An important position in the Oregon photography world has opened up, as Lisa DeGrace is leaving Portland’s influential Blue Sky Gallery. Mac’s List has the job opening.
DEADLINE TODAY: Oregon Humanities submissions
Oregon Humanities is looking for cover images for their Summer issue, as well as other forms of journalism.
“For the Summer 2019 issue of Oregon Humanities, we want to hear your stories, ideas, thoughts, and arguments on the word “adapt.” Share an experience about conforming in response to some sort of pressure. Tell us what it takes to alter and revamp a system that needs to change. Explore a historical or current event that shows the process and outcome of adaptation.
We especially appreciate good stories and fresh ideas, particularly if they relate to challenging questions, diverse perspectives, and just communities. Tell us something we’ve never heard before. Show us something from a different angle. Make us feel, see, hear, smell the world anew.
“If you are interested in contributing to this issue, please read past issues and the guidelines for writers. Please note that at this time, we only accept work by writers who reside in Oregon. Then, submit one proposal or one draft by Wednesday, March 13, 2019, to k.holt@oregonhumanities.org to Kathleen Holt, Editor, Oregon Humanities magazine.”
Final weekend to see a hidden history of the Holocaust
“I buried my negatives in the ground in order that there should be some record of our tragedy.” — Henryk Ross
This is the final weekend to see two powerful exhibitions in Portland. Together, Memory Unearthed at the Portland Art Museum and The Last Journey of the Jews of Lodz at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education offer an extraordinarily rare glimpse of life inside the Lodz Ghetto through the lens of Polish Jewish photojournalist Henryk Ross (1910–1991).
From PAM: “At great risk, Ross documented the brutal realities of life under Nazi rule, culminating in the deportation of tens of thousands to death camps at Chelmno and Auschwitz. With the hope of preserving a historical record, Ross buried more than 6,000 of his negatives in 1944. When he returned for them after Lodz’s liberation, Ross found that more than half of the negatives had survived, and he spent the rest of his life sharing the images.”
New photography at the Portland Art Museum
This coming week at the Portland Art Museum, there are several events that showcase wonderful photography.
Fazal Sheik’s well-regarded special photography exhibition of refugees and the issues facing them — “Common Ground” — will close with a May 13 seminar, “Human Resilience in Mobility: Politics of the Image and the Global South,” and a public tour on May 20 from 3:00-4:00.
Fresh this week is a new rotation of Minor White’s classic early images from Oregon — which were commissioned as part of FDR’s New Deal programs — and made before White rose to Photo God status by helping to found Aperture alongside Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange and others.
Also, this month’s Brown Bag Lecture Talk series is on May 16th from noon to 1 p.m, a presentation of the Portland Art Museum’s Photography Council sponsored by Pro Photo Supply. Portland photographer Harley Cowan will talk about his large-format work documenting nuclear production sites.
“I grew up in Richland, Washington next to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation,” Cowan wrote, and his interest led to six years working in nuclear industry. Now a practicing architect as well as a photographer, Cowan travels to “historically significant but largely unrecorded sites in the Pacific Northwest in order to create photography eligible for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER).”
“They continue to follow strict guidelines for black & white, large format, film photography. As a contemporary photographer, it is an intriguing starting point.”
Portland Art Museum events on Jim Lommasson and Minor White
A couple fascinating photography events are coming up next week at the Portland Art Museum, both of which will involve the documentation of history and its effect on the present day.
On Wednesday, April 18, Jim Lommasson will talk about his emotional still life images and the personal histories of objects brought to America by refugees fleeing wars in Iraq and Syria. His lecture is titled “What We Carried: Fragments from the Cradle of Civilization,.”
“Lommasson photographs these precious items — family snapshots, an archaeology book, heirloom china dishes, the Quran — on a white background, asking their owners to write directly within the open space left in the prints and elaborate upon each object’s significance,” wrote Zemie Barr of the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts. “The resulting images are as beautiful as they are heartbreaking, providing viewers with only a small glimpse of what each person has lost while serving as a poignant reminder that, as Jim asserts, “we must take responsibility for the aftermath of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as at home.”
The event will be free to the public, in the Fields Ballroom of the Mark building, from noon until 1:00 p.m.
And on April 20, an all-day symposium on Minor White will celebrate the iconic co-founder of Aperture and his formative work in Oregon. Co-organized by the Princeton University Art Museum, the symposium will bring together “curators, art historians, artists, and archivists from around the country for a free, day-long discussion about White’s early photographic work in Oregon, his influences, and his legacy.”
The event will be live-streamed on the museum’s YouTube channel for those unable to attend.
George Olson, photographer and editor
Follow the Money — A Photolucida talk on March 15
Money talks: Certified photography appraiser and photo historian Jennifer L. Stoots will share an illustrated presentation that takes a look at the history of the Western art market, the fine art photography market, and where we are today. The event will be Thursday, March 15 at 7:00 at Disjecta — 8371 N. Interstate in Portland.
According to Photolucida, this will be the first in a quarterly event series:
Continue reading “Follow the Money — A Photolucida talk on March 15”
The State Of Photography in Portland Today – A Panel Discussion
As Portland photographers continue to navigate the developing art scene in a changing city, a Photolucida event at DISJECTA on Thursday promises to be an enlightening gathering of views on the here and now. I’ll see you there! From the invitation:
“Join us for an evening discussion with some of the key figures in Portland’s photographic community. We want to know…what is happening now and what is next? What do you feel is working and what is missing?
Lend your voice and learn along with us! Stick around after the one-hour panel for a social hour to continue the conversation. Beverages and snacks will be provided! Free and open to the public!” Continue reading “The State Of Photography in Portland Today – A Panel Discussion”