35th Annual Photography Show: History and Process

Saturday, January 10 – Sunday, February 8, 2015
Carriage Barn Arts Center / New Canaan Society for the Arts
Waveny Park, 681 South Ave, New Canaan
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 10th, 6 – 8 pm
Contact: admin@carriagebarn.org / 203-972-1895
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 10 am – 3 pm; Sunday, 1 – 5 pm

This group art show at the Carriage Barn Arts Center highlights the history of photography as well as the development and evolution of the camera. Approximately 120 works from 75 contemporary artists from Fairfield and Westchester counties were selected by the juror of the exhibition, Robert Gurbo, who is the Curator of the Estate of André Kertész and the André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation in New York. He is the author of André Kertész: The Early Years and André Kertész: The Polaroids. In the late 1970’s, Gurbo began working for André Kertész (1894-1985), one of the most inventive, influential, and prolific photographers in the medium’s history.

A wide range of subjects, styles, processes and printing techniques are included in this exhibition. Noteworthy techniques include Carrie Brady’s interactive metal photo collages that can be rotated and rearranged by the viewer. The lenticular photos by Miggs Burroughs act as prisms and change as the viewer shifts position. Ralph Baskin’s photographs are produced using an infrared converted camera and then processed with a thermal infrared filter. Such processes, while sometimes difficult to comprehend for the viewer, produce stunning results. The jewel-like quality of Hal Schwartz’s platinum palladium prints stems from his application of 24k gold leaf. Dan Lenore’s striking blue image of a Nautilus shell was achieved using the cyanotype process, in which chemicals produce a cyan-blue print.

In conjunction with the contemporary pieces, the Directors Arianne Kolb and Eleanor Flatow, with the help of exhibiting artist and collector Thomas Mezzanotte, curated a historical section that highlights some of the cameras and processes employed by photographers over the past 100 years. The exhibition displays vintage cameras as well as early photographs, such a daguerreotypes and tintypes. These early 20th-century works are juxtaposed with the intriguing photos of Thomas Mezzanotte, who only works with early cameras and experiments with historical processes. He often creates his own cameras, such as pinholes and camera obscuras, to produce unusual and dramatic results. His pinhole series looks almost like watercolors or drawings, an effect achieved by his application of a 19th-century photographic emulsion. His series of tintype portraits (made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of iron) are interesting to compare to earlier examples, which he has collected over the years. Mezzanotte selected a cyanotype, dated 1906, to display near his own cyanotype photogram, in which the actual grass leaves were projected directly onto paper, thereby producing a graphic print quality.

Mezzanotte’s and Amber Dietz’s ambrotype portraits, which are positive photographs on glass, are interesting to compare to earlier examples using the same process. A selection of Mezzanotte’s extensive collection of cameras, ranging from the original Kodak Brownie (c. 1890) and an 8 x 10 Century View camera (c. 1905) to a 1950s Brownie Kodak with flash bulb, will be displayed near some early photos that were produced using them.

The exhibition, which also features photos by talented middle and high school students, is generously sponsored by Bankwell, the Boyd Law Group PLLC, Karl Chevrolet, New Canaan Music, Palmer’s Market, The Summer House, and Weed & Duryea. Prizes for Juror’s Selections and Student categories will be announced at the opening reception.

Two lectures will be held during the show and are sponsored by the New Canaan Community Foundation. The first lecture by exhibiting artist Thomas Mezzanotte entitled “A Passion for Process: One Artist’s Journey through Photographic History” will be held on Thursday, January 29th at 6:30 pm. The second lecture on André Kertész will be given by the Juror Robert Gurbo on Thursday, February 5th. A $10 fee for members; $15 for non-members includes a wine reception at 6:30 pm, followed by the lecture/discussion at 7 pm.

Two photography workshops for children ages 8 -12 will be offered by the artist and teacher Carrie Brady on the following Sundays from 2- 3:30 pm: January 25th and February 1st. Gen Re, the Kiwanis Club of New Canaan, the Newcomers Club, and the Rotary Club of New Canaan are sponsoring these workshops, which will be held at the Carriage Barn Arts Center. The fee is $20 for non-members and $15 for members. Space is limited and reservations are required- admin@carriagebarn.org or 203-972-1895.

Also on Monday, January 26th, from 9:30 am – 12 pm, exhibiting artist Julie Stauffer will teach an iPhone workshop for adults. The fee is $40 per person and reservations are required. Space is limited and reservations are required- admin@carriagebarn.org 203-972-1895.