One more for 2010

We’ve had late-breaking confirmation this afternoon that Susan Worsham will also join us as a 2010 Artist-in-Residence.

In her series Some Fox Trails in Virginia, Worsham evokes a Southern Gothic atmosphere in which the verdancy of this landscape and its people seems to have run wild and then aground. During her residency, Worsham plans to edit, scan, and print editions of Fox Trails as well as her newest work, By the Grace of God, which focuses on the hospitality of strangers in the South. Congratulations, Susan!

Image: Lynn with Red Towel

2010 Light Work Artists-in-Residence

Congratulations to the 2010 Light Work Artists-in-Residence, who were selected from a pool of over 400 applicants. Thanks to all who submitted materials and showed patience throughout the process.

We’re very pleased to host the following Artists-in-Residence in 2010:

Sama Alshaibi and Dena Al-Adeeb
Keliy Anderson-Staley
Gerard Gaskin
Ayana Jackson
Christian Patterson
Simon Rowe
Lenard Smith
Zoe Strauss
Brian Ulrich
Shen Wei

Our renowned residency program features a $4,000 stipend, a free place to stay for the month, 24-hour access to our 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.

Image: Gerard Gaskin, from the series Lefrak City

Covering photography

The Special Collections Research Center at Syracuse University’s Bird Library, which is right down the street from Light Work, contains an amazing 100,00 printed works and 2,000 archival collections. As part of its Spring 2010 programming, the Center is featuring the exhibition Covering Photography: Imitation, Influence, and Coincidence. The show’s guest curator, Karl Baden (Light Work Artist-in-Residence, 1985), is the founder of the web-based archive Covering Photography. Both the website and the exhibition explore the relationship between the history of photography and book cover design. Comparing the book covers to their “source” images, this relationship ranges in strength from direct appropriation to the possibility of subconscious influence on the designer.

Light Work’s Digital Lab Manager John Mannion worked closely with Baden and the Center to realize the various prints that are staged with the actual books and covers in the show. This project is a great example of the focused, project-specific assistance available through our digital services in Community Darkrooms.

The exhibition runs through April 30, and Karl Baden will host a gallery talk about the project on Tuesday, March 2 at 5pm.

Covering Photography: Imitation, Influence, and Coincidence
January 19-April 30, 2010
Special Collections Research Center
Bird Library, Syracuse University
111 Waverly Avenue
Syracuse, New York  13210

Announcement Day is upon us

Up until today, it’s all been speculation. Finally, we will get our first peek at Apple’s newest device, find out what it’s actually called, and hopefully get a real sense of what it will mean for the future of media delivery. For photographers, this could mean a whole new market for their work, plus a way better way to show people their images on the fly. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. For now, enjoy the last moments of day-dreaming and check out this great list of sites and twitter feeds that will be following the event live from San Francisco 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern.

Update: Well, maybe they could have worked on the name a little more? But the iPad is a fine looking machine. Only time will truly tell what impact it will have for photographers, but even in its first day, the iPad has breathed new hope into publishing. We’ll keep you posted as details continue to unravel, and of course, if we manage to get our hands on one.

Doug DuBois among the best books of 2009

photo-eye has announced its Best Books of 2009, which is compiled by a prestigious panel of publishers, artists, and book lovers using a vote system. The beautiful and haunting book . . . all the days and nights, by Doug DuBois, published by aperture, is high on the list receiving nods from Daniel Espeset, Andrew Phelps, George Slade, and Alec Soth. If you don’t already have a copy, this is definitely one for your collection.

Light Work offers signed copies of . . . all the days and nights in our online store for $45. For $15 more, you can get a signed . . . all the days and nights plus a year’s subscription to the award-winning Contact Sheet (five issues, including The Light Work Annual). Your purchase goes directly into supporting our programming for emerging and underrecognized artists.

As It Happens special event

If you’re in NYC on Thursday, January 14, 2010, make sure to stop by for a special event at Palitz Gallery. Currently on view there is the exhibition As It Happens, which celebrates the Light Work Artists-in-Residence program. The show features work by recent residents, including Kelli Connell, Christine Osinski, Lisa M. Robinson, Kerry Skarbakka, Amy Stein, Krista Steinke, and Marla Sweeney, among many others. The reception starts at 6, and then at 6:30 David Ross and Light Work Executive Director Jeffrey Hoone will be in conversation about Light Work and its renowned residency program, supporting artists, and recent developments in photography.

If you can’t make it on the 14th, the exhibition will be on view until February 11.

Image: Amy Stein, Peri, Route 64, Outside Lexington, Kentucky, 2005

As It Happens
Lubin House: Palitz Gallery
11 East 61st Street, NYC
212-826-1449

We're going to LA

Happy new year from all of us at Light Work! We’re starting out the year with preparations for photo LA, which will be held this year at the Santa Monica Civic Center from January 14-17. We’ll be there, along with an impressive list of other exhibitors, in support of our mission and our 2010 Subscription Program. We’re looking forward to seeing friends we made at photo MIAMI as well as to making some new ones. Many thanks to Stephen Cohen for making it possible for us to participate! Stop by the Light Work booth and also make sure you take advantage of the wonderful programming that’s been planned around the fair.

Kerry Skarbakka opens at Irvine Contemporary

2006 Light Work Artist-in-Residence Kerry Skarbakka opens his exhibition The Struggle to Right Oneself: A Survey tomorrow night at Irvine Contemporary in Washington, DC. In this series, the artist trips, falls, and generally loses his balance in ways both everyday and almost comically epic. Ultimately, the images reference the existential battle to remain upright in a challenging world. Included in the exhibition are several photographs that have not been exhibited previously, including Window Crash, 2009, at right.

At Light Work, we’re showing a video from Skarbakka’s series Elements of Attraction in conjunction with our upcoming exhibition Rachel Herman: The Imp of Love. Skarbakka’s video, which shows the artist falling down a sandy embankment in slow motion, makes a poignant counterpoint to Herman’s portraits of once-couples.

Kerry Skarbakka
The Struggle to Right Oneself: A Survey

December 19-January 30, 2009
Opening: December 19, 6:30-8:30pm
Irvine Contemporary
1412 14th St., NW
Washington, DC 20005
202-332-8767

Keith Johnson stops by for a visit

Today 2005 Artist-in-Residence Keith Johnson stopped by Light Work and Community Darkrooms on his way back home to Connecticut after spending some time at Visual Studies Workshops in Rochester. We got the chance to see some beautiful work from his Extended Landscape, Suite Niagara, and Grids series.

At left, we (l-r Mary Goodwin, Keith, Hannah Frieser) enjoy a couple pictures from the Grids series as well as some of Keith’s great stories from his travels to places as diverse as the Mayan ruins of the Yucatan Peninsula and St. Louis.