Boston is buzzing! From acclaimed artists like Carrie Mae Weems and Stephen Shore to the imaginative photographers who await our discovery at the Somerville Toy Camera Festival, September promises to be an invigorating month of photography. Here are my top picks for the most exciting exhibits and events in and around Boston during the month ahead.
SOMERVILLE TOY CAMERA FESTIVAL
“Slow Down People Live Here”, Sepia-toned Gelatin Silver Print made with Holga camera (120 film) by Bill Franson (courtesy of the artist).
My favorite festival makes it annual return during the month of September! Somerville Toy Camera Festival (STCF) 2018 juror Jennifer Shaw’s selections will be on display at Washington Street Arts, Brickbottom Gallery and Nave Gallery in Somerville, MA starting on Saturday, September 8th, 2018. Festival events include a Juror’s Talk by Jennifer Shaw (see feature image) at the Griffin Museum of Photography on Sunday, September 16th from 4:00 – 5:30 pm, a special STCF edition of “PRC Nights” with Marky Kauffman on Tuesday, September 18th, 2018 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm at Washington Street Arts, and a return of the popular hands-on Toy Camera Workshop with Bill Franson (see image above) on Sunday, September 23rd, 2018 from 10:00am – 1:00pm. For hours, maps and all the glorious details, go to: http://www.somervilletoycamera.org/festival-events/
ACADEMIC HONORS
“If I Ruled the World” from Hopes and Dreams: Gestures of Demonstration, 2006–07, pigment ink print, 38 x 27 in.
© Carrie Mae Weems/Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
McMullen Gallery of Art, Boston College – Carrie Mae Weems: Strategies of Engagement examines this eminent American artist’s diverse and innovative career through both celebrated and rarely exhibited projects made during the last thirty years. Through photography, video and installation, Weems stuns, stings, saddens and satirizes as only she can, delivering her ingenious “strategies of engagement” like swift punches, waking us to a fuller comprehension of the American experience. If you’ve never heard her speak, you’re in for a treat:“Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: A Lecture by Carrie Mae Weems” will be presented on Monday, September 10th, 2018 at 7:00pm in Devlin Hall, Room 110, Boston College (https://www.bc.edu/offices/lowellhs/calendar.html#0927). Strategies of Engagement exhibit will be on view September 10th – December 13th, 2018. For more information, go to: https://www.bc.edu/sites/artmuseum/exhibitions/weems/
“Oakland, CA, 1972” silver gelatin print by Joanne Leonard (courtesy of the artist and Harvard Art Museums).
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University – Time Is Now: Photography and Social Change in James Baldwin’s America presents the work of leading American social documentary photographers who echo the themes and issues addressed by the prolific African American novelist, playwright, poet, and essayist James Baldwin (1924–1987). Drawn from the University’s archives by Curator Makeda Best, work made during one of our nation’s most transformative cultural moments by artists like Roy DeCarava, Dawoud Bey, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus and Joanne Leonard (see above), reflect on Baldwin’s writings regarding the history of racism and the role of race in American history and life, personal transformation and social change, family, sexuality, music, religion, violence, and the function of the artist in society. The exhibit will be on view from September 13th – December 30th, 2018, with an Opening Reception on Thursday, September 13th, 2018 from 5:30 – 7:30pm in the Sert Gallery, Level 3 at the Carpenter Center. For more information, go to: https://carpenter.center/program/time-is-now-photography-and-social-change-in-james-baldwin-s-america
Stone Gallery at Boston University – Under a Dismal Boston Skyline reexamines a group of practitioners working in the late 1970s and 1980s, collectively known as the Boston School and takes its title from a photograph by the late Boston School artist Mark Morrisroe. With a particular focus on photography, video, and performance, the exhibition elucidates the rise of Boston’s counter-cultural underground through work that challenges archetypes of identity, gender and community. “Under the city’s skyline, and under different circumstances and time periods, these artists represent their friends, families, haunts, homes, lovers, and selves.” On view from September 14–October 28, 2018, there will be an Opening Reception on Thursday, September 13th, 2018 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in the Stone Gallery at 855 Commonwealth Avenue. For information, go to: https://www.bu.edu/art/exhibitions/current-upcoming/under-a-dismal-boston-skyline/
MassArt Photography Lecture Series – Always free and open to the public, MassArt’s Fall Lecture Series starts with a bang, featuring talks by Gregory Halpern (2014 Guggenheim Fellow and Winner of Photobook of the Year at the 2016 Paris Photo-Aperture PhotoBook Awards for his “ZZYZX”) on Tuesday, September 18th, 2018 at 2:00pm and the renowned Stephen Shore (recently recognized with a career retrospective at MoMA, NYC) on Wednesday, September 26th, 2018 at 3:30pm. For information, go to: https://massart.edu/academics/programs/photography
Detail from “My Birth” by Carmen Winant, recently exhibited in Being: New Photography 2018 at MoMA, NYC (courtesy of the artist).
School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) – The SMFA’s Fall 2018 Visiting Artist Program will feature a lecture by Carmen Winant, whose immersive and moving photographic collage “My Birth” was featured in MoMA’s (NYC) recent exhibit of remarkable emerging artists, Being: New Photography 2018. Winant’s talk will take place on Wednesday, September 26th, 2018 at 6:00pm in Anderson Auditorium. For information, go to: https://smfa.tufts.edu/events-exhibits/galleries#visiting-artist-program
BOSTON PROPER
“Period Piece, Ft. Adams, Newport, R.I.” by Michael Sterling won First Prize in Elevated at the Copley Society of Art (courtesy of the artist).
Copley Society of Art, 158 Newbury Street, Boston – The venerable Copley Society, America’s oldest non-profit arts organization, presents Elevated, its 2018 National Photography Show in the Upper Gallery from September 15th – October 3rd, 2018. Juried by Robert Klein, Elevated includes a range of photographic subjects and styles by 23 artists that explore the question: what elevates a photograph to fine art? There will be an Opening Reception on on Saturday, September 15th, 2018 from 5:30pm – 7:30pm. For information, go to: http://www.copleysociety.org/exhibition/elevated
“The Other Side #6” by Magda Biernat (courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery, Boston).
Robert Klein Gallery, 38 Newbury Street, Boston – American Structures, featuring work by Magda Biernat (above), Jeff Brouws, Jim Dow, Karen Halverson, Henry Horenstein, and Stefanie Klavens, will be on view from September 8th – October 28th, 2018, with an Opening Reception on Saturday, September 8th, 2018 from 2:00 – 5:00pm. For information, go to: https://www.robertkleingallery.com/
“Training Wheels, 2018” from the series Dunites by Lana Z. Caplan (courtesy of the artist and Gallery NAGA, Boston).
Gallery NAGA, 67 Newbury Street, Boston – California artist/activist Lana Z. Caplan presents Dunites, a project photographed in the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes, an 18-mile coastal stretch north of Santa Barbara utilized by “ATV riders who tear through the endangered plant species and pollute the air with fine sand particulates”, prompting a contentious war for priorities between the ATV riders and business owners and those of the health-compromised residents in the adjacent communities that “eerily reflects the fractures we see all over Trump’s America.” On view from September 4th – 29th, 2018, there will be an Opening Reception on Friday, September 7th, 2018 from 6:00 – 8:00pm. For information, go to: http://www.gallerynaga.com/exhibition/upcoming/
“Jose’s Peluquaria” by Susan S. Bank (courtesy of the artist and Leica Gallery Boston).
Leica Gallery Boston, 74 Arlington Street, Boston – Susan S. Bank and her mentor, Magnum photographer Constantine Manos, will discuss her current exhibit Cuba: Piercing the Darkness on Thursday, September 6th, 2018 from 6:00 – 7:00pm. To read Suzanne Révy’s review of this exhibit, which runs through September 9th, 2018, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/susan-s-bank-cuba-piercing-the-darkness-at-leica-gallery-boston/). For more information and/or to RSVP to the talk, go to: https://leicacamerausa.wufoo.com/forms/m1ppn6jy0rdl0i8/?mc_cid=93be1b231a&mc_eid=233471c7c9
From the series A Longer View by D. Randall Blythe (courtesy of the artist and Leica Gallery Boston).
Opening on September 13th, 2018 at Leica Gallery Boston – D. Randall Blythe presents A Longer View, capturing environmental beauty and demise in the “hope that the intersection of these images of dissent, waste, and beauty will encourage each viewer to take “a longer view” and consider their impact on the environment— I am trying to do the same”. There will be an Opening Reception on Thursday, September 13th, 2018 from 6:00 – 9:00pm, followed by an Artist Talk on September 14th, 2018 from 5:00 – 7:00pm. For information, go to: http://leicagalleryboston.com/portfolio/d-randall-blythe-a-longer-view/
“Becoming (Detail C)” by Colleen Fitzgerald (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
Griffin Museum of Photography at Lafayette City Center, Boston – Quién? Qué Dónde? explores the art of the portrait seventy different ways in this group show curated by Griffin Museum Executive Director Paula Tognarelli. On view through September in the passageway at Lafayette City Center in Boston’s Downtown Crossing, look for an Artists’ Reception later this fall. For information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/quien-que-donde/
“Rooftop Pile of Magazines, 1995” Sepia-toned Silver Gelatin Print by Fawn Potash (courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston).
Panopticon Gallery, Kenmore Square, Boston – As students from all over the world converge on Boston to start a new academic year, Panopticon delights book lovers of every ilk with Bibliophile, a group exhibit featuring work by Thomas Allen, Carolyn Hampton, Sean Kernan, Aline Smithson, Mark Douglas, Fawn Potash, and Thomas Marr. The show will be on view in Kenmore Square’s Hotel Commonwealth from September 4th – October 28, 2018, with an Opening Reception on Thursday, September 6, from 6 to 8pm. For information, go to: https://www.panopticongallery.com/bibliophile/
“Folded and Crushed (Lumen) 70, 2017” silver gelatin print by Amanda Means (courtesy of the artist and Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston).
Howard Yezerski Gallery, 460 Harrison Avenue (SoWa), Boston – New-York based artist Amanda Means inaugurates the Gallery’s newly renovated back gallery space with her solo show Folded, Refolded, Crushed & Cracked, a new body of work for which she received a 2017 Guggenheim Fellowship, exploring the intimate relationship between the handmade and the mechanical aspects of the photographic craft that create subtle shifts in luminance and dimensionality to her work. On view from September 7th – October 9th, 2018, there will be an Opening Reception on First Friday, September 7th, 2018 from 6:00 – 8:00pm. For more information, go to: https://www.howardyezerski.com/
BOSTON BURBS
Sally Mann (American, born 1951) Deep South, Untitled (Scarred Tree), 1998, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund. Image © Sally Mann.
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA – This summer’s blockbuster show Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings merits at least one viewing. Now’s your last chance to catch it, as the show closes on September 23rd, 2018. To read my concise review of this expansive exhibit, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/sally-mann-a-thousand-crossings-at-peabody-essex-museum-salem-ma/ For hours, directions and more information, go to: https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/sally-mann-a-thousand-crossings
“Thomas Spitting, 2013” from the series The Space Between by Jennifer Shaw (courtesy of the artist).
Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA – The Space Between, a solo show by Jennifer Shaw, New Orleans-based photographer and this year’s Juror for the Somerville Toy Camera Festival, will be on view in the Atelier Gallery. In this home-based series, Shaw “creates an introspective narrative, mining the richly ambiguous state of parenthood, akin to the murky realm between a river’s glittering surface and its hidden undercurrents” (above image and feature image). For information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/jennifer-shaw-space/ In the Griffin Gallery, 2017 John Chervinsky Emerging Scholarship Winner Rachel Fein-Smolinski exhibits The Infinite Internal (below), a three-part installation that “integrates disparate imagery…to create spaces that probe the relationship that intellectualism has with authority, gender, sexuality, and psychology.” For information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/rachel-fein-smolinski-infinite-internal/ Both exhibits will be on view from September 11th – October 5th, 2018. Jennifer Shaw will give an Artist/Juror Talk on Sunday, September 16th, 2018 from 4:00 – 5:30pm, followed by an Opening Reception for both shows from 5:30 – 7:30pm.
From the installation The Infinite Internal by Rachel Fein-Smolinski (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum).
From the series The Emotional Landscape by Karen Klinedinst (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum).
The Griffin Museum at Greater Boston Stage Company, Stoneham, MA – If you’ve ever wondered about the extent of amazing imagery an iPhone can produce in the right hands, check out Karen Klinedinst’s solo show The Emotional Landscape, in which she “manipulates images through the layering of textures and colors to express my emotional response to a landscape that exists only in my memory.” On view through October 9th, 2018, with an Artist’s Reception on Wednesday, September 26th, 2018 from 6:30 – 8:00pm. For information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/karen-klinedinst-emotional-landscape/
“Garrapatta Beach, Carmel, CA, 2010” from the series An Eye For Form by Winston Boyer (courtesy of the artist and Trident Gallery, Gloucester, MA).
Trident Gallery, Gloucester, MA – An Eye for Form presents twenty-two of California-based Winston Boyer’s most compelling images, exhibited in pairs “to suggest an illuminating — and perhaps unexpected — way to see form in its partner.” On view just through September 16th, 2018, you can join museum educator Annie Storr’s “Exercises for the Quiet Eye,” an informal guided tour of the exhibition on Sunday, September 9th, 2018 from 3:00 – 4:00 pm. For information, go to: https://trident.gallery/
Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Self-portrait, Castello Tancredi Gate (Bibbiano, Toscana, Itália – 2000). Courtesy of the artist and deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA.
DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA – The mind-expanding group exhibition Lived Space: Humans and Architecture will be on view through September 30th, 2018. To read Suzanne Révy’s incisive review of this delightful show, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/lived-space-humans-and-architecture-at-the-decordova-sculpture-park-and-museum-lincoln-ma/ For hours, directions and more information, go to: https://decordova.org/art/exhibition/lived-space-humans-and-architecture
“Close-Up Eyes (Portrait of Minor White), 1976” Gelatin Silver Print by Abe Frajndich (courtesy of the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA).
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA – The Addison Gallery mines its rich archives to present three engaging exhibits featuring photography this fall: Look At Me, presenting portraits and self-portraits of artists (see above), on view from September 8th – November 4th, 2018; Contemplating the View: American Landscape Photographs, highlighting the Addison’s strongest collection with photographs from Ansel Adams to Oscar Palacio, on view from September 8th, 2018 – March 3rd, 2019 and; The Body: Concealing and Revealing, exploring the ways in which artists “present the body as a site for not only visual experimentation, but also defining individual identity, constructing and challenging notions of gender and sexuality, and negotiating power”, on view from September 1st, 2018 – March 31st, 2019. For information about exhibits and event programming, go to: https://addison.andover.edu/Exhibitions/Pages/exhibitions.aspx?type=upcoming
UMass Lowell Department of Art & Design presents exhibits by two Croatian photographers.
UMass at Lowell – The Department of Art & Design hosts an exhibit of Croatian artists Masa Bajc and Sandra Vitaljic, from September 5th – October 6th, 2018. Bajc’s contemplative work creates “places that blend the inner world with the outer” while Vitaljic’s photographs reference “the Yugoslav wars and the collision of women’s bodies as sites of violence.” There will be a lecture by the artists on Tuesday, September 25th, 2018 at 3:30pm in the O’Leary Library (Room 222), followed by a Reception from 5:00 – 6:30pm in Mahoney Hall (University Gallery). For information, go to: https://www.uml.edu/FAHSS/Art/Galleries-Exhibitions/University-Gallery/
DON’T YOU MISS IT!
Kat Kiernan is the Autumn 2018 Refrigecurator!
The Curated Fridge – The Autumn 2018 Open Call is up and running! Don’t miss this chance for your photograph(s) to be seen or selected by Kat Kiernan, publisher of Don’t Take Pictures magazine and Director of Boston’s Panopticon Gallery. Deadline for your postmarked submission is September 29th, 2018. For all the details, go to: https://www.thecuratedfridge.com/Call-for-Entree
FEATURE IMAGE
“Back Door, 2009” Selenium-toned Silver Gelatin Print made with Diana (or clone) camera and Iflord HP5 400 speed film. From the series The Space Between by Jennifer Shaw, on view at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA (courtesy of the artist).
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