04.13.09
Posted in NW Arts, Photography at 6:04 pm by Michelle
When I’m not running around in my little white van snapping away with my Holgas, I’m often in the company of delightfully wacky performers in a variety of contexts. I’ve been photographing the Fremont Summer Solstice Parade since 1994, attending the Oregon Country Fair almost as long, and in recent years have become photographer for both the New Old Time Chautauqua and the Moisture Festival. OK, you probably don’t know what these are, or aren’t sure that you want to. But really, this is fun stuff – a resurgence of a type performance that used to be Americans’ main source of entertainment – traveling variety & vaudeville shows.
New Old Time Chautauqua has been around for over 30 years, taking performers on the road around the Northwest (sometimes Alaska, and the Gulf Coast in 2006) doing *free* parades, workshops and shows in little towns that don’t usually get much in the way of arts. It was born out of the community of the Oregon Country Fair, with the Flying Karamazov Brothers leading the way – they still come along on most of the tours. See my photos of the Big Sky Tour and the Gulf Coast Jambalaya Tour.
The Moisture Festival has taken these performers, and now others from all over the world, to become the longest festival in Seattle, and the biggest vaudeville festival in the world. In its 6th year, it has reached the point where all the shows sell out, and performers from everywhere beg to come to be part of the family, to commune with other performers, and perform to loving and enthusiastic audiences. This year there were almost 40 shows, mostly at Hale’s Palladium in Fremont/Ballard, with one weekend, which included burlesque shows, at ACT Theater. For the first time this year, SIFF Cinema hosted a series of related films during the festival, with live performances introducing each film. See some of my photos from 2007 and 2008. My 2009 photos here, and a collection by all three MF photographers here!
I love working with these people, making images that both help the performers further their careers and delight in their own right. I’ll be showing prints of some of these images for the first time this spring and summer in the Northwest – stay tuned! See a selection of photos on my website.
love & art,
Michelle
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12.01.08
Posted in NW Arts, Photography at 11:07 am by Michelle
For a nice change, last week the Holga fun was in downtown Seattle. Rosanna Salonia & Matthew Yates, two fabulous photographers from Tucson, are sharing an exhibition, called “Breaking Tradition”, at Benham Gallery (along with David Amator). Rosanna’s work is all Holga, and her prints are created in a way that they are objects in themselves, not just a vehicle for an image, as most photographs are. They’re all individually messed with, toned, and coated with beeswax; some are mounted on the wall, while others are in funky little wooden boxes. Matt’s photographs are dark and moody, and find homes in unique antique frames. The show is fantastic to explore; the variety of formats and the way it’s hung give it many layers, and it takes a while to explore them all.
The opening party was a blast, with loads of people through and lots of munchies, and even champagne!
Rosanna Salonia & Matthew Yates at the opening.
A visitor looking at Matt’s work.
On Sunday, Nov 23rd, we had a photo afternoon, starting with an artist talk by the 3 photographers leading the crowd around the gallery explaining their processes and inspiration. Afterwords, we had a Holga Meet-up. Holga photographers emailed in images and brought prints along. We projected images, talked about process and image, and generally gabbed about Holgas and how much we love them. The photographers included Ryan Synovec, who shoots stunning infrared landscape images that I hadn’t seen before (wow!), and Shannon Welles, who makes great lith prints of her Holga images.
Matt & Rosanna speaking at the artist talk
Marita Holdaway, owner of Benham Gallery
“Breaking Tradition” is up through Dec 24th; check it out.
~Michelle
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12.06.07
Posted in NW Arts, Photography at 10:38 pm by Michelle
It’s been a fun week here in the Northwest! I just got back from 4 weeks in Nepal and Thailand, found myself in some crazy Northwest weather, and managed to make it north, south and back home to my house on the hill.
First, I made it back in town for the last 2 days of “Cheap Shot: Plastic Cameras – The Low Tech of High Art” at the Photographic Center Northwest. I was delighted to see my images on the front panel, visible from the street (of course, I forgot to photograph it from outside). I’ve been a part of the PCNW community for a long time, and am honored to have been featured so prominently in this exhibition. The show included 6 of us toy-heads: me, Rosanna Salonia, Gordon Stettinius, Susan Burnstine, Jennifer Shaw, Shannon Welles. I’ve met all of them somewhere around the country except Jennifer – it’s a small toy camera world!
Last Friday, I drove down to Portland for a thrilling experience – giving a talk at Powell’s Books! Powell’s is an incredible independent bookstore; there are few like it left anywhere, and it’s a lofty achievement to get into their speaking schedule (I was turned down before the book came out, but once they got to know it, and see how well it sells, I got in!). I had no idea how many people would come, except the friends I was expecting, but, people just kept pouring in, until the crowd topped 40 people (that with two of my friends managing to miss most of it)! Not sure how everyone found out about it (shoulda asked for a show of hands), but the Portland Mercury did a funny little blurb on it that drew a bunch of folks in. Everyone stayed until the end, and they asked lots of questions. I signed books and got to sign their author’s book, in some very good company!
Many thanks to Aubrey Pullman for taking photos!
The following day, I was supposed to drive right through Seattle on up to Bellingham, but, strangely for this part of the world, it was snowing! The opening was canceled, so instead I went up on Sunday to give my talk to the Bellingham folks. This talk was less formal, but still lots of fun, with 15 people braving the weather. Hopefully we can do it again during the show when more people will know about it and can make it.
Afterwards, we trekked over to the Whatcom Museum, where my work is part of the “Photography Biennial: 9 to Watch from the Pacific Northwest.” This museum to be one of the great artsy secrets of the Northwest. It’s in a spectacular building, even stranger for being in such an out-of-the-way place. My show is actually across the street, in a great space that actually managed to present 9 complete exhibitions (mine has 26 photographs) in a space that still feels intimate. And in the main building is a world-class exhibition by Lewis Hine, showing his images of child labor in the early 1900s. It’s an incredible exhibition.
The Photo Biennial is up through April 27, 2008, so plenty of time to check it out. I’ll post if the reception gets rescheduled.
I’m happy to be back in Seattle, and looking forward to all the fun coming up!
Michelle
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09.12.07
Posted in NW Arts, Photography at 12:48 pm by Michelle
I can’t believe how much is going on these days, in both the worlds of fun and play, and how often they are one and the same!
I just got back from teaching at the Julia Dean Workshops in Los Angeles. This was a delightful workshop; the facility is right on Venice Beach, the weather was gorgeous, the staff is great, and the students were enthusiastic and ready to learn and play. The icing on the cake was running into my good friend Mik right there on the beach – she was also visiting from Seattle; what are the chances??? After my workshop, I sat in on Julia Dean herself teaching a class on pinhole photography (using 4×5 Polaroid film), Polaroid transfers and emulsion lifts.
Before that trip, I spent a dust-filled week at Burning Man, which is what I call the World’s Biggest Art Playground. It was a dusty year, and the city was full to the gills, and, as usual, there was tons of great art! Photos coming at some point…
In other news, “Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity” is going into a second printing! I just got the word from the publisher, so now the race is on to make corrections and tweaks for them. For those wondering – the first printing was 4000 copies! Imagine that, 4000 copies of the book off in the world in the happy hands of toy camera enthusiasts worldwide. Amazing. No word yet on what the second printing will be.
Coming up this fall are the talk at SF Camerawork on September 27th at 6pm, a talk at Powell’s Books in Portland on November 30th, the ICP workshop in New York, and book signings at Photo Plus. In December, I’ll be opening an exhibition at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, WA, an hour north of Seattle. This is a biennial photography exhibition featuring 9 photographers from the Northwest. Time to get into the darkroom once again!
Oh, and on September 29th, I’ll be the auction reader and sort-of host for the Photographic Center Northwest‘s Photovision Awards and auction. Fun!
Whew! That’s a lot to keep track of!
Thanks for all the great opportunities and support out there!
Michelle
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08.14.07
Posted in NW Arts at 6:16 pm by Michelle
It’s well into August already, but I spent a good chunk of July running around northwest Montana with the fabulous New Old Time Chautauqua, and wanted to let y’all know about it.
You may remember last year we traveled to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi & New Orleans on the Jambalaya Tour, performing for battered communities and relief workers. That was a powerful experience, unusual for NOTC in leaving the Northwest. This year’s Big Sky Tour was back on more familiar territory for most of the group, but new for me. Instead of being parked at one campsite, this time we spent 2-3 days in each town, did our thing, and then moved on. Now, “our thing” is no small deal. We set ourselves up to camp in a field, or a school, or some other place with room for 50, created a kitchen, group space, and a little community. For the communities we were visiting, we started out with a full spectrum of workshops, including juggling, a song-swap, mask-making, drumming, instrument-making, acrobatics, and quilt-making. At some point in the day, sometimes twice, we paraded through the town (often through the town’s one supermarket), the Fighting Instruments of Karma Marching Chamber Band/Orchestra in full chaotic glory, along with jugglers, stilters and a variety of other colorfully dressed troupe members handing out flyers for the show. In Hot Springs, we shocked the old folks by parading through the halls of the local nursing home. That was loud.
The grand finale in each town was the show. In the smaller towns, the shows were free, while in Spokane and Missoula, the cost of admission was donated to local non-profit organizations that helped bring us to town. The shows were quite an eclectic collection of acts, as usual. This time, they kicked off with a rock band, The Planets, part of the huge under-25 contingent on this tour. For a nice counterpoint, our matriarch, Faith Petric, came next, her voice and guitar playing still lively at 91. Then there were the jugglers, several, with very different styles and acts, acrobatics, aerialists, musicians, magicians, an abbreviated version of The Inconvenient Truth, and usually a local act thrown in (these ranged from a bagpipe band to a one-armed guitar player to a girl who did the darnest manipulation with what looked like a dangerously loose pocketknife). The evenings always capped off with the stunning Nanda, a group of acro-juggly-fighting-fabulousness. They’re kind of hard to describe, but never fail to impress.
Most of the shows were outdoors, in varying degrees of sun and heat. In Spokane, we enjoyed the luxury of a beautiful old theater, The Bing Crosby Theater. In Polson, we were in a high school auditorium, and in Browning, on the Blackfeet Reservation, we were in their high school gym. That show was interrupted by a pulling of the fire alarm, with a brief interlude of music and juggling in front of the school, and ended with a Chautaquans vs Blackfeet basketball challenge. Of course, they won.
Other highlights of the tour for me included a hike in Glacier National Park, swimming in Polson, huckleberry shakes, and getting to know a fantastic group of people!
Of course, I was photographing the whole tour; photos are here. Check back in for a link. And I can’t wait to see what NOTC has up its sleeve for next year!
~Michelle
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12.06.05
Posted in NW Arts, Photography at 10:20 pm by Michelle
At the beginning of this year, even though I don’t actually live on the island anymore, I finally pulled the photographers of Vashon Island out of the woodwork to create a new group. My goals included a community darkroom, which hasn’t quite materialized yet, but we’ve accomplished lots of other fun events!
Back in May, we held a photo review, with more advanced photographers reviewing the work of the less experienced to give advice, critique, and feedback. It was a wonderful event, with 6 reviewers and 12 reviewees swapping chairs around the room for an afternoon.
In June, we put together a juried group exhibition at the Blue Heron Gallery “Uncommon Views of Vashon”, and now we have another group show as part of the Vashon Holiday Arts Studio Tour. This show includes 14 photographers, and is located in a gorgeous spot; the house designed by architect Ibsen Nelsen, with a fabulous view and stunning interior space. The show is open this coming weekend, Dec 10 & 11, from 10-4, at #17 on the tour: vashonislandartstudiotour.com/holiday2005/map/ Come by and say hi!
See photos of the show here!
~Michelle
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