An excellent showing of photographs from around the county!
Ms. Dubrowski introducing Ms Frieser at the opening of the 28th Annual Membership Exhibitions
Houston, Texas, July 9, 2010
Houston Center for Photography (HCP)
Presentation and opening of the 28th Annual Juried Membership Exhibition of photographs.
A fair size crowd arrived prior to 5:30 PM to hear the presentation by the juror, Ms. Hannah Frieser, on the right, Director of Light Work at Syracuse University, NY. Introducing Ms. Frieser was Ms. Bevin Bering Dubrowski, Director of HCP. Behind them is the photograph, “Li Long Street Night, Shanghai, China” by Margaret Stratton of Iowa City, IA.
To this reviewer this exhibit is perhaps the finest presentation of members images at HCP in the past seven years. Selections were made from an extremely large number of photographs put onto CDs for Ms. Frieser to go through. She said it was difficult but enlightening to see the wide subject range and excellence. Images on the walls show the high quality of work, which is superb. Sequencing of images is also very good, that is, as you move along the various walls, there are no major jolts. Images move well, one to the other.
And If I Did No.2 by Cynthia Morgan Batmanis, 2010
There is a good showing of black and white, alternative processes, as well as wet processes. The majority, however, are listed as ink jet prints. Of the total 60 photographs, 8 are silver gelatin; 10 are Chromogenic, that is prints from the wet process or standard Type C prints; 7 are what’s known today as alternative processes of which 5 are palladium/platinum while two are a slightly different palladium known as ziatype That’s 25 non-digitally produced although chromogenics can easily be made from digital files
Untitled #35 by Dennis Yermoshin, 2004
The comment was made by Ms. Frieser that there was a limited amount of wall space, some 200 linear feet so the final selection was necessarily small compared to the number of entries. Space is always a concern when it comes to selecting a show. From the pamphlet was garnered the following:
total number of photographers–36
number who had 2 prints displayed–8
number who had 3 prints displayed–1
number who had 4 prints displayed–2
number who had 5 prints displayed–2
for a total of 13 having multiple prints on the walls leaving 23 with a single photograph.
The single 3 print photographer’s works were quite small taking little space. However one of the 4 prints are so large as to fill an entire major wall as did one of 5 prints. The main gallery space near the entrance had prints well spaced from each other while the secondary spaces and especially the hallway prior to the library were quite crammed. The show, as stated, is excellent but to do justice to those with smaller and single prints would have required more wall space. The four large prints on the left wall could easily have been reduced to two prints or at the very least, smaller prints could have been required. There’s an old saying if you can’t made a good photograph (not saying that for this show) make a big one. The reverse is said for paintings, if you can’t make a good painting make a small one.
Included herein are three that reflect the more sublime elements within the show. No flowers, bees, humingbirds, sunsets, and the like. There was a sequence, however, of a small sunflower against a black background with chalk like typography; a black and white photograph sequence. Some of the images will take considerable time to access their messages while others are quite simplistic.
Enjoy, I know I did and I’ll be going back for a more quiet look.
Velta and Gene by Kendrick Brinson, 2009
Tags: 2010, 28th, critic, critique, Don Eddy, exhibit, HCP, Houston, Houston Center for Photography, membership, photography, show