida for this incredible recognition.
See all of the Critical Mass Top 50 here
This opportunity came as a result of being selected as a Critical Mass Top 50 Finalists. Chris Kovacs was one of the jurors from Photolucida, he saw my work from my Descendants series and reached out. Chris is the publisher of Adore Noir magazine and recently has started a new publication called MonoChroma. My work from Descendants along with an interview will be showcased along with five other artists.
I am very excited to be the winner of the Light Issue and the first photographer chosen for the Innugural Issue of All About Photo Magazine. Thank you to Sandrine Hermand-Grisel for selecting my work. For this magazine Sandrine chose fifteen photographers for their different approach to the definition of photography itself: "Drawing with light" My work from my series Raven's Point was selected First Place accompanied with a feature article and interview
Read the interview here
