Portland Museum of Art

We went to the Portland Museum of Art the 18th to see the Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine and the Between Past and Present: The Homer Studio Photographic Project. I really enjoyed Portland, the city, but I wasn't too impressed with the Photography exhibit. I loved the Winslow Homer exhibit but thats hard not to like. His work makes you feel something out of a bleak and sometimes ridge landscape. Once walking through the Homer exhibit, I had high hopes for the counterpart photo exhibit but I was sadly disappointed. The idea behind the photo projects, or so I thought, were for the artist to go into the landscapes and home that Homer went to to create his art, along with using using processes used in Homers time. I guess I was just disappointed because Homer's work gave me so much feeling and emotion and I wasn't getting any of that through the pictures. The only photos I really liked were some of the ones by Alan Vlach because they reminded me of work I had been doing previously. I also was slightly underwhelmed by the Abe Morell print. I think it reads very nicely from afar but due to the size it was I lost what I liked about it when I saw it in person. I think just overall I was underwhelmed. What I did love about the trip was the actual museum was beautiful, the way it was set up and was maze like. And I liked the trip because I liked the people we went. Good company, good times. 

Still Life Shoot

Original Van Dyke Images

Vandyke/Salt Prints

I want to revisit kinda a project I did two years ago in Intro Digital doing composites of ocean rock and landscape. I went to photograph today and I hope I get some stuff I like. I like the idea of taking a closer look at things we take for granted. Living on the coast we tend to just drive by it or see it as part of our day to day. But in reality it has a ton of beauty that we don't stop to look at. By blowing these things up it shoves the beauty in your face. 

Final Cyanotypes

I'm really happy with how these turned out. The series was based off of fire escapes but I thought they would be too literal, boring, and typical. By turning them on there sides it made a new subject matter. They remind me of giant human mouse traps or cages. The cyanotype processes really lends itself well to the images I chose. Overall for my first alternative process project I really like them. 

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Jennifer Moses Lecture.

 I went to the lecture. It was interesting. Jennifer Moses to me has always been a little cold and kinda bitchy (sorry), I'm sure she's a very nice lady but I have a cold impression of her. That being said it's weird to see her in this setting. It reminds me of when little kids see their teachers outside of school and they realize they're teachers a person. Her work was varied to me and I liked some of them but not all. I didn't get the vibe she was putting down about how they were like sun beams and interlocking puzzle pieces. I saw them more like aerial views looking down on landscapes. She said that her art was like her hand writing which I really liked. Its a nice way of putting that her art has its own unique qualities. Something that I took away from her lecture was the importance and influence of isolation. She talked about how when she moved out to new mexico from the residence that she took some time getting used to the surroundings and exploring. That combined with the fact that her only responsibilities were to feed her self and make art, it made a very isolating environment. I got from that time that it is a very telling and important processes in making art. I have always felt or understood that many artist I look up to or am inspired by have a sense or isolation whether thats mental or physical isolation. Through isolation we gain control and understanding over our emotions and thoughts and allows the artist to find their creative outlet. I don't know when my time for isolation will come, in some senses I feel like I'm already in it, but I believe when I'm there I'll gain a knowledge of my work and who I am and what I'm trying to say through my art. Back to her work, I really enjoyed some of the smaller paintings with smaller moments in them, whereas with the big ones I get lost trying to find a meaning or message. Im left blank while staring at them. Something I really admired about her work is that she said she used symbols in her work which come out very abstractly. Im always jealous of painters in the sense that they can be very abstract with no connection whereas with photography, if it's abstract its still a reality because its a photo. (if that makes sense.) Overall, nice talk, gave me a new look on her as an artist rather that just a teacher.

Douglas Prince Lecture.

Sooo the Douglas Prince Lecture was interesting. I had a weird feeling from the start mainly because I feel like he felt rushed which made me feel rushed. He talked about a lot and was a little scatter-y so the best way I can do this is talk about his pros (stuff he talked about I liked) and cons (stuff I didn't like)

Pros.

• I liked that he started by saying his work was an evolving vision. its nice to know that even as a successful artist and teacher he's constantly changing. Makes me feel not as bad about changing my work constantly. 
• I think its cool that he started out doing street photography because I feel like a lot of people do it and that its a starting point for many people. 
• His three like, cycles. Process to Perception, Explore to Focus, and Curiosity to Euphoria. Things I like to keep in mind. I find it weird that I can't explain my creative ideas yet in all the lectures I've gone to, they seem to be able to express their mind more. I hope it's something that comes with age. 
• His sense of community that he built for himself through his coworkers and such, I really liked. I like to think once I graduate that I can maintain artist friendships that help drive me. 
• I REALLY loved his early work where he was combining children with landscapes and building and such. I like how he processed them and how put a lot of thought into editing. 
• I really liked how he played with dualities in his work and how he mirrored things in his pictures. 
• I like that he wasn't satisfied with just taking photos, he wanted to constructed the mini box things. Its nice that he wanted to be sculptural with his work. 
• Finally I like that he has a crazy collection of photos from over the years. Its nice to see all his files and folders and know that accumulating all that stuff can be put to use later on. 
• His use of landscape shots, arial style and the images from nasa.  
• He named his daughter Francesca. 

Cons. 

• I didnt like his later work. When he started getting digital. I thought at first it started out nice and then turned into playing with photoshop. Or a kids when when they do kids pix. I just thought he jumped in style real quickly and it was so different and to me off putting. 
• He talked about how he didn't think he did abstractions but his later work, to me, is all abstractions. 
• The picture planes were really cut and paste to me and I didn't understand the relationships. 

A lot of things changed in his later work and I think he got less interesting to me as time went on. Maybe thats because I enjoy working with film but I also like doing giant composites. He seems like a very nice man and I think he started as a very talented artist but eventually moved into an over excited photoshop user. 

Booooo. Dont like. 

Booooo

BOOO

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LOVE THISSSS