LIGHT WORK | Artist Support

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Artist-in-Residence Dean Kessman in the new
Light Work/Community Darkrooms digital lab.

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Former Artist-in-Residence Deana Lawson works in one of our dedicated AIR rooms.

Mexican photographer Flor Garduño showing her new large format prints at Community Darkrooms.

Artist Support at Light Work

Since its beginning in 1973, Light Work has stayed focused on its mission to support artists. Founded and led by artists, it continues to grow with the needs of fellow artists.

Artist-in-Residence program

Every year Light work invites between twelve and fifteen artists to come to Syracuse to devote one month to creative projects. Over three hundred artists have participated in the AIR program, many of whom have since achieved international acclaim.

The residency includes a $4,000 stipend, a furnished artist apartment, 24-hour access to our state-of-the-art darkroom and digital facilities, and generous staff support. Work by each Artist-in-Residence is published in a special edition of Contact Sheet, The Light Work Annual. Contact Sheet is a beautiful publication that is sent to over four thousand art lovers, museums, galleries and libraries in over thirty-two countries. Applications are accepted throughout the year.

Learn more about our AIR program

Annual Light Work Grants in Photography

These regional grants recognize artists living in and around Syracuse. Applicants from seventeen counties are invited to apply. Every year, Light Work awards three $2,000 grants. Work by recipients is exhibited at Light Work and published in the Light Work Annual. The deadline to apply is late March of every year.

Grant information

Exhibitions

The main gallery at Light Work features four large cutting-edge exhibitions per year. Recent artists have included John Gossage, Nathan Lyons, Judy Natal, Carrie Mae Weems, Dawoud Bey, and many more. Each exhibition is accompanied by an exhibition catalogue, Contact Sheet, and is featured on Light Work's web site. Our other exhibition venues showcase a medley of art in our hallway gallery, darkroom gallery, the Robert B. Menschel Gallery, and our hi-tech plasma display.

See current and past exhibitions

Light Work Collection

Light Work's art collection features around 3,000 works of art and is fully searchable online. This collection adds to artists' visibility and is accessed especially by art lovers, researchers, curators, educators, and students. A new online feature allows easy searches of the collection, creation of a personal selection of work through the "My Favorites" feature and the creation of a slide show from this selection. Search results may be shared and emailed.

Browse our collection online

Community Darkrooms

Our facilities offer artists state-of-the-art black-and-white darkrooms, a lighting studio, and a digital lab with high-end scanning and printing options. This public-access facility enables artists to produce museum-quality work. Artists who have produced entire exhibitions in our darkroom are too numerous to mention. Recent artists have included John Pfahl, Sylvia de Swaan, Carrie Mae Weems, Lorie Nix, Max Kandhola, Kanako Sasaki and many more. Some artists travel across the country to work in our darkrooms and with our expert staff.

Our digital lab deserves special mention. Unlike commercial service bureaus, it is especially geared toward the needs of artists. Special consideration is given to concerns such as archival quality, color control, and flexibility in media. Our digital staff routinely creates custom color calibrations to accommodate many different media. Our high-end printers can print to a large range of papers, film and even fabric.

Submit work long distance via our FTP server

All digital printing is color-managed, so you see what you will get. Contact the darkroom staff for additional details.

Many former Artists-in-Residence return regularly to work in our labs. Other artists create their own quasi-residencies by coming to Light Work for weeks and sometimes months at a time to work on specific projects.

For more information, visit: communitydarkrooms.com