No Place Like This Place

That's Ed looking at one of the 240 entries.

I went to Frostburg this past weekend to jury a photography show the Allegany Arts Council with my former student (and current friend), Ed DeWitt. I am exhausted- could it be from staying up until the roosters were crowing each night, and trying my damnedest to put a dent in Frostburg's supply of Wild Goose Porter?

Naa... it was the drive. There is a lot to write about my visit, and I'll post about Frostburg over the next few days.

Being a juror is both exhilarating and humbling. I love to look at other peoples' pictures (OPP), but am made uncomfortable judging a show by my set of "educated" standards when the majority of the people entering the show are hobbyists. What I would like to do be brought in to do is to edit/sequence the selections for a community photography show where all work submitted would be hung. I would hang the work in groups dependent of its subject matter. The subjects would be as follows:

1. The Horizon (beach, lake, mountain scenes, and sunsets)
2. Animals
3. Trains and Rail Ephemera
4. Humans
5. Flowers
6. Sports
7. Special Effects
8. Moody Black and White Pictures by Photo Students and other "Educated" Photographs

I am not calling for this to be some kind of quasi democracy through images, but I do think it would be instructive of what people look at, and care about, and for those people in category 8, it would be instructive for them to see how their work fits into (and looks amidst) all of the work submitted. Category 8 may be different, but is it really any better than that picture of the bunny rabbit?

Art wise, aside from adjudicating (ahem...), I also got to check out my friend Stephen Manger's paintings in his studio behind his house on Uhl Street in Frostburg. I'll write what I think about them later, but here they are for now, for your enjoyment, opinion free.




Stephen's is a laborious process akin to printmaking- after cutting his painted
canvas into squares he re-assembles the painting by sewing the squares together.


And here's Stephen (look out Banks Violette!!). Keep up the good work Stephen!