First Semester at AIB - 2011

There are four sets of photos in this blog. They represent the steps taken in my first semester of independent studio work as an MFA /Visual Arts candidate at The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University.

The first group of images represent scanner work with leaves that I brought to the January residency. I found myself experimenting with this subject maybe as an expression or metaphor of transition. The detail, shallow focus and light fall-off are unique to the process. Tony Apeso commented on their ephemeral quality.

I also photographed and made time-lapse movie sequences of clouds during the months prior to the January residency. These are also subjects of transition, subtle movement, and change of state. I did not bring these to the residency but show them here for review and comment.   

Working with Dominique Bluher during my first AIB residency, we settled on a photographic project that stemmed from a dream I had. It was a vision of Lee, my wife, floating on a ribbon of gauze with a deep blue sky and no visible means of support. She was also wrapped in a sheer gauze material. She looked free of the cancer that she has come accustom to dealing with over 3 decades. I loved the spirit of the imagery as it matches her spirit in the way that puts her medical issues in the deep background of her positive, productive and engaging life.

The artistic direction agreed upon with Dominique was to collaborate with Lee to create "fantasy", or imagined images that we could stage for photographs. The photo elements would then be composited together via PhotoShop software to create the imagined vision.

We worked with a sheer material that didn't photograph well.

Other early photos show Lee posing playfully wearing a red wig. The concept of being miniaturized and posed among household items. One photo shows her with a twig-chair that is about 8 inches high.

 

 

I had also made a few real photos of Lee exposing her hairless head and her swollen, bandaged arm. Both side effects from chemo. I brought sets of the fantasy photos made for compositing, along with a sample of a black and white portrait with me to share for my first critique with Stephanie Cardon, my artist-mentor.

She found the color, fantasy set of photos too populated by props. She loved the black and white portrait. She suggested that Lee and I go in that direction, making black & white photos and using what she considered my strength in lighting. When I shared this with Lee, she was a bit surprised, but took the new direction. Much of the photography is less directed, letting Lee examine herself, especially her hands. It looks as if she's opening a book

Following the second critique with Stephanie (I brought the above non costumed black and white images) she favored and encouraged this direction in the studio work. Since the last critique with Stephanie, I've been working with Lee to make images that are more about Lee, and less about her medical condition. Below: samples of new work that I will be sharing with Stephanie next week.

*Footnote:

While thinking about this project during the residency, my memory was jogged by a photo I had composited specifically for a cancer survivor art show. Lee and I had collaborated in 2006 to make a composite that included an old 3x4 inch Polaroid nude I took of her years before her mastectomy.

The title "My Nude Mural Hangs in the Library", speaks to Lee's self-image in coping with the physical changes caused by her illness.