Whew. It’s been a while. A Transformation of Flesh is done. At least in its current form.
Also, I graduated! Hooray!
Then I got a retail job. It was alright, and then it sucked, and then it was over. So it goes…
I guess I am kind of in a post-college funk. It’s hard to pick up the camera. I’ve been listening to some Makers interviews. They are way cool and very inspirational. I’m hoping to move back to image making soon. Very soon.
One of my images got into a show at the Wiseman Gallery’s show Seen/Unseen. You can see my image Abductor Pollicis Brevis in the corner. Sadly, I could not go as the gallery is in Oregon.
Image courtesy of Rogue Community College
A Transformation of Flesh: getting closer!
Thesis work is live! I’ve added an updated gallery page of the newest selection of my thesis images. CLICK HERE or go to “A Transformation of Flesh” up at the top.
It’s a dirty job, but sometimes we need money. And sometimes, we need to ask those around us for that money. I am very close to my senior thesis show and have run out of money to buy frames and other related supplies. I have started an Indiegogo fundraising campaign to help afford this show.
http://www.indiegogo.com/helenmaringerthesis?a=131005
I have set it up so that (in my opinion) the perks are pretty great. For just $25 dollars you can get a 4×5 contact print (limited editions of 30 per image, mounted on 8×10 archival matboard). These will only be available at this price for the duration of the campaign. After that they will go up to around $100 each.
Check out all of the other available perks, including 16×20 prints, photo books, and copies of Nectar!
If you can’t or don’t want to donate, you can spread the word to anyone that might be interested. You can also buy prints/books outside of indiegogo. Let me know if you are curious about this option: helenmaringer@yahoo.com
This work will be shown at NONA, BFA senior thesis exhibition opening on April 27th from 5-7 pm.
Vastus
Spring Break = Printing week!
I’ve been printing up a storm and I am close to having all of my final prints done for the thesis exhibition.
Here is a recent image:
Vastus
2012
Gelatin Silver
Many more images to come soon.
Also, a little teaser for another future post:
Check out: Treemotel’s new music video for Barbara.
It was produced at my school (Santa Fe University of Art and Design) by some really talented people. It is truly great.
Fun fact: I made the big green head (at about 1:24) for a costume.
Back to the darkroom!
Really Cool News
So this semester has been pretty crazy, but it has also been pretty crazy-amazing. Myself and the three other Photography BFA students at my school, (Michelle Eckhardt, Zoe Townsend, Karen Belton) will be presenting about our work at photo-eye gallery. Every first wednesday of the month, photo-eye invites photographers to present work that they have done. I am extremely excited about this opportunity for our group to share our work with the public.
If you are in the Santa Fe area, put it on your calendar! The event is March 7 at 6:30.
(my image is #3 on the flyer. Check out the other photographers! They are doing some really cool stuff.)
In other amazing and much more humble news, our school is taking a trip to New York for AIPAD, The Association of International Photography Art Dealers. I have heard that is probably the biggest photography event in the world. I am so utterly excited to get to go on this trip! (and to visit New York for the first time)
Found Wing
A shot from last March.
I used this image for the cover of a book I designed last march.
Nectar Magazine has gotten more submissions for “Most of Us Die” so far than we got in total for “Evidence of Home”. This issue is going to be big. Submissions are open until June.
On a personal note, this semester has been really intense. I’ve got 3 part time jobs, a volunteer job, and starting this magazine. On top of that, being a full time student and trying to work on my thesis. It’s tiring but when I accomplish a lot, it is very satisfying. I’m excited to graduate and be able to relax without feeling guilty.
Ilium
Another recent thesis image. Just did another shoot today, of legs. More on that when those get developed.
Nectar Magazine closed submissions for its first issue. Over 100 people submitted, which is pretty good for coming up with the idea 4 months ago and having zero advertising budget. It can only grow from here. I’ve got some neat ideas about the next issue, but everything will have to be finalized before it can be released. 
Contemplating Flesh
I’ve got some new Thesis images, after a much needed winter break. We drove from New Mexico to Arkansas to Missouri to Arkansas to New Mexico to Colorado, and finally back to New Mexico to stay. Admittedly, I was not as productive as I should have been in terms of image making, but I did relax fiercely and it was great to see family and meet new people too.
I’ve vowed to actually be productive now that I am back at school, so here are some new images, all taken with a 4X5 view camera, printed gelatin silver.
Click Me for more thesis work!
Also, don’t forget about Nectar Magazine! Submissions close in less than 2 weeks.
The Babel Project
My close friend Kelsey Jonikas, is a film student currently working on her thesis film. It’s a sci-fi short film about a world where complex information can be bought and directly uploaded to the brain. Kelsey is raising money for the project. The money will go towards the art department and feeding the cast and crew. Equipment and locations are already taken care of. Her IndieGoGo site: http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Babel-Project
For $25 you can get a DVD, a poster, and thank you from Kelsey.
Check out the video:
photo from the “history of uploading”
Photo by Micaela Butts
UPDATE: Kelsey’s movie has been fully funded!
Is Friday the 13th really all that bad?
Superstition has always surrounded Friday the 13th for reasons I don’t really care to understand. I’ve never really been a superstitious person, or if I am, it’s not blatant enough for me to notice it. Even past that though, my brother was born on a Friday the 13th, so I know it can’t be bad. He is one of the greatest people that I know. And today was spent cooking, hanging up posters, and relaxing with people that I love. Sure it’s cold outside and it’s sure to get colder, but there was nothing wrong with this day.
Michelle’s Back
A shot from last year while I was making images for a project that would become my thesis. The shot didn’t make the cut for that project, but I still like it nonetheless.
model: photographer Michelle Eckhardt
Invented Memories of a Home
These are some images for my final project in my Advanced Digital class. I photographed in abandoned locations in Santa Fe and then photographed my models separately and brought them together and tried to create a sense of connection between the figure and the space. I believe that structures are most affected by the people that live in them, and the time without those people. The evidence of their presence is still contained in the space, from the large amount of shoes still littering the floors to the walls smeared with dirt, possibly done by hand. The figures allude to their time and connection within the “home”, and how the figure invigorates a building even after years of neglect and decay.
Nectar Magazine
I am currently in the process of creating an issue-themed art magazine, that will include photos, writing, drawing, painting, illustration, graphic design, sculpture, film stills, etc.
The current theme is titled Evidence of Home. We are planning to get it out by mid-May. Maybe earlier depending on how big it turns out to be. The more submissions we get the better it will be.
Check it out and spread the word!
New thesis images
Here are some new photos from the most recent shoot, plus new titles!
Brachioradial, Pectineus
Pectoralis, Serratus
Went to the Southwest regional SPE conference this weekend. Amazing photographers gave amazing presentations. It was fantastic.
Visual Sketchbook: Railyard
Our digital class recently met with British photographer Matt Wright, who specializes in 360 degree panorama images.
He’ll even print the image on a globe and rephotograph it in the same location.
<— Pretty awesome stuff.
He took us out to photograph some 360 panoramas and I snapped some of these shots:
I found pennies that someone had left on the railroad tracks but never went back for.
A van outside of the Santa Fe Complex
Started printing 16×20″ for my thesis work. update on that soon.
Body Image and Muffins
Click image for larger size.
Recent project dealing with the media’s treatment of body image. Done in collaboration with Curtis Mueller.
Like most people (I’m guessing) I have struggled with accepting my body for its size, shape, and imperfections. With this project, I tried to imagine how my body would be viewed by a team of hybrid celebrity-blogger-scientists. But since that view alone is depressing and critical, I collaborated and got some new text from a more rational point of view.
Published in Kindling – Fall 2011
This is my image in this semsester’s Kindling, published by the SFUAD graphic design department.
If you get the chance, check out the rest of the issue. It’s really awesome.
Playthings
These are images from a recent digital project to create our own truths. I photographed some kids I babysit and tried to create visuals for the way that they imagine and play.
Alternative Photographic International Symposium
A few weekends ago I went to the Alternative Photographic International Symposium (or APIS), a series of lectures and print showings centered around alternative photographic processes, hosted by Bostick and Sullivan. There were some fantastic highlights for me.
Kayla Kopke, a recent graduate from College for Creative Studies showed prints from her thesis. The images represent a person with a certain color. The prints are platinum on top of inkjet, which create some fantastic results.
James Hajicek & Carol Panaro-Smith are a collaborative couple in Arizona who recently started the Art Intersection gallery and education space.
Their personal work consists of large photograms of plants. I found the work that they showed at APIS inspiring and beautiful. I was also encouraged by their ability to collaborate so successfully and for so many years.
France Scully Osterman gave a talk on collodion and her own work. She teaches workshops with her husband. Her personal work that she showed was incredible. Waxed salt prints from collodion negatives of her friends sleeping.
There was also a print trade, where I put in a cyanotype
(like the one on the right, but more straightforward print-wise)
and got a 2-color gum bichromate image of a tree from George Omorean I believe. Image of that soon.
There were many more wonderful artists and presenters, too. This is just scratching the surface on the bounty of information and art that was around.
I believe that APIS is every 2 years, so if you are interested, look out in 2013.
My White Friends
A few preview shots from this weeks 4×5 shoot for thesis!
In the studio:
waiting for the paint to dry.
and some final 4×5 images:
and a shot of some contact prints in my darkroom.
slowly building up work.
MORE TO COME!
Summer update and Zozobra 2011
As an update for the summer, I spent it between Conway, Arkansas and Springdale, Arkansas: going to concerts, spending time with family and friends, and trying to beat the heat.
Recently I went to the annual burning of Zozobra during the Fiestas de Santa Fe. Zozobra is a huge (around 40 ft. tall) marionette that personifies all of the gloom of the year. By burning him, people can rid themselves of their own gloom.
It’s a huge event and here is a little taste from this year:
Currently I am working on my thesis, which will be a continuation of my “abstracted skin” work. I’m working with a 4×5 camera and printing black and white gelatin silver. Updates on that soon!
