Susan Worsham: Bittersweet/Bloodwork

Susan Worsham—Bittersweet/Bloodwork
Exhibition Dates: September 4–October 19, 2012
Gallery Reception: September 13, 5–7 pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition Bittersweet/Bloodwork, featuring the works of Southern photographer Susan Worsham. The photographs were taken in and around Virginia, where her family has passed but the soil remains rich with memory and metaphor. All together, the photographs and accompaniments in Bittersweet/Bloodwork speak of the poetry of childhood, nature, discovery, love, and loss.

When Susan was just eighteen her brother took his own life after severing his spinal cord in a motorcycle accident. As a young girl she had already lost her father to a heart attack, and finally in 2004, she lost her mother as well. According to Worsham, “Shortly after my mother passed I came across a set of antique veterinary slides. They were some of the most interesting things that I had ever seen. They seemed to hold beauty and death at the same time. I framed ninety of them in a long wooden frame resembling the shape of the slide itself. It was the first piece of art that I made after my mother died.”

The story came full circle one day when Worsham’s oldest neighbor Margaret brought out her dissection kit and microscope slides. She had been a biology teacher, and was holding the same sort of slides that fascinated Worsham. Margaret’s microscope and slides have since become a metaphor for Worsham’s desire to look deeper into the landscape of her childhood—from the flora and fauna to the feelings, Margaret calls it ‘blood work’.

The exhibition features a selection of Margaret’s dissection tools alongside her microscope, as well as audio of their various conversations about plants, life, and death. “I can remember one particular time when I visited Margaret,” says Worsham. “I looked out of her large picture window and saw what looked like a nest or hammock of small red berries draped between the winter trees. I asked Margaret what it was. She answered, ‘Why, that’s bittersweet. Bittersweet on Bostwick Lane.”

Worsham took her first photography class while studying graphic design in college. In 2009 she was nominated for the Santa Fe Prize for Photography, and her book Some Fox Trails in Virginia won first runner up in the fine art category of the Blurb Photography Book Now International Competition. In 2010 she was awarded the first TMC / Kodak Film Grant, and was an Artist-in-Residence at Light Work. Her work is held in private collections, and has been exhibited at the Corcoran Museum during FotoWeek DC, The Photographic Center Northwest, Silver Eye Center for Photography, and Dean Jensen Gallery. She was recently named one of PDN’s 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2011.

Also on view at this time is The Other New York: 2012, featuring work by Sarah Averill, Bang-Geul Han, Mark McLoughlin, Jan Nagle, and Matthew Walker. TONY: 2012 is organized by the Everson Museum of Art in collaboration with ArtRage—The Norton Putter Gallery, Community Folk Art Center, Erie Canal Museum, Light Work, Onondaga Historical Association, PuntodeContacto/Point of Contact, Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, SUArt Galleries, Urban Video Project, The Warehouse Gallery, City of Syracuse and XL Projects. Major funding is provided by The Central New York Community Foundation through the John F. Marsellus Fund.

Gallery hours for these exhibitions are Sunday-Friday, 10am-6pm (except school holidays), and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, please call 315-443-1300. Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. Paid parking is available in Booth Parking Garage.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a nonprofit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work is a member of CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.

For more information, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Capturing Identity: Selections from the Light Work Collection


Michael Bühler-Rose

Capturing Identity: Selections from the Light Work Collection
August 15 – December 14, 2012
Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery
Schine Student Center, Syracuse University

Light Work is pleased to present Capturing Identity: Selections from the Light Work Collection in the Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery. This exhibition, curated from the Light Work Collection by Museum Studies candidate Lindsay Erhardt, features work by Barry Anderson, Justyna Badach, Michael Buhler-Rose, Neil Chowdhury, Kelli Connell, Jen Davis, Rachel Herman, Laura Heyman, Ayana V. Jackson, Shane Lavalette, Ohm Phanphiroj, and Michael Tummings.

Identity can be personal, cultural, and religion-based, or determined by a relationship. It can be something forced upon you, defined for you, decided by you, and taken from you; yet, in many ways one’s identity is ever-changing and therefore indefinable. Through portraiture, and using photography as the tool, many artists today are asking us to question how we identify others and ourselves. Their imagery, consequently, is redefining and challenging our stereotypes and our understanding. It is important that artists take on this challenge—they become a vessel to bring about change, even if this change happens to the smallest degree.

These images are connected by pursuit of the distinguishable, the classifiable—identity. They are meant to stir something inside us—when we look upon them, we are made to think, question, challenge our upbringing and what we have been told. As we gaze upon them, they will gaze back. All of these photographs have and bestow power and it is left up to us what we do with it.

Photographs in this exhibition come from the Light Work Collection. With donations from the Artist-in-Residence Program (AIR) or artists receiving a Light Work Grant, the collection is constantly growing. It contains all original work, including color and black-and-white photographic prints, alternative processes, as well as computer generated imagery, collages, artist books, and installation pieces. The collection can be viewed and accessed through the online database via the Light Work website. Having a permanent collection exemplifies Light Work’s commitment to contemporary photography and the creative process.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a nonprofit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work is a member of CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.

For more information, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Urban Video Project – The Other New York: 2012

Karen Brummund—401 Harrison Street
UVP Everson site
September 6–November 4, 2012
Thursday–Saturday, dusk–11pm
401 Harrison St, Syracuse, NY 13210

Urban Video Project, Light Work, and the Everson Museum of Art are pleased to present the video 401 Harrison Street by Karen Brummund at the UVP Everson site as part of The Other New York: 2012. This exhibition is part of a community-wide, multi-venue biennial exhibition that is the result of a major collaboration among fourteen art organizations in Syracuse. This ambitious project aims to highlight the rich talent of artists across Upstate New York, with a special focus on Central New York and the surrounding counties.

The Everson is I.M. Peiʼs first museum commission. His art museums are commonly seen as art objects for art objects. They are sculptures in the landscape. Shortly after the Everson, Pei built the Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca. In the 1960s, Pei continued to work in “the other New York,” including campus buildings in Syracuse, Fredonia, Rochester, and Buffalo. Whether one is walking across campus or through parking lots, watching the sunset or desolate streetscapes; Peiʼs geometry and concrete offer a visual dialogue with the environment.

In this site-specific video installation, images of the form and materials of both art museums are projected onto the Everson Museum. The images capture the light, surfaces, and depth of the architecture. The video uses images from two different buildings, analyzing how Peiʼs ideas bridge individual communities. These disparate places are abstractly connected through the architect’s development. The plaza is not only infused with the presence of the Pei’s forms, but also the conversation that takes place through his practice.

The projection acts as translucent paint altering the building. As it blends with the concrete facade, one becomes more sensitive to the details of the place. While visitors sit or walk through the plaza, 401 Harrison Street invites pedestrians to slow down, meditate, and be re-familiarized with our shared landscape.

For more information on TONY: 2012 gallery talks, tours, artist lectures, receptions, YouTube interviews, online activities, and venue maps please visit www.everson.org

TONY: 2012 is organized by the Everson Museum of Art in collaboration with ArtRage—The Norton Putter Gallery, Community Folk Art Center, Erie Canal Museum, Light Work, Onondaga Historical Association, PuntodeContacto/Point of Contact, Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, SUArt Galleries, Urban Video Project, The Warehouse Gallery, City of Syracuse and XL Projects. Major funding is provided by The Central New York Community Foundation through the John F. Marsellus Fund.

GENERAL INFORMATION
Urban Video Project (UVP) is a multimedia public art initiative of Light Work and Syracuse University that operates several electronic exhibition sites along the Connective Corridor in Syracuse, NY. The mission of UVP is to present exhibitions and projects that celebrate the arts and culture of Syracuse and engage artists and the creative community around the world. Light Work and UVP work closely with collaborative partner Everson Museum of Art in determining exhibitions and programming for that site. Light Work is a nonprofit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work and UVP are members of CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.

For more information visit www.urbanvideoproject.com.

A Month of Productivity

Collaborative artists Nate Larson and Marni Shindelman made great use of the artist apartment bulletin board and desks for fleshing out ideas during their July 2012 residency here at Light Work.

About their residency month, Nate had to say:

We loved our time at Light Work – for us, it was an incubator immerse ourselves in new ideas as a collaborative team. We spent our time building a studio in the artist apartment and then researching, reading, debating, discussing, proofing, editing, analyzing, and beginning new projects. We also developed new materials and goals towards our professional development. Our gratitude to the whole Light Work team for making it such a wonderful experience!

And Marni writes:

I spent the first two days at Light Work going through all my files and folders labeled “To Be Read.” While Nate and I were editing our Geolocation images, we also were working on new ideas. The time to think, brainstorm and read was invaluable to our work.

Find more information about Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program here.

Become a Member, Get a FREE T-shirt!

Our new Lab Manager Andrew Baugnet wants to offer you a special gift for becoming a member of Light Work/Community Darkrooms this month – a FREE t-shirt!

What does a membership get you?

A Semester Membership includes access to facilities, including the digital lab, black-and-white lab, and studio workspace. Staff assistance by photography professionals is provided, as well as reduced-rate printing and digital services, discounted classes and workshops, and specials for local camera stores, including MQ Camera. Members receive invitations to Light Work receptions and receive the Community Darkrooms Newsletter.

A Year Membership includes everything in the Semester Membership, a free digital subscription to Light Work’s award-winning publication Contact Sheet, plus the ability to use the facilities between Syracuse University semesters.

How do I get a t-shirt?

Just stop into Light Work during the month of August, sign up for a membership in person and pick out a shirt in your size (available in S, M, L and XL). It’s that simple! If you purchase a membership online this month, you can mention it when you come in and get your shirt that way as well.

Note: This offer is only available while supplies last.

A Closer Look: Master Print Editions

Cross Training, 2005
Silver gelatin print, 14 x 12″
Shipped in a 20 x 16″ mat
Edition of 100, signed by the artist
$1,000

William Wegman has gained international recognition for his works in photography, painting, drawing, and video. Since the 1970s, he has created photographic compositions involving dogs, primarily his own Weimaraners, in various costumes and poses. A conceptual humorist, Wegman has been aptly named a “master of whimsy.”

This Master Print Edition purchase includes a subscription to Contact Sheet.

William Wegman print – $1,000

William Wegman print included with 2012 Benefactors Offer – $1,500 (SAVE $540)
(includes prints by William Wegman, Kelli Connell, Tony Gleaton, and Susan Worsham, signed copies of the books Soldier / Many Wars by Suzanne Opton and American Portraits by Leon Borensztein, five printed issues of Contact Sheet, and full subscriber benefits including the digital archive)

Untitled from the Kitchen Table Series, 1990/2010
Silver gelatin print, 9 7/8 x 9 3/4″
Edition of 100, signed by the artist
$1,000

The seminal Kitchen Table Series by Carrie Mae Weems is widely recognized as a masterpiece of performance and story-telling within the photographic image. In this series, Weems uses a subtle vocabulary of props, gesture, and gaze to frame complex questions about identity, gender construction, representation, parenthood, and the nature of human relationships. Weems describes her intention of Kitchen Table Series as a personal view on the world around her, “I endeavored to intertwine themes as I have found them in–racial, sexual, and cultural identity and history–and presented them with overtones of humor and sadness, loss and redemption.” The nonlinear narrative and issues presented in Weems’ Kitchen Table Series remain as topical and thought-provoking today as when the images were first created in the early 1990s. Rendered in exquisite black-and-white, this silver gelatin print is hand-printed by Griffin Editions in New York City.

“This black and white photo comes from Weems’ “Kitchen Table Series” which portrayed Weems in various domestic scenes in which the artist performs various stories, creating a narrative about relationships, family, race, sex and society. The work is evocative, mysterious and dramatic. What more can one hope for in the art we live with?”
— Jim Hedges, The Huffington Post

This Master Print Edition purchase includes a subscription to Contact Sheet.

Carrie Mae Weems print – $1,000 * Very few prints left in stock!

Carrie Mae Weems Social Studies book – $75 (SAVE $30 with print purchase)

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To browse all of our signed prints, click here.

Print & Book by 2012 Guggenheim Fellow Doug DuBois

Syracuse-based photographer and SU professor Doug DuBois was recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in photography. In honor of Doug, we’d like to feature his beautiful limited edition print and signed book, two of the finest items in our online store. The print is available for $275 and the book for $45, or you can order them together for $300.

Doug DuBois has photographed his family for over twenty-five years, following the seasons of happy and sorrowful moments. His book …all the days and nights featuring this and sixty-one other images in the series, is the result of decades-long observation, during which DuBois’ family experienced many joyous occasions and devastating losses.

DuBois’ photographs are in the collection of major museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY; SFMOMA in San Francisco, CA; J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA; the Library of Congress in Washington, DC; and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. Exhibition venues include the J. Paul Getty Museum; The Museum of Fine Art in Houston, TX; New Langton Arts in San Francisco, CA; PARCO Gallery in Tokyo, Japan; Voies Off in Arles, France, and more. DuBois has received fellowships from MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, The National Endowment for the Arts, SITE Santa Fe, Light Work, and the John Gutmann Foundation. His work has been published in DoubleTake, New York Times, The Telegraph (London), and Monopol (Berlin), among others.

Purchase a print here.
Purchase …all the days and nights here.
Purchase both the print and the book here.

Support Light Work's Mission

Dear friends,

Throughout the month of June we are attempting to raise a bold $20,000 to support future programming at Light Work. This will only be possible with your help!

A tax-deductible donation to Light Work is a great way to support emerging and under-recognized artists working in photography. As a donor, your contribution will go directly into our programming, which includes our world-renowned residencies, exhibitions, and publications, including Contact Sheet. Donors will receive a receipt for tax purposes.

DONATE TODAY

To support our long-term planning with a gift larger than the options available on our website, please contact Director Hannah Frieser at 315.443.1300.

2012 Light Work Artists-in-Residence

Congratulations to the 2012 Light Work Artists-in-Residence, who were selected from an outstanding pool of hundreds of applicants! Thanks to all who applied.

Light Work is very pleased to host the following artists this year:

Karen Miranda-Rivadeneira
Aspen Mays
Shimon Attie
Justyna Badach
Claire Beckett
Michael Bühler-Rose
Raymond Meeks
Nate Larson & Marni Shindelman
Irina Rozovsky
Heidi Kumao
John Freyer
John Chervinsky
Brijesh Patel

Our renowned residency program features a $4,000 stipend, a free place to stay for the month, 24-hour access to our state-of-the-art facility, and generous staff support. Light Work was founded in 1973 as a non-profit, artist-run organization. We provide direct support to artists working in the media of photography and digital imaging through residencies, publications, exhibitions, a community-access digital lab facility, and other related projects.

We are now accepting AIR applications for 2013. There is no deadline to apply; applications are reviewed throughout the year. For details on our facility and the application instructions, click here.

Summer 2012 Workshops at Light Work

Registration is now open for Summer 2012 Workshops at Light Work/Community Darkrooms.

Firm Foundations

Advanced Photoshop
Basic Studio Lighting
Beginning Photoshop
Landscape Photography
Photographing Weddings and Events
Using Lightroom
Using Your Digital Camera
Working on Projects

Single Session Workshops

Black-and-White Photography 1: The Camera
Black-and-White Photography 2: Developing Film
Black-and-White Photography 3: Printing (Part 1)
Black-and-White Photography 4: Printing (Part 2)
Making Digital Negatives for Alternative and Silver Prints
Making HDR Photographs
Making the Most of Social Media
Scanning
Street Photography
Using Your Camera Flash

Visit www.communitydarkrooms.com for info and to register today!

2012 Light Work Grants in Photography

The 38th Annual Light Work Grants in Photography were recently awarded to three Central New York residents. The selected artists are Dennis Krukowski, Tice Lerner, and Sayler/Morris (the collaborative work of Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris). The Light Work Grants in Photography program is a part of Light Work’s ongoing effort to provide support and encouragement to artists, critics, and historians working in photography.

The Light Work Grant is a fellowship that includes a $2,000 cash award, an exhibition at Light Work, and publication in The Light Work Annual. Applicants were required to submit 10 examples of their work along with a short application form. Three judges from outside the grant area then selected the recipients based on the merits of their work. The judges were Jamie Allen (George Eastman House), Bleu Cease (Rochester Contemporary Art Center), and Sean Donaher (CEPA Gallery).

Light Work is pleased to announce this year’s grant recipients:

Dennis Krukowski, Cicero, Onondaga County

Dennis Krukowski submitted work from a photographic series that captures decorated Christmas trees. He has been photographing the series since the late 1980s, and has created images throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Nordic lands. Krukowski also photographs interiors of homes, and those photographs have been published in many books and magazines. Krukowski’s work has been exhibited throughout New York State and is included in private collections.

Tice Lerner, Binghamton, Broome County

Tice Lerner received the Light Work Grant for his series Ever Onward, which chronicles his up-close and personal encounters with the inhabitants of Binghamton, NY. Once a prosperous manufacturing town for defense and the founding city of IBM, the area has long been economically depressed. At the time when Binghamton IBM was in its heyday, large companies were multigenerational employers that were, in Lerner’s words, “more like countries that corporations. “Binghamton IBMers” would show their pride by singing their corporate anthems daily–one of which was called Ever Onward. IBM, like the rest of these large companies, has long left Binghamton, leaving behind chemical spills and economic disparities.

Sayler/Morris, Syracuse, Onondaga County

Sayler/Morris, the collaborative work of Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris, submitted a selection of work from their series A History of the Future. Their images from Peru represent a progression: mountains in the Andes, where much of Peru’s water is stored in glaciers; aqueducts carrying water from the mountains to the desert coast, where most of Peru’s population lives and works; urban sprawl outside of Lima that depends on the water. Scientists predict that the glaciers of the Andes will be completely melted by around 2030. While there is a narrative progression to the images, literally following the path of water, there is also a more basic underlying contrast between two scales of history: geologic history (the trace of glaciers in the striations on the stone, the path of rivers, etc.) and human history (technology, the structure of aqueducts, etc.). Sayler/Morris have been exhibited internationally, and are the co-founders of the non-profit The Canary Project.

The judges for the 2012 Light Work Grants competition were Jamie Allen, Bleu Cease, and Sean Donaher.

Jamie M. Allen is the assistant curator of photographs at George Eastman House, the oldest and largest museum of photography in the United States. Allen has curated or managed numerous exhibitions for Eastman House, including Between the States (2011), 60 from the 60s (2010), Portrait (2010), Roger Mertin’s Rochester (2009) and The Photograph Collection: An Introduction (2008). She holds a BAA in Art History and a BA in Photography from The University of Arizona, Tucson as well as a MA in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario.

Bleu Cease currently serves as the executive director/curator of Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo) in Rochester, NY. Since 2007 he has lead RoCo in its significant growth and curated numerous successful exhibitions. Cease is also involved with other art & cultural community building efforts including initiating and administering First Friday, Rochester’s Citywide Gallery night and serving on the board of trustees of the Landmark Society of Western New York. Bleu has worked as a museum professional, educator and curator since 2002. Cease holds a BA from Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC and an MFA from the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY

Sean J. Donaher is the executive director & curator of CEPA Gallery in Buffalo, NY. One of the oldest photography galleries in the United States, CEPA is internationally known for programs in visual arts, and photo-based arts education. Donaher has also held the position of Executive Director/Curator of Big Orbit Gallery, Buffalo, NY since 1995. He has sat on a number of boards and panels including both the Arts Education Panel and the Visual Arts Panel at the New York State Council on the Arts, and has taught Graduate Seminar at the Visual Studies Department at the University at Buffalo.

SAVE 10% on Prints, Books and Subscriptions

Light Work is pleased to offer 10% OFF all items in our online store!

Now is the time to treat yourself or a friend to one of our limited-edition prints, signed books, or a Contact Sheet subscription. Simply enter the code SAVE10 upon checkout to activate the promotion. Valid through May 31, 2012.

Take a look around!