JAN PEACOCK: PLAY/BYPLAY AT QUEEN SPECIFIC IN TORONTO

Jan Peacock: Play/Byplay
November 2 – December 8, 2009

QueenSpecific
next to Dufflet Pastries at 787 Queen St. West, Toronto)

Play/Byplay is two screens, two views, two actions – one observed, the other performed. The observed action is two magpies at play in a tree, passing a twig back and forth to one another. The performed action, the “byplay” carried on beside the main action, is an animation of the artist’s hands recorded on a scanner, enacting this observed dance, calculating distance and orientation to mimic the motion of the birds.

Jan Peacock works primarily in video and installation, and has exhibited widely throughout Canada, the U.S., Europe and Japan. Her work is found in international public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Ludwig Museum in Köln. She has worked under numerous Canada Council grants and her work has received awards at the Atlantic Film & Video Festival, the Chicago International Film & Video Festival, and the Atlanta Film & Video Festival.

Jan Peacock is a recipient of the Bell Canada Award and the Canada Council Medal for her contribution to the field of video. She lives in Halifax, where she teaches at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

CAMERA AND STEPHEN BULGER GALLERY: FREE SATURDAY AFTERNOON SCREENINGS

Lieux Mêmes

3:00PM - OCTOBER 31

CHEMIN DE CENDRES
Dir. Bertrand Carrière (Canada: 2009) 9 min. 40 sec.

PASSCHENDAELE
Dir. Paul Gross (Canada: 2008) 114 min.

3PM - NOVEMBER 7

CHEMIN DE CENDRES
Dir. Bertrand Carrière (Canada: 2009) 9 min. 40 sec.

THE BLUE MAX
Dir. John Guillermin (UK: 1966) 156 min.

3PM - NOVEMBER 14

CHEMIN DE CENDRES
Dir. Bertrand Carrière (Canada: 2009) 9 min. 40 sec.

A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT
Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (France: 2004) 133 min.

3PM - NOVEMBER 21

CHEMIN DE CENDRES
Dir. Bertrand Carrière (Canada: 2009) 9 min. 40 sec.

GALLIPOLI
Dir. Peter Weir (Australia: 1981) 110 min.

www.stephenbulgergallery.com

ALISON S.M. KOBAYASHI: THE SEVEN INCH FALL AT BLACKWOOD GALLERY

Alison S.M. Kobayashi: The Seven Inch Fall (2009)
BLACKWOOD GALLERY PRESENTS THE BILLBOARD COMMISSION 2009

Until May 1, 2010
South Building Bernie Miller Billboard/Lightbox, UTM campus

Every Fall the Blackwood Gallery commissions an artist to produce a work for the Bernie Miller Lightbox, a billboard sized (268.0 cm x 176.5 cm, 108" x 72") venue installed on the outside of the South Building. The commissioned work stays throughout the school year. In the summer, the Lightbox displays the original work by Bernie Miller, 5-Minute Mirror (2001), which inaugurated the site.

Alison S.M. Kobayashi is an identity contortionist. In her work, Kobayashi incarnates a panoply of personas that are both studiously and playfully rendered. She strides a tense line between portraiture and caricature which presents a palpable commentary on the strictures our identities are continually subjected to. In each performance (usually made specifically for video), she synthesizes both the nuances as well as the stereotypes of each of the characters she embodies. Back and forth from finesse to crudity.

In The Seven Inch Fall, commissioned by the Blackwood Gallery in connection with its Fall 2009 exhibitions exploring notions of gravity, Kobayashi draws from the experience of her own recent graduation from the Art & Art History Program at UTM. To compose the image the artist references specific components of three films: Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, Disney's Alice in Wonderland, Powell and Pressburger's 1948 classic The Red Shoes. The latter is particularly germane as a latent theme of the film is the fraught relation between apprentice and mentor, novice and veteran, teacher and student. Kobayashi is also playfully addressing the recurring scenario found in romantic comedies where, in her words, “a character turns heads with confidence and sex appeal in her stride, but suddenly, heels wobble, balance is lost, and she comes tumbling down from the film's pedestal of feminine perfection.”

The provocative image stages a fall which derails the reception of her diploma. The diploma is held in suspense by an anonymous man, an abstracted personification of authority. The final act of graduation is put on hold. Will she ever graduate? Does she actually want to? Perhaps the answer to those questions lies in the incongruous elements of the image—the movement of the face versus the rigid pose of the legs. The paradox of a still fall. The perplexing red shoes with their implausible angles further heighten the tone of ambiguity pervading the work. In other words, the image does not provide an answer, rather it poses a critical set of questions. Prominent amongst them is the specter of failure that is brought to the fore within an institution whose maxim espouses success. While accomplishments are undeniably laudable, the artist seems to unabashedly embrace an alternate scenario to the one where a diploma is the end goal. What could be the fallout from such a dissident position? - Christof Migone, Director/Curator

Alison S. M. Kobayashi is a visual artist working in video, performance, installation and drawing. She was born and raised in Mississauga and is currently working in Toronto. Her interest in found narratives resulted in two video works, From Alex To Alex and Dan Carter. Finding a lost letter in the first case, and a discarded answering machine tape in the second, Kobayashi imagines identities for each person mentioned in the narrative and then performs all the roles herself. In 2006 she won the TSV Artistic Vision Award for Best Local Short Film at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival and in 2007 was awarded the Mississauga Arts Award for Best Emerging Artist. Her films have been shown in Canada, the U.S. and Hong Kong.

For more information, including the artist statement please visit:

http://www.blackwoodgallery.ca/Blackwood_billboardcommissionTheSevenInchFall.html

ART FOR COMMUTERS

Art for Commuters calls for Proposals or Expressions of Interest for CONTACT 2010

DEADLINE - DECEMBER 1, 2009

Art for Commuters exhibits slideshows on the network of over 270 Onestop LCD screens on TTC subway platforms to an audience of over 1 million daily commuters. This unique project venue will be an official public installation for the CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival to present site-specific work that explores the thematic focus of the 2010 festival Pervasive Influence.

In this era of instant information the widespread dissemination of images is stimulating sweeping, unprecedented change in the ways we communicate. Art for Commuters seeks proposals or expressions of Interest from artists and photographers whose work examines connections between mass media, advertising, art and photography. This includes images that utilize the codes of advertising, the language of consumerism, the stylization of marketing campaigns or the force of propaganda to reflect the emotional and political impact of photographic images and their effect on society and culture.

Project details: Images will be broadcast on subway platforms from May 1-31, 2010. Slideshows 30 or 60 seconds in durations will screen once every 10 minutes all day. The content of the slideshows can change either once or twice a day for up to 1 week. You can propose the number of related, or sequential, slideshows that your project requires. These would then play out over a number of days (up to one week), depending on the project’s needs.

The artist/photographer’s name and the title of their work will be displayed beside the slideshow whenever it is aired. All slideshows will also be presented on the website, and will be made available online from the day they screen on the TTC. The project will be prominently featured as a Public Installation within the festival.

Submissions must include: 5-10 sample images; image information sheet; bio or CV including contact information; artist statement that includes either a specific project proposal or a more general expression of interest that explains how your work addresses the theme Pervasive Influence.

Email your submission by December 1, 2009 to Sharon Switzer: contact@art4commuters.com

Produced by Art for Commuters, Onestop Media Group in partnership with the CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival. For more information on Contacting Toronto and details on CONTACT 2010 please visit our websites:

www.contactingtoronto.ca
www.contactphoto.com

BETRAND CARRIERE: LIEUX MEMES AT STEPHEN BULGER GALLERY

Bertrand Carrière: Lieux Mêmes
October 31 - November 21, 2009

The gallery is pleased to announce its fifth exhibition of work by Bertrand Carrière. In “Lieux Mêmes”, Carrière retraces the footsteps of an unknown World War I photographer introduced to him through a photo album he discovered by chance.

In 2005, Bertrand Carrière (b. Ottawa, Canada, 1957) and historian Guth Desprez started to investigate the deeper history surrounding the found photo album. They travelled to Europe, with the photo album as their guide, in order to retrace the path of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. By photographing the locations in the soldier’s images, Carrière explores the themes of memory and history through the changing landscape. They visited the long list of places marked by the horrendous battles of The Great War: the Somme in Picardy, Artois in the North Pas-de-Calais and up to the vast fields of Flanders in Belgium. Carrière’s photographs document the sites which appear in the soldier’s album along with others on the Western Front, offering a contemporary view approximately 90 years after the infamous events, which continue to stigmatize these locations to this very day. The incredible light of the regions of northern France and the flatness of the land helps Carrière build a sens e of mystery. The photographs initiate dialogue about how the landscape was affected and the ways in which it has recovered. It is not only what is there or the evidence that remains, but also what is not there and the evidence of what no longer exists.

Carrière actively exhibits and publishes his work across Canada and in Europe. He has published four photographic books, which include Témoin de l’ombre (1995); Voyage à domicile (1997); Signes de jour (2002) and Dieppe, Landscapes and installations (2006) with Les 400 Coups. He also teaches photography at André-Laurendeau College in Montréal. Carrière’s work can be found in many prominent collections, including the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, Paris; Cinémathèque Québécoise, Montréal; Canadian Centre of Architecture, Montréal; Canadian War Museum, Ottawa; Collection du Prêt d’œuvres d’art, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec; Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa; Encontros da Imagem, Braga, Portugal; Pôle Image de Haute-Normandie, Rouen, France; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; Canadian Council Art Bank, Ottawa; amongst many others.

www.stephenbulgergallery.com

LIVING TIME: TEHCHING HSIEH AND GUIDO VAN DER WERVE AT DHC/ART

DHC/ART presents DHC SESSION Living Time: Tehching Hsieh and Guido van der Werve
October 16 - November 22, 2009

DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art, is pleased to present DHC SESSION, a new compact autumn programming initiative comprising an exhibition, evening event series, in-gallery reading lounge and education projects. The curatorial focus is on presenting artworks and events within an annually changing and pedagogical framework that offers various paths for reflection and research on the work of artists, and is designed for visitors who want to make further explorations into contemporary art.

The inaugural DHC SESSION exhibition, Living Time, brings together selected documentation of renowned Taiwanese-American performance artist Tehching Hsieh’s One Year Performances and the films of young Dutch artist, Guido van der Werve. Time used as a material by both artists provides a vast thematic space in which they explore how time is felt and experienced and its role as the linchpin of human existence. Living Time is the Canadian premiere for Tehching’s Hsieh’s documentation and the works of Guido van der Werve.

Living Time presents a selection of documentation from two of Tehching Hsieh’s life and art-melding One Year Performances. In One Year Performance 1980-1981, the artist, dressed in a pale grey worker uniform, punches a time clock in his studio every hour on the hour for one year. For One Year Performance 1981- 1982, Tehching Hsieh lives outside for one year in New York City. The documentation presented in Living Time includes photographs, paper documents and films. Tehching Hsieh was born in 1950 in Nan-Chou, Taiwan and currently lives in Brooklyn. Beginning in the late seventies, Tehching Hsieh made five One Year Performances and one thirteen-year plan. The singularity of mission and endurance required in the performances heralded a radical approach to contemporary art. His performances achieved critical acclaim during this period. With his last two performances he retreated from the art world. His meticulous film, photographic and paper documentation of his performances has been presented internationally since 2000. Extensive installations of his documentation were presented at the MoMA and Guggenheim, New York in 2009. Website: www.one-year-performance.com

The exhibition also includes two films by Guido van der Werve. In nummer acht : everything is going to be alright (2007), the artist films himself walking slowly across the ice-covered Bothnian Gulf of Finland followed by an enormous icebreaker. And in nummer negen, : the day I didn’t turn with the world (2007), the time-lapse photography shows the artist standing at the North Pole for 24 hours and turning against time. Born in Papendracht, Netherlands in 1977 and now a resident of New York, NY, Guido van der Werve pursued studies in industrial design, archaeology, music composition and Russian language and literature at several universities in the Netherlands before creating his first video-documented performances around 2000. Since that time he has created a variety of works, including a series of films and videos and a musical composition titled by number in chronological order two to twelve. He has had recent solo exhibitions at La Maison Rouge, Paris and the Kunsthalle, Basel. He recently presented his new work, nummer twaalf (2009) at the MoMA, New York and will participate in Performa 09. Website: www.roofvogel.org

TOP IMAGE: Guido van der Werve, nummer negen, the day I didn't turn with the world, 8'48" time-lapse photography to HD video, the Geopgraphic North Pole 2007. Image by Ben Geraerts
BOTTOM IMAGE: Tehching Hsieh, One Year Performance 1981-1982, Life Image. Photograph by Tehching Hsieh. © 1982 Tehching Hsieh, New York

451 St-Jean Street (corner of Notre-Dame in Old Montreal) Montreal

www.dhc-art.org

WAR AT A DISTANCE AT GALLERY TPW

WAR AT A DISTANCE
Stephen Andrews, Richard Johnson, Allyson Mitchell, Andrew Moodie, Greg Nelson, Suzanne Opton, Louie Palu, Adam Pettle, Jason Sherman, Francesco Simeti, and Graeme Smith

October 24 - November 21, 2009

Gallery TPW is pleased to present War at a Distance. A group exhibition of diverse works by both Canadian and international artists, War at a Distance explores practices of representation implicated in how Canadians are struggling to make sense of the war in Afghanistan. While war has always been mediated through image and narrative, new technologies and forms of documentary and artistic practice are continuing to alter the range of impressions available to a civic culture. Representations of the Afghan conflict have appeared in forms as diverse as contemporary art practice, television news reportage, documentary film, radio docudrama, personal YouTube videos, illustrated blogs and social media platforms. This new cultural landscape is embroiled in setting the terms for public conversations about Canada’s on-going involvement in a conflict that is taking place within a culture very different from our own. Blurring distinctions between art and journalism, documentary practice and aesthetics, galleries and broadcast media, war artists and combatant-diarists, The War at a Distance exhibition looks at the mediation of war and grapples with questions that emerge when artistic and journalistic forms are brought into relation.

Thursday, November 12, 2009, 7PM
Artist’s Lecture: Suzanne Opton

Ryerson University, Library Building, Room 72

Thursday, November 19, 7pm
Moderator: Sara Matthews, Assistant Professor in Culture and Conflict in the Department of Global Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her work explores the affective difficulties of teaching and learning from traumatic historical events. Her current research considers how contemporary Canadian war artists are responding to Canada's mission in Afghanistan.

Matthews will begin the evening with a discussion of soldier-made YouTube videos as a viewing experience that disrupts the safety of critical or aestheticized distance.

Louie Palu, image detail from the series Zhari-Panjwai: Dispatches from Afghanistan, 2007

56 Ossington Avenue, Toronto

www.gallerytpw.ca

ANNIE ONYI CHEUNG: MI AT FLEISHMAN GALLERY

Annie Onyi Cheung: Mi
October 16 - November 20, 2009

Fleishman Gallery

Annie Onyi Cheung's work in time-based and three-dimensional media explores themes of memory, identity, shame and vulnerability, as well as generational and cultural difference. She is drawn to concepts that can be investigated through experiential environments, unravelling imagery and narratives, and bridging gaps between disparate perspectives. Her art manifests as combinations of performance, video and installation.

The exhibition, Mi, includes a wall-mounted paper grid which documents calligraphy practice of elementary-level traditional Chinese vocabulary and family vernacular, examining each character's construction and pronunciation. The video component, Untitled (She Me), features a dream-like narrative that is projected as a continuous loop. The video, presented as a triptych, attempts to reveal the various manifestations of femininity that compete within certain social structures such as family, gender and nationality. The video contains no dialogue, instead opting to communicate through a vernacular of gesture to find relationships between tradition, gender and identity. The subtitle, ‘She-Me' refers both to the phonetic Chinese pronunciation of ‘wash rice' as well as the self-reflective quality of the video's world of interiors.

The installation will also be accompanied by a third element, a performance piece to take place during the opening reception. The live performance featuring both the artist and her mother, will further explore the complicated and conflicting notions of femininity and womanhood that influence and inform the artist's relationships with her mother and with her cultures.

Annie Onyi Cheung is a recent graduate of Art History and Studio Art from the University of Toronto.

79a Harbord Street,Toronto

www.fleishmangallery.blogspot.com

www.onyi-ajar.com

SU RYNARD: APPLES AT PAUL PETRO CONTEMPORARY ART

Su Rynard: Apples
October 16 - November 14, 2009

Paul Petro Contemporary Art

Over 7500 different kinds of apples (malus domestica) are known to exist, but only a few are grown today. Each cultivar has it's own characteristics, and it's own name. I was intrigued by the names of apples that have all but disappeared – names such as Maidens Blush, Primate, Duchess, Snow, Wealthy and decided to document apple orchards on the older surviving farms around the perimeter of the city of Toronto. Journeys to this fray of urbanity lead me to discover another interesting series of names -- street names in housing developments and industrial areas named after the apples and orchards that once grew there.

The resulting dual projection piece juxtaposes two culturally constructed landscapes, the suburban and the agricultural, asking the viewer to consider how we live in the natural world. The lost cultivar names found on street signs draw attention to our dwindling biodiversity, yet naming is often a way to remember -- an act of commemoration. In this way, the apple names re-purposed as street names create a kind of pastoral history, evoking an image of what once existed, to market what now stands in its place.

Su Rynard works across a range of approaches: dramatic, experimental, documentary and installation. Her short video 'Signal' (3 min. 1993) marked the beginning of a trajectory where she began to look to science as a departure point for artistic inquiry. Her most recent feature-length film 'Kardia' - an exploration of the heart as soul and psyche, (85 min. 2005) completes this cycle. 'Kardia' was the recipient of the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Prize. Su Rynard’s video’s have been exhibited in galleries including The National Galley of Canada and The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her short films and video’s have screened at film festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival and the Biennial of Moving Images Geneva.

Apples (malus domestica) is the third work in a trilogy of video installations including Bug Girl (2003) and Bear (2006). In different ways, these three works explore our cultural relationship to the natural world.

980 Queen St West, Toronto

www.paulpetro.com

surynard@ca.inter.net | www.kardiathefilm.com

DIANA THORNEYCROFT: THE CANADIAN MARTYRDOM SERIES AT OTTAWA SCHOOL OF ART

Diana Thorneycroft: The Canadiana Martyrdom Series
OTTAWA SCHOOL OF ART - MAIN GALLERY

October 15 - November 22, 2009

The OSA is pleased to present Winnipeg artist Diana Thorneycroft and her work “The Canadiana Martyrdom Series” as this year’s visiting artist from October 15 to November 22, 2009. In addition to continuing the annual visiting artist tradition, the OSA will be launching its first ever online exhibition catalogue for members of the public to have broader access to viewing the Series and providing feedback to the artist.

Image: Martyrdom of the Great One, The Canadiana Martyrdom Series, 2005

35 George St. Ottawa, ON

www.artottawa.ca

www.martyrdom.ca

WILLIE DOHERTY: PASSAGES AT PREFIX UNTIL NOVEMBER 28, 2009

Willie Doherty: Passages
September 24 - November 28, 2009

Curated by Scott McLeod
Presented by Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art

Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art is proud to present Passages, an exhibition of photo and video works by acclaimed Northern Ireland artist, Willie Doherty. Curated by Scott McLeod, this exhibition represents the artist’s first solo exhibition in a Canadian public art gallery in thirteen years.

Commissioned by the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland, and receiving its North American premiere at Prefix, Doherty’s video installation Buried (2009) explores themes of personal and collective memory, repression and loss while maintaining his characteristic concern for specificity of place. The exhibition also includes a selection of large, colour photographs that contrast the bucolic landscapes of Northern Ireland with a dark uneasiness, manifested through a series of roadblocks, barriers and traces of past violence.

Opening with an expansive, peaceful scene of a lakeside clearing, Buried depicts what appears at first glance to be an entirely natural, unspoiled setting. As the camera moves forward along a wooded path, remnants from past human activities are gradually revealed: a rope, latex gloves, a piece of fabric, wire tied to a tree. Each item becomes a tiny trace of some unknown, unknowable episode. Eventually the viewer is completely immersed in a dense, dark woodland, peering through a thick web of branches upon the glowing embers of a fire. With no explicit textual information to provide an explanation of events, it is the unknowable yet physically present narrative of the past, its sense of menace heightened by the inclusion of non-diegetic sounds, that provides the work with a chilling, unsettled atmosphere.

Created prior to Buried, the photographs in the exhibition demonstrate Doherty’s ongoing interest in nearly abstracting the traces of human presence in the landscape and provide an engaging complement to his most recent video installation. In Buried, the viewer only has access to fleeting glimpses of the traces of a traumatic past, traces that still mark the landscape. In the earlier photographs, those traces are writ large, to the extent that their mystery and sense of foreboding stem as much from the barely discernable objects depicted as from the works’ compelling titles and insistent contrasts of light and dark. Taken together, both the video installation and the photographs speak to the political history of Northern Ireland and its legacy of violence, a legacy that permeates both the landscape and the collective memory of its people.

Willie Doherty was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, where he currently lives and works. His work in photography and film and video installation addresses problems of representation, territoriality and surveillance. As a child, he witnessed Bloody Sunday in Derry, and many of his works deal with the politics and rhetoric of identity, particularly in his native Northern Ireland. Since the mid-1990s, his work has received wide international recognition. Doherty represented Northern Ireland, to great acclaim, at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007 and has participated in the biennial exhibitions of Berlin, Istanbul, São Paulo and Sydney, among others. In recent years, he has received solo exhibitions at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin), De Appel (Amsterdam) and the Dallas Museum of Art. Doherty was twice nominated for the Turner Prize, in 2003 and 1994. Willie Doherty is represented by Alexander and Bonin (New York).

Scott McLeod is a writer, curator and arts administrator. His work focuses on contemporary practices, with a specialization in photography, media and digital art. Since 2000, he has been the director and curator of Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, where he also serves as editor and publisher of Prefix Photo magazine. McLeod is a member of IKT, the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art.

Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art is a public art gallery and arts publishing house based in Toronto. A registered charitable organization, Prefix fosters the appreciation and understanding of contemporary photography, media and digital art. Recently, Prefix launched a new division, Prefix Press, and released its first book, Milk and Melancholy by Kenneth Hayes.

Prefix gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Toronto Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 124, Toronto

www.prefix.ca

BLACKFLASH - FALL 2009 ISSUE NOW AVAILABLE

BLACKFLASH: PHOTOGRAPHY AND NEW MEDIA ART

www.BlackFlash.ca

MAGENTA FOUNDATION - CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR EMERGING PHOTOGRAPHERS IN CAN., US, AND THE UK

FLASH FORWARD 2010

The Magenta Foundation is pleased to announce year six of its Emerging Photographers exchange with BIG NEWS. The annual competition is now the bi-annual Flash Forward Festival, starting in October 2010. The annual Flash Forward competition will continue to take place each year, complemented by the larger bi-annual Flash Forward Festival every other year.

This is an open call for submissions. All photographers in Canada, the UK and the US, 34 years of age and under, may submit. Competition Prizing Has Increased, and the Bright Spark Award winner will receive $5,000. As in the past, all competition Winners and Honourable Mentions will be published. 2010 FF selected winners will be published as part of the festival catalogue. This year's group exhibition will take place as part of the Flash Forward Festival's nightly events.

JURORS FOR 2010:

CANADA: Liz Ikiriko - Photo Editor, Toronto Life Magazine; Daniel Espeset, photo-eye Magazine; Myrabelle Charlebois - Photo Editor, enRoute Magazine; Erin Elder - Manager, Business Development, Digital Media, The Globe and Mail

UK: Lorna Mary - Company Manager, Rhubarb-Rhubarb Festival; Chris Littlewood - Photography Coordinator, Flowers East Gallery; Simon Bainbridge, British Journal of Photography, London; Aaron Schuman - Director/Editor, Seesaw Magazine

US: Andy Adams - Editor/Publisher, Flak Photo; Amanda Maddox - Assistant Curator of Photography and Media Arts at the Corcoran Gallery of Art; Susan Bright - Independent art writer and curator based in NY

DEADLINE: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2009

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS VISIT THE FOLLOWING:

www.magentafoundation.org/submissions/ff2010

KATY MCCORMICK: THE PHILOSOPHER'S GARDEN - STILL/CHOREOGRAPHY NOW AT TIW

Examining Kew Gardens and Le Désert de Retz, two noted eighteenth-century romantic gardens, this exhibition of colour photographs focuses on the miniature architectural monuments also known as follies. Referencing past civilizations and the philosophies they represent, the folly serves as a locus of contemplation within the garden complex.

Conceived within the larger constellation of design elements: paths, plantings, ponds, etc., the folly is a representation of social and historical ideas rather than a site of shelter. Dispersed throughout garden grounds, they are read at the pace of a walker, inviting an active engagement with the dynamics of light, space, and time, as integral aspects of philosophical reflection. Apart from their philosophical and ideological functions, the gardens these photographs represent are also complex spatial schemes laid out in the interest of pleasure and discovery for all who visit them. Engaging with concepts reaching back to the Greeks, they serve to occupy the senses in the present.

Katy McCormick's photography deals with the relationships between landscape architecture, its histories and the way we perceive representations of space and time.

Her solo exhibitions have appeared in Toronto at G+Galleries, the Premiere Dance Theatre, Alliance Française Gallery, Gallery TPW, The Photo Passage, and Jamie Kennedy at the ROM, and elsewhere at The Photographer's Gallery, Saskatoon, The Other Gallery, Banff, and at Espace VOX and the Eleanor London Public Library, in Montréal.

ERYN FOSTER, JOHN VAN DER WOUDE AND BRENT LEWIN EXHIBITIONS OPEN OCTOBER 23 AT GALLERY 44

OCTOBER 23 - NOVEMBER 28, 2009
OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 6 - 9PM

THE ARTISTS WILL BE AT THE OPENING AND WILL GIVE A BRIEF TALK AT 6PM

MAIN GALLERY
Google Earth: Eryn Foster and John van der Woude

From the first aerial photograph made by Nadar in 1858 to the first fully illuminated view of planet Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972 to the release of Google Earth 3.0 in 2005, our access to views of the Earth has increased exponentially. In their exhibition at Gallery 44, Eryn Foster and John van der Woude demonstrate what can be done with the visual information made publicly available today by Google Earth.

In Eryn Foster’s animation, Flight Simulation, aerial perspectives of the landscape coalesce into the abstract renderings and discontinuous movements of computer-generated images. Flight Simulation thus brings to our attention the sociological distance we have traversed from being airplanes passengers to being “virtual navigators”—as Foster refers to the users of Google Earth—and how this “developed” perspective affects our relationship to the Earth.

John van der Woude’s series of photographs, Airports—composites of satellite images downloaded from Google Earth—show us in astonishing detail the nine busiest airports in the world. Van der Woude refers to the airport as “a metaphor for the ultimate strength and weakness of contemporary life”. Beyond their formal beauty, his images immediately bring to mind issues of accessibility in an age when populous locations are prime terrorist targets.

Eryn Foster is an interdisciplinary artist who currently lives and works in Halifax, Nova Scotia. John van der Woude is a photographic and new media artist who currently lives and works in Montreal.

VITRINES
Brent Lewin: Waste Not, Want Not

The images in the series Want Not, Waste Not were photographed at various tipping floors and material recovery facilities in the greater Toronto area. The images have a simple message: humans produce a lot of waste, and it does not disappear when it's left at the curb for pick-up.

Brent Lewin is a self-taught photographer whose work has been published in several magazines including National Geographic.

An exhibition catalogue accompanies the exhibitions. It can also be read online at http://www.gallery44.org

Gallery 44 is located at 401 Richmond Street West, Suite 120, Toronto.

EDWARD BURTYNSKY: OIL

OCTOBER 8 - 31
THE CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, DC

The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC has organized the travelling exhibition, Oil, by renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. Beginning with the host institution the exhibition will travel internationally until 2012.

The artist spent a decade exploring the subject of oil. Burtynsky traveled internationally to chronicle the production, distribution, and use of this critical fuel. In addition to revealing the rarely-seen mechanics of its manufacture, Burtynksy photographs the effects of oil on our lives, depicting landscapes altered by its extraction from the earth and by the cities and suburban sprawl generated around its use. He also addresses the coming "end of oil," as we confront its rising cost and dwindling availability. This exhibition, premiering in the capital city of the United States in Fall 2009, represents a look at one of the most important subjects of our time by one of the most respected and recognized contemporary photographers in the world.

Recycling #2, Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2001

Burtynsky's photographs, printed at large scale, render his subjects with transfixing clarity of detail. His extensive exploration is organized thematically: aerial views of oil fields, the architecture of massive refineries, highway interchanges ribboning across the landscape, and motorculture aficionados at automotive events. In considering the consequences of oil use, the artist has photographed a series of arresting landscapes: derelict oil derricks, vistas of junked vehicles, recycling yards, and mammoth oil-tanker shipbreaking operations. Edward Burtynsky: Oil promises to be the definitive photographic documentation of this much debated subject.

Oil Fields #19a, Belridge, California, USA, 2003

Consisting of approximately 55 color landscapes, Edward Burtynsky: Oil will encompass a kind of modern-day “lifecycle” of the energy source that has shaped the modern world. The project will feature many new works, most never-before-exhibited. A major catalogue, published by acclaimed German publisher Steidl, will accompany the exhibition.

Edward Burtynsky: Oil is made possible with the generous support of Scotiabank Group.

www.corcoran.org

OCTOBER 8 - 31
NICHOLAS METIVIER GALLERY, TORONTO, ON

This exhibition is in conjunction with Oil at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington from October 3 to December 13. It also features photographic works from the same project.

www.metiviergallery.com

The following galleries are also or will be hosting an exhibition of Oil.

HASTED HUNT KRAEUTLER, NY
OCTOBER 1 - NOVEMBER 21

hastedhunt.com

ADAMSON GALLERY, WASHINGTON, DC
OCTOBER 15 - NOVEMBER 21

www.adamsongallery.com

TORCH GALLERY, AMSTERDAM
DECEMBER 2009

www.torchgallery.com

Edward Burtynsky is one of Canada’s most respected photographers. His color photographs of industrially transformed landscapes are in the collections of several major museums around the world, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Biblioteque Nationale in Paris, and the Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum in New York. Born in 1955 of Ukranian heritage in St. Catherines, Ontario, Burtynsky is a graduate of Ryerson University and Niagara College. His father worked on an automobile production line at a General Motors plant in his hometown; Burtynksy credits this experience as his earliest exposure to the subject of industry, and oil in particular. Burtynsky’s exhibitions include Manufactured Landscapes (2003); Before the Flood (2003); Burtynsky – China (2005); and Edward Burtynsky – Quarries (2006), all of which have traveled extensively to venues in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia. Among many other honors, in 2007 Burtynsky was awarded the prestigious title Officer of the Order of Canada.

Edward Burtynsky is represented by Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto; Hasted Hunt Kraeutler, New York; Flowers East, London; Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary; Art 45, Montreal; Galeria Toni Tapies, Barcelona; and Galerie Stefan Röpke, Koln.

www.edwardburtynsky.com

SARA ANGELUCCI: REGULAR 8

I have an admission to make: I am a procrastinator. Immediately following the May 2009 Contact Toronto Photography Festival I had intended to write a review about Sara Angelucci’s exhibition Regular 8. Well here it is. I deeply apologize to the artist for my shortcomings.

For the past ten years Angelucci has been investigating the relationship between still and moving images. Angelucci is after all a photography and video artist. She also harbors a love and fascination for home movies and family snapshots. In viewing Angelucci’s body of work one might think she lives far too much in the past; instead she reflects on and reconstructs the past in her current work, knowing fully that the past is fleeting and memory is at best a composition of the mundane and the extraordinary.

Digby Neck, Chromogenic Print, 29.5" x 85 3/4", 2000

The constancy in Angelucci’s body of work is remarkable and bears mentioning. The fact that she is always changing from still image making to moving images is very significant to the Regular 8 series. In Angelucci’s early work she created photographs as if they were fragments of moving images. Sometimes she used cheap toy cameras that did not advance well from frame to frame (Digby Neck) or she used a professional camera, then carefully overlapped negatives in the printing process (She Crossed the Sea #1).

She Crossed the Sea #1
, Chromogenic print 25.5" x 54.5"

Work prior to Regular 8 relied on Angelucci’s family photographs and home movies to explore the fragility of memory, the loss one feels, and the inability to capture the essence of the past. One of the projects that I like is Stillness. Angelucci states that “…[in] Making use of vintage family photographs, Stillness turns to them as sources of evidence, seeking clues in tiny isolated fragments of glances, hand gestures, clothing details, etc. These black and white fragments are paired with details of landscape images recently taken on visits to the rural landscape surrounding my ancestral village. The still within the still—to which Stillness refers evokes not only a sense of searching for clues and evidence, but also the mystery, which descends upon these images with the passing of time.

#4 Stillness (magnolia #2), Chromogenic print, 30" x 40"

In Stillness, a fleeting glance, frozen gesture or landscape detail, evokes the desire to connect with lost persons, a particular locality, and a broken lineage.“

It is clear in Angelucci’s work that in delving into the past, we become less sure of our own memories. Despite our looking at family snapshots we can’t fully connect with the person in the picture; instead we are left with an irrefutable longing.

Using vintage Super 8 home movies as a starting point Angelucci also examines the relationships of time, family, and memory in several videos that she completed in 2000 and 2003. Unfortunately I can’t show them here but they can be seen on Angelucci’s website. Drawing images from home movies and combining with new video footage In a Hundred “is framed by a child counting to one-hundred who becomes the keeper of time, the metronome reminding us of its relentless march forward… The visual imagery weaves a pattern of time travel which moves inevitably forward but one which carries the past with it. Underlying this obsession with time is an examination of the family via three generations of women; the child counting as the youngest, the video maker as the middle and the video maker's memory (via the Super 8 footage), the past.”

Regular 8 (Dog), Chromogenic print, 40 x 42 inches, 2009

Angelucci also produced the video Snow, a catalyst for the Regular 8 series. Snow “is comprised of a series of film segments taken from the last few seconds of a variety of Super 8 family films. The short scenes in Snow were selected because they still contained the "white dots" which suddenly appear, float over and obliterate the scene. (These dots are literally holes in the film created by Kodak as an identifying tagging system). Although there is nothing remarkable in these ordinary scenes of family life, the video becomes a series of endings strung together forever suspending the narrative. The dots obliterate the last clues of the story; each scene viewed in brief isolation, a small gesture of loss.” In Snow we find film fragments of actual people; in Regular 8 people are actors. In staging scenes of family occasions Angelucci is making an extraordinary departure from her earlier projects.

Regular 8 (Cocktails), Chromogenic print, 40 x 42 inches, 2009

In Regular 8, Angelucci’s carefully arranged and stunningly staged colour photographs --resembling snippets of 8mm films-- portray middle-class family occasions and outings from the 1950s era: idealized, yet plausible scenes of a family touring Niagara Falls, an outdoor wedding party, a baptism, three people drinking cocktails, a family skating on a pond. In the post WWII era, almost everyone was upwardly mobile. This was the era of the automobile, the onset of highways and the beginning of that dreaded blight, suburbia, now problems to today’s urban centres and the cause of massive pollution.

Standard 8 mm also referred to as Regular 8mm was introduced by Kodak during the Great Depression. Few could afford the camera and film to make home movies. By the end of WWII though, those who could afford to buy fancy automobiles and new houses, could also easily afford a Regular 8 camera to preserve family gatherings and engagements. (Home movie making became even more popular and affordably accessible to a larger audience when Super 8mm was introduced in 1965.)

Regular 8 (Niagara Falls), Chromogenic print, 40 x 42 inches, 2009

Regular 8 photographs are comprised of elements or clues that suggest the whole: people are clothed in 1950s costumes; scenes are located in places that do not hint at anything contemporary (a 1950’s apartment building in Fountain, a park adjacent to an old church in Pigeons, a 1920s-30s style room suggesting a lounge in Cocktails) ; photographs are meant to look like regular 8mm film segments; white dots that represent the last few seconds of a film; and that the white dots are not mechanized but selectively placed by Angelucci in a post-shooting digital manipulation.

Regular 8 (Fountain), Chromogenic print, 40 x 42 inches, 2009

Photographs are either shown with three frames and a full image in the mid-section or four frames and two full images in the mid-section. The photographs are clear and polished; it is not necessary that they look scratchy like a real film for that would simply be a copy of a film segment rather than an art photograph. Each photograph is the last vestige of an occasion or outing, the white puncture-like dots signaling the end of a home movie. Angelucci is not interested in frames untainted by punch holes for that would mean that there was more narrative to come. Instead “The white dots… seemed abrupt, incomplete and merciless. Home movies represent the memories of us at our best, happiest, most polished and special. They evoke something we wanted to hold close forever. Of course we never can, and that immanent ending brings to light the painful beauty of the ephemeral nature of our lives.”

Regular 8 (Skaters), Chromogenic print, 40 x 42 inches, 2009

Are the dots too literal? Yes and no. Should the images be without white dots, it would still be obvious that as stills rather than blow-ups of actual films that they are already ruptures in the narratives. The white dots signal the end of a film; will viewers understand what the white dots represent, especially without a didactic panel or artist statement accompanying the images hung in a gallery? Whether the dots are there or not viewers can only surmise what is in front of them. On the other hand the dots mar the image of a perfectly staged scene. One cannot look at the scenes without being somewhat annoyed by the dots floating in the image. In this way the artist clearly suggests that within the polished images lies a certain superficial reality of families in the 1950’s.

Regular 8 (Wedding), Chromogenic print, 40 x 42 inches, 2009

Despite my admiration and liking of Regular 8 I am disappointed that the artist was not more aggressive with the placement of dots. Other than Niagara Falls in which, the young child and woman on the right is half obliterated by the dots, the others have dots that selectively avoid people. The Kodak punch-hole tagging system is mechanized. It easily erases someone’s head or someone blowing out the candles on their birthday cake, whereas Angelucci seemed unable to let go of the sacredness of a staged scene. In Skating the dots encircle the pond, leaving the scene of people skating almost unscathed and in Wedding two dots float above two women’s heads. If we compare it to the video Snow in which actual films are spliced together and freeze some of these frames dots in some instances obliterate heads and other major parts of an event (example, baptism). This is far more plausible. Angelucci has, in creating perfectly rendered scenes been far too cautious.

Regular 8 (Baptism), Chromogenic print, 40 x 42 inches, 2009

That being said Regular 8 is one of the best exhibitions that I have seen in a long time. Angelucci is one of those rare artists that has an excellent portfolio of work throughout her career. I strongly suggest that readers spend some time viewing her work online at www.sara-angelucci.ca or click on the link in the right column.

Sara Angelucci is represented by Wynick/Tuck Gallery. The exhibition took place from May 9 - 30 during the Contact Toronto Photography Festival.

LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO À MONTRÉAL STILL ON UNTIL OCTOBER 10

11TH PRESENTATION: THE SPACES OF THE IMAGE

Over the past thirty years, photography has been integrated into the field of contemporary art through the work of numerous artists whose practices bring images together with scenographic experiences. The 11th presentation of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal will explore the questions of mechanisms and staging, perceived as essential keys to reading the different photographic projects presented in recent years. Due to the range of possibilities –– the technical diversity of film and digital cameras, formats, printing procedures, and the many alternatives offered in terms of museography and occupation of the space –– photographers are increasingly called upon to become aware of their relationship with the exhibition. Production methods and viewing modalities, as integral parts of projects, exert a direct influence on the aesthetic of images. Enlargement and monumentalization of prints, slide projection, in situ conception, the making of objects and machines, visual and audio mise en scène –– for each approach there is a corresponding pragmatic use of display techniques that determines the form and meaning of the images shown.

The Spaces of the Image was developed by French Guest Curator Gaëlle Morel. The event features 24 solo exhibitions and public space interventions in a variety of different sites throughout the city. Artists from 13 countries explore the question of mechanisms and staging in contemporary photography.

A publication accompanying the Festival, The Spaces of the Image, is edited by Gaëlle Morel and brings together new and original contributions by art historians and critics interested in scenographic issues. Lavishly illustrated with the works of the participating artists, this bilingual reference book is available in bookstores and in several exhibition sites during the event.

Artists include:
Kutluğ Ataman (Turkey) • Sammy Baloji (Democratic Republic of Congo) • Yael Bartana (Israel/the Netherlands) • Robert Burley (Canada) • Jim Campbell (USA) • Pascal Convert (France) • Luc Courchesne (Canada) • Michael Flomen (Canada) • Jeff Guess (USA/France) • Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige (Lebanon/France) • Alfredo Jaar (Chile/USA) • Emmanuelle Léonard (Canada) • Yveline Loiseur (France) • Shelley Miller (Canada) • Oscar Muñoz (Colombia) • Cheryl Pagurek (Canada) • Alain Paiement (Canada) • Pavel Pavlov (Canada) • Anne Ramsden (Canada) • David Rokeby (Canada) • Zineb Sedira (France/UK) • Beat Streuli (Switzerland) • Pierre Tremblay (Canada) • Yang Zhenzhong (China)

Exhibition Sites:
Canadian Centre for Architecture • Darling Foundry • Galerie B-312 • Galerie de l’UQAM • Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University • Les Ateliers Jean Brillant • MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) • Maison de la culture du Plateau-Mont-Royal • Maison de la culture Frontenac • SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art • VOX, centre de l’image contemporaine

Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal is an international biennale of contemporary photography. In 1989, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the invention of photography, VOX, centre de diffusion de la photographie, presented the first Mois de la Photo à Montréal, which included more than 60 exhibitions as well as a large number of related activities. This original event was a catalyst, creating a gathering place, unprecedented in the Montreal and Canadian artistic community, and served as an inspiration for transforming Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal into a biennale –– one that, under the auspices of VOX, produced seven events between 1989 and 2001.

In September 2002, Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal became an autonomous not-for-profit corporation and its charitable status was obtained in 2006. The change in administration was accompanied by a shift in the artistic direction: for each presentation of the event, the appointment of a new Guest Curator with a new theme lends to each biennale a singular artistic and theoretical orientation. This artistic formula was proven successful for the 2003, 2005 and 2007 events.

About the image:
Alain Paiement, a Montreal based photographer, is exhibiting his latest work Arrangements d’après nature at The Darling Foundry in collaboration with Mois de la Photo. The impressive space of the gallery hosts Paiement’s gigantic photomontages perfectly. You can step back and enjoy the full experience and then get right up close and catch all the details. The piece, shown above, is of a husband’s collection of taxidermy animals and hunting trophies and is hung directly in front of the wife’s collection of silverware and porcelain dolls. Paiement’s attention to detail is amazing, the distorted vantage point feels awkward and the sizes of the works are overwhelming. All this adds up to some pretty impressive work.

www.moisdelaphoto.com

FREE SCREENINGS AT CAMERA BAR/STEPHEN BULGER GALLERY

FREE SATURDAY AFTERNOONS SCREENINGS AT CAMERA/3PM

OBSESSION:

SEPTEMBER 19 - GILDA
Dir. Charles Vidor (USA, 1946) 110 mins

Just arrived in Argentina, small-time crooked gambler Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) is saved from a gunman by sinister Ballin Mundson (George Macready), who later makes Johnny his right-hand man. But their friendship based on mutual lack of scruples becomes strained when Mundson returns from a trip with a wife: the supremely desirable Gilda (Rita Hayworth), whom Johnny once knew and has now learned to hate. The relationship between Johnny and Gilda, a battlefield of warring emotions, becomes even more bizarre once Mundson disappears.

OCTOBER 3 - BORN TO KILL
Dir. Robert Wise (USA, 1947) 92 mins

In Reno a man kills a girl he likes and her boyfriend out of jealousy; it may not be the first time. A woman whose divorce has just come through finds the bodies but decides not to become involved. The two meet next day on the train to San Francisco unaware of this link between them. They are attracted to each other, and the relationship survives his marriage to her half-sister for money and status. It even survives the woman discovering that he was the murderer, though she may not realise how easily someone who has killed this way before can do so again.

OCTOBER 10 - REBECCA
Dir. Alfred Hitchcock (USA, 1940) 130 mins

A shy ladies' companion, staying in Monte Carlo with her stuffy employer, meets the wealthy Maxim de Winter. She and Max fall in love, marry and return to Manderlay, his large country estate in Cornwall. Max is still troubled by the death of his first wife, Rebecca, in a boating accident the year before. The second Mrs. de Winter clashes with the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, and discovers that Rebecca still has a strange hold on everyone at Manderlay.

OCTOBER 17 - CLASH BY NIGHT
Dir. Fritz Lang (Sweden, 1952) 105 mins

The bitter and cynical Mae Doyle returns to the fishing village where she was raised after deceptive loves and life in New York. She meets her brother, the fisherman Joe Doyle, and he lodges her in his home. Mae is courted by Jerry D'Amato, a good and naive man that owns the boat where Joe works, and he introduces his brutal friend Earl Pfeiffer, who works as theater's projectionist and is cheated by his wife. She does not like Earl and his jokes, but Jerry considers him his friend and they frequently see each other. Mae decides to accept the proposal of Jerry and they get married and one year later they have a baby girl. When the wife of Earl leaves him, he becomes depressed and Mae, who is bored with her loveless marriage, has an affair with him.

OCTOBER - LAURA
Dir. Otto Preminger (USA, 1944) 88 mins

Detective Mark McPherson investigates the killing of Laura, found dead on her apartment floor before the movie starts. McPherson builds a mental picture of the dead girl from the suspects whom he interviews. He is helped by the striking painting of the late lamented Laura hanging on her apartment wall. But who would have wanted to kill a girl with whom every man she met seemed to fall in love? To make matters worse, McPherson finds himself falling under her spell too. Then one night, halfway through his investigations, something seriously bizarre happens to make him re-think the whole case.

PLOT SUMMARIES COPIED FROM imdb.com

camerabar.ca

1026 Queen Street West, Toronto
T 416.504.0575 bulgergallery.com

FALL 2009 PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS AT GALLERY 44

FALL 2009 PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS

DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION
CONSTRUCTED IMAGE (10 Students)

Instructor: Rafael Ochoa

Wednesday, Sept. 30, 6-9pm

Cost: $90/ $80 (members)

This workshop introduces the basic and intermediate Photoshop skills necessary for seamless post-production image construction. Emerging artist/photographer Raffy Ochoa shares his expertise with demonstration and discussion, and participants will have the chance to work with their own images in Photoshop CS4 on laptops provided. Info offered on image compositing, digital lighting, localized luminance and color adjustments and more. Prerequisite: basic Photoshop knowledge.

Raffy Ochoa's Bio
Born in 1983 in Toronto. Raffy's photographic work examines the fantastical reality of the contemporary experience. His practice explores the phenomena of subjective experience, projections of reality and cultural myth within the ever-changing contemporary landscape. Raffy Ochoa is currently completing his BFA at the Ontario College of Art and Design and is the recipient of the Mark McCain Award 2008 and the Stephen Bulger Gallery Scholarship 2008.

GOING DIGITAL I (10 Students)
Instructor: Erin Seaman

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 6-9pm

Cost: $90/ $80 (members)

Our most requested seminar-based workshop will introduce participants to the IMACON and EPSON scanning stations at Gallery 44. Offering tips, tricks, information and guidance, this workshop is for those who are experienced with analog photography yet are new and a little unsure about digital imaging. Demonstrations, handouts and discussion on scanning basics, basic Photoshop, file preparation and color management in preparation for digital printing will be covered.

Erin Seaman's Bio
Erin is a graduate for the Ontario College of Art and Design. She currently works as a Digital Technician at the University and shoots on a regular basis for Calvin Klein, Home Dec and Costco. Erin has been working in the photography industry for over 10 years, owning her own studio and various photography businesses along the way. Erin enjoys teaching others about digital photography and has taken every opportunity to share her knowledge with other artists' and photographers.

BASIC BLACK & WHITE (10 Students)
Instructor: Ruth Kaplan

3 Sessions, Saturdays, Oct. 17, 24, 31, 10am - 2pm

Cost: $420/ $400 (members)

Leave your digital camera & Photoshop at home and experience the thrill of watching a photograph emerge from blank paper to image. Traditional black and white photography has volumes to teach photographers about the basics of what makes an excellent photograph including; the relationship between light and image, seeing qualities of light, developing an eye for composition, and learning to control print quality. Learn from artist Ruth Kaplan how to shoot, develop and print B&W photographs. This course is designed for beginners, as well as those interested in brushing up on their skills. Students are required to bring a working manual 35mm film camera.

Ruth Kaplan's Bio
Ruth Kaplan is a Toronto-based photographer whose work explores a variety of themes such as bathers in communal hot springs and participants in rituals of spirituality. Documentary-based, her images are subjective offering a highly personal interpretation of social behaviour. She has exhibited widely over the past twenty years and is represented by the Stephen Bulger Gallery.

Kaplan's editorial work can be found in major Canadian and international publications. She has received numerous National Magazine Awards, Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council grants. She is a photography instructor at schools including Ryerson University, OCAD and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She is currently enrolled in an MFA program at Ryerson University School of Image Arts, in Documentary Media.

www.ruthkaplanphoto.com
www.bulgergallery.com

PUSHING DIGITAL SLR INTENSIVE (10 Students)
Instructor: Erin Seaman

Wednesday, Nov. 4, 6-9pm

Cost: $90/ $80 (members)

Designed as a how-to workshop for the DSLR novice, this workshops gets to the nitty gritty of working with a digital SLR camera. Erin Seaman will decode the functions of these cameras and assist artists in making optimal use of their gear. Topics covered include: menus, modes, color spaces, flash sync, raw, metering, focus points and dedicated accessories.

Erin Seaman's Bio (see above)

PINHOLE (6 Students)
Instructor: Dave Kemp

Sunday, Nov. 15, 10am - 5pm

Cost: $180/ $160 (members)

Pinhole Photography: low-tech, high-science ...and a little bit of math. The ultimate in camera hacking, pinhole photography allows you to make cameras out of just about anything and frees you from the limitations (and costs) inherent in using a manufactured camera. This workshop will concentrate on the physics behind pinhole photography and present some simple methods to calculate the parameters of one's camera and properly determine exposure in order to achieve your goals while still leaving room for experimentation and unexpected surprises. Materials to make your own pinhole camera will be provided, but students are also welcome to bring their own light-tight containers to make cameras from.

Dave Kemp's Bio
Dave Kemp is a visual artist currently living in Toronto, Canada whose art practice looks at the intersections and interactions between art, science and technology - particularly at how these fields shape our perception and understanding of the world. Recent activities include exhibitions at the Modern Fuel Gallery (Kingston), IPO Gallery (Ottawa), !deas Gallery (in the Ontario Science Centre, Toronto) and Interaccess Media Arts Centre (Toronto). Dave is a graduate from the Master of Visual Studies program at the University of Toronto where he also completed the Collaborative program in Knowledge Media Design. Prior to this, he earned an Image Arts (photography) BFA from Ryerson University and his BScE in Mechanical Engineering at Queen's University.

CYANOTYPES (6 Students)
Instructor: Sally Ayre

Saturday, Nov. 21, 10-5pm

Cost: $180/ $160 (members)

Go back in time with this workshop and experience one of the earliest photographic printing processes. Cyanotype is a non-silver process that can be combined or used independently to create distinctive Blue toned imagery on natural materials such as silk or art papers. This hands-on workshop with Sally Ayre will teach proper coating, exposing, and developing techniques for Cyanotype.

Sally Ayre's Bio
Sally Ayre is a photo based installation artist living in Toronto. Sally works mainly with old photographic processes using a combination of photographic images and photograms on layers of silk. She draws her inspiration from nature and the wild landscape of Newfoundland where she was born and raised. She is an active member of Gallery 44, Centre for Contemporary Photography and the Tenth Muse Photo Collective. Sally is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and has been exhibiting her work since 1990.

STUDIO LIGHTING (10 Students)
Instructor: Toni Hafkenscheid

Sunday, Nov. 22, 10am-5pm

Cost: $135/ $125 (members)

Utilizing the newly renovated studio space in Gallery 44¹s production studios, artist, educator and photographer Toni Hafkensheid will lead participants on an adventure in lighting. Demonstrations using tungsten, strobe and other lighting sources will open up the possibilities for creativity in the studio. Participants are welcome to bring their own digital cameras and may have a small amount of time to set up their own lighting scenes and do test shots.

Toni Hafkenscheid's Bio
Toni Hafkenscheid is a Toronto based photographer who was born in 1959 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In 1989, he graduated from the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and shortly thereafter moved to Toronto. During the following six years he was active in the arts community in Toronto and received several Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council awards. In 1996 Toni moved back to the Netherlands to pursue a career as a commercial photographer and to teach photography at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. In 2002 Toni returned to Toronto, Canada. He is currently teaching at OCAD and Ryerson in Toronto. He is represented in Canada by the Birch Libralato Gallery in Toronto, Skew Gallery in Calgary and Gallery Jones in Vancouver and in the US by Packer Schopf, Chicago and George Billis Gallery in LA and NY and Marcia Wood Gallery in Atlanta. He has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout Canada, the U.S., Japan and Europe. His works reside in a number of important collections, including the Canadian Museum for Contemporary Photography (Ottawa), Foreign Affairs Canada, the University of Toronto, the Canada Council Art bank, The Royal Bank of Canada, The Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Art (Buffalo, NY), Kodak France and Kodak Netherlands, and various private collections.

http://www.thphotos.com/index.html

GRANT WRITING/ ARTIST STATEMENTS (6 Students)
Instructor: Sara Angelucci

Wednesday, Nov. 25, 6-9pm

Cost: $70/ $60 (members)

Artist Sara Angelucci has extensive experience writing and receiving grants as well as serving on granting juries. A detailed look at the granting process, with a special focus on writing an artist statement, this workshop will assist participants in understanding what is expected for individual artist grant applications. With a special focus on photography, this course will help artists learn how to communicate their ideas to jurors clearly and effectively. Topics covered include writing artist statements, image selection and the application.

Note: Participants must bring a sample of an artist statement along with 10 jpeg images.

Sara Angelucci's Bio
Sara Angelucci is a photo and video artist living in Toronto. She completed her B.A. at the University of Guelph and her MFA at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She has exhibited her photography across Canada including exhibitions at Le Mois de la Photo in Montreal, Ace Art in Winnipeg, Vu in Quebec City, The Toronto Photographer's Workshop, the MacLaren Art Centre, the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the Richmond Art Gallery. Her videos have been screened across Canada and have been included in festivals in Europe and Hong Kong. Sara has participated in artist residencies at NSCAD (Halifax), the Banff Centre and at Biz-Art in Shanghai, China. Sara's work is represented by the Wynick/Tuck Gallery and V Tape in Toronto.

http://www.sara-angelucci.ca/

ALBUMEN (6 Students)
Instructor: Amanda Rataj

Saturday, Nov. 28, 10am 5pm

Cost: $180/ $160 (members)

Emerging artist Amanda Rataj takes participants back in time with the delicate and historical process of Albumen printing, a process that was popular in the late 1800s. This workshop includes a brief historical introduction to albumen, and opportunities to create your own albumen prints. Participants will leave the workshop confident to work with this process independently.

Amanda Rataj's Bio
Amanda Rataj is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Toronto, Ontario, who will be graduating from the photography program at OCAD in the Spring 2010. She combines the use of handmade paper and historical photographic processes to explore themes related to ephemera, the natural world & collections.

IMAGE: Dave Kemp, Pinhole Camera, 2003

For Additional Information, full course descriptions, material list and instructor info please visit www.gallery44.org

To register, contact us at: 416.979.3941 or sojin@gallery44.org
We accept cash, cheque and VISA. Fees include the cost of all or most materials. Participants must pay in advance to secure registration and must cancel 10 days before the workshop to receive a full refund (less a $25 admin fee).

Gallery 44 reserves the right to cancel or reschedule workshops with a full refund.

Anyone attending workshops involving photo chemistry must read our health & safety outline & sign a waiver prior to attending the workshop. Please note, Gallery 44 DOES NOT allow pregnant or breastfeeding women in workshops that involve photo chemistry.

Gallery 44 is located at: 401 Richmond St. W. Ste. 120 Toronto.

Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography is a non-profit artist-run centre committed to the advancement of photographic art. The centre is supported by its members and patrons, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council. Registered Charity #11927310RR0001

FALL OUT/FALL IN AT BLACKWOOD GALLERY

SEPTEMBER 14 - DECEMBER 13

FALL OUT: With Robyn Cumming, Simone Jones, Zilvinas Kempinas, Erika Kierulf, Kristiina Lahde, Paul Litherland, Valerian Maly, Tom Sherman, Don Simmons

Live the lives, live them all,
Keep the dreams separate,

See: I rise, See: I fall

Am an other, am no other.

Paul Celan (1), Threadsuns, trans. Pierre Joris, Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 2000, 25.

An exhibition bound by gravity. An exhibition where to be bound by gravity will be considered, diverted, inverted. Some work will defy gravity (Kempinas), others will simultaneously defy and confirm its inevitable pull (Litherland and his skydiving projects). Yet others will allude to the rise and fall in Celan’s epigraph and feature the ebb and flow of breathing (Keirulf) as well as his notion of the self as ‘other’ (Jones with her implicit reference to The Man Who Fell To Earth). Tactics involving wind and magnetism, amongst others, are recruited to counter the fated force of attraction which ties our feet to the ground and keeps the Earth spinning around the Sun. Orbits are relationships defined by thwarted falls, they dance the push and pull pairing of two bodies. The physiological and psychological impact of gravity will warrant particular attention in this exhibition (with a special nod to Philippe Halsman's Jumpology project). Fall Out will also be a study of outcomes, epiphanies and consequences (Maly). It will be an examination of remnants and how they act as triggers in perennial permutation—in other words, Fall Out will dwell on a fall out that never settles.

OCTOBER 26 - DECEMBER 13

FALL IN: With Annie Onyi Cheung, Sophie Bélair Clément, Gillian Collyer, Zev Farber, Alison S. M. Kobayashi, Ryan Park, Roula Partheniou, Joshua Schwebel and Josh Thorpe

Fall Out will be followed by Fall In. Artists in the second exhibition will respond to the works in the first exhibition. During Fall In both will coexist in the gallery.

Annie Onyi Cheung will respond to the work of Simone Jones
Sophie Bélair Clément will respond to the work of Tom Sherman

Gillian Collyer will respond to the work of Kristiina Lahde

Zev Farber will respond to the work of Valerian Maly

Alison S.M. Kobayashi will respond to the work of Paul Litherland

Ryan Park will respond to the work of Erika Keirulf

Roula Partheniou will respond to the work of Zilvinas Kempinas

Josh Schwebel will respond to the work of Robyn Cumming

Josh Thorpe will respond to the work of Don Simmons

Curated by Christof Migone

SPECIAL EVENTS

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 11:30 - 5:30PM ART BUS TOUR
Bus departs at 11:30am from OCAD (100 McCaul St) for Oakville Galleries, Blackwood Gallery and Art Gallery of Mississauga. Snacks and refreshments will be provided. Cost: $10. To register, please call 905-844-4402 by Friday Sept. 18.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 12 - 5PM FREE CONTEMPORARY ART BUS TOUR
Starting at noon at the ROM (100 Queen's Park) with exhibition tours organized by the Institute for Contemporary Culture and the Koffler Gallery, bus departs for Doris McCarthy Gallery, Art Gallery of York University and Blackwood Gallery. To reserve a seat, please call 416-638-1881 ext.4270 by Friday Sept. 25.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 10 - 4PM REGIONAL ART BUS TOUR
Tour starts at 10am of the Art Gallery of Mississauga, then departs for the Art Gallery of Peel, Gallery Streetsville and the Blackwood Gallery and returns to the Mississauga Civic Centre at 4pm. Coffee and refreshments will be provided and there will be free time for lunch in Streetsville (lunch is not provided). Free underground parking available at the Mississauga Civic Centre. Cost: $15. To register, please call 905-896-5088 by Friday Oct.16.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 12 - 5PM FREE CONTEMPORARY ART BUS TOUR
Starting at noon at the ROM (100 Queen's Park) with exhibition tours organized by the Institute for Contemporary Culture and the Koffler Gallery, bus departs for Doris McCarthy Gallery, Art Gallery of York University and Blackwood Gallery. To reserve a seat, please call 416-287-7007 by Friday Nov. 6.

For more information, call 905-828-3789 or visit www.blackwoodgallery.ca

Support generously provided by The Canada Council for the Arts, University of Toronto Student Housing and Residence Life (Mississauga) and The Ontario Trillium Foundation.

IMAGES
Erika Kierulf, Jonathan, still from Untitled (Studies for Breathe), 2006

Robyn Cumming, From the Little Legs series (2006): Many Shades of Pink, White Light, Undone, My Heart is Breaking. From the Oh, Mother series (2007): Untitled.

Paul Litherland - Force of Attraction (2003) 3:04