Exhibition #1
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
CUT HAIR & HYDRANGEAS by Alison A. Smith
FIRST PLACE & BEST SERIES
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Curator Yorgos Efthymiadis' review: " In Alison A. Smith’s photograph, the cut hair, still held together by a tight white bow and delicately kept in a wooden box, acts as a reminder of growth and change, a remnant of a past life.

This mournful ritual denotes the loss of innocence, a transition; but at the same time it respects and treasures the years that were left behind. The pair of scissors activates the scene. A decision was made to let go of the past, move on, and become someone else.

This sense of passing of time is amplified by the half burned candles on the bruised candlesticks, and the dry, lifeless, but still beautiful hydrangeas that surround them. Smith’s arrangement is meticulous, subtle and quiet—a masterful composition."

Efthymiadis says, "Your arrangements are very well composed. Can you walk us through your process? 
 
Smith says, "Accessibility of my arrangements makes a big difference. It allows me enough time for the concept and composition to emerge and be revised over time.  I work in a small, natural light studio in my home – a converted solarium of sorts – that has floor-to-ceiling windows on one side and a row of skylights.  Because the workspace is in my home, I am able to observe the changing light and build the arrangements as quickly or slowly as I need.  As my studio is right in the middle of my living space, I am constantly aware of changing light and other conditions.  Staying engaged is more dependent on other demands on my time. As a faculty member, the academic calendar pulls me away at times, but also provides concentrated time for my artistic practice over breaks.  
 
I keep an on-going sketchbook journal of ideas and a running list of objects I’m in pursuit of finding.  The most inspirational objects are individual items to which I have a personal connection.  These are objects inherited from family members, natural items grown on my home property, or objects I’ve found at auction and shops, or even items I use on a regular basis. Most objects fall under the category of “vintage.”  As I choose objects, I make a point to include a mixture of natural, man-made, new and old. 
 
I often build the compositions around one key object, with other supporting or opposing objects to echo, emphasize or contrast the concept.  When I find the best positioning given the time of day and season of the year, natural light activates the otherwise inanimate objects in a way that transforms and accentuates certain characteristics and textures.
 
When composing the concept, as in Still Life with Cut Hair and Hydrangeas, I reference symbolism of objects used historically in the Still Life genre. For example, the extinguished candles commonly represent the passage of time. The theme of preservation, in this particular piece, can be interpreted through reading the objects and their placement. The bundle of cut hair is placed in a keepsake box, laid open for viewing, surrounded by dried and preserved hydrangea blooms. One artificial bloom in the background contrasts with the others, perhaps calling into question our own perception. A pair of scissors in the foreground alludes to the act of cutting as in the bundle of hair. Long hair is often synonymous with youth and femininity – the cutting of the long hair, an act of defiance."
 
Efthymiadis says, "How do you treat the discoveries you make while adjusting and rearranging your still life?"
 
Smith says, "Given that I am a planner and I like order, the arrangement component of this kind of work appeals to those sensibilities. But like life – things don’t always go as planned despite our best preparations – it is the uncertainty in this work that brings the photograph to life. Rather than implementing artificial strobe lighting, for the near total control it provides, the constantly changing sunlight is my collaborator.
 
But the sun is a demanding partner. Despite a great deal of planning and observation in tracking the placement of the light and its impact on the placement of objects, I am often forced to revise or reimagine the piece.  
 
While the genre sometimes carries the connotation of being stuffy, boring and slow – in other words “Still Life” – I’ve found it anything but. I’m often hurried and stressed when the light is low or moving fast and I only have a window of a few minutes to capture a few exposures before the alignment disappears. 
 
For some pieces, I may have the installation and arrangement loosely mapped out in my sketchbook. When I’ve set up on the day of the shoot, something about the light may compel me to try something else, and I swap out or add a different object.  This change of direction often happens when I’m “in the flow” and completely focused. It isn’t something I could have planned for ahead of time – the composition simply demands the pressure of the moment to reveal what was or wasn’t working.   
 
There’s no way around the constant finessing or obsessing – as some people would call it – over the most minute placement details.  As I’m working, I contrast what I am seeing live in front of me with what it looks like under the dark cloth of a 4x5 large format camera, through the inverted view on the ground glass.  Aside from that maneuver and the digital test snap-shots, I never quite know if I’ve got it right until the film is processed.  While these are all lessons in patience, the process is exciting and engaging every step of the way."

Alison Smith says, "The works in the series, Vestige: Still Life, capture arranged, small-scale domestic scenes inspired by the classic and contemporary still life genre.  Using “antique” objects -- purchased or inherited, cultivated or wild plantings from the land around my home or newly produced goods, I create a subtle tension between the natural and artificial. The tensions created by the various objects serve as a metaphor for clashes between personal and societal expectations and the ambivalences such tensions create.  Serving both symbolic and indexical functions, the objects and the use of ambient, natural light also point to the passage of time, changing of seasons, growth, aging and loss.
 
I use a hybrid workflow, which results in a different balance of preparation and control of the process, while also allowing some chance.  All images are captured with a 4x5 large format view camera and color negative film, scanned, then edited and outputted as large-scale, digital archival pigment prints."
 
Alison A. Smith is a photographer who is interested in the built environment -- particularly the suburban landscape -- including domestic spaces and arranged still life.
 
Alison earned an MFA in Studio Art - Photography with Distinction from the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia in 2010. She earned a BFA in Studio Art - Photography with a minor in Women's Studies from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio in 2006. Her work has been exhibited in national photography galleries, centers, university galleries and museums including most recently: Midwest Center for Photography - Wichita, KS, The Center for Fine Art Photography - Fort Collins, CO, The Hite Institute, Schneider Hall Galleries at the University of Louisville, and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art - Fort Wayne, IN.  
 
Alison is currently serving as a senior lecturer and photography lab manager at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, in the Department of Cinema & Photography, College of Communication and Media Arts. 

www.alisonasmith.com
instagram: alison_a_smith
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
HOURGLASS & PEONY by Alison A. Smith
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
POMANDERS & POMEGRANATE
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
CURTAIN by Amy Wilson
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Amy Wilson says, "These photographs come from a time in my life when I struggled to make work due to the limitations of motherhood, domestic responsibilities, and ongoing illness. 

Most of my days were focused on survival and I had little energy left for looking and making images. My life felt stagnant, arrested. Stilled. The inability to do meaningful work left me feeling hopeless and lost. Now that I’m slowly emerging from that period and beginning to review and organize the images I did capture, the photos I’m finding often reflect this feeling of immobility. They are of everyday objects, things that we usually don’t usually consider to hold deeper meaning, but the resulting photos become a record of my struggle and a reminder of my resilience."

Amy Wilson is a photographic artist and writer who explores identity, self-representation, and family dynamics. She has a BA from Eugene Lang College and a BFA from Parsons School of Design, both part of The New School. Her photographs have been shown at the Aronson Gallery, the gallery at MaxMara NYC, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, the Philadelphia airport, and Savery Gallery. 

Her work has been published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Lenscratch blog, and featured on Nerve.com. She is also the author of numerous books for children under the pseudonym Amy Ackelsberg. She lives in Philadelphia, PA with her husband and two children.

http://www.amyewilson.com/
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
NOTEBOOK by Amy Wilson
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
SICK AGAIN by Amy Wilson
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
CRACKED by Anita Sagastegui
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Anita Sagastegui says, "Photography invites me to be surprised by the everyday world, and to be playful with it.

In addition to practicing photography, I am an arts educator (MA Art Education). Teaching the visual arts is very exciting for me, as I design interdisciplinary curricula to promote deep, lasting understanding of concepts, ideas, processes and techniques while guiding students to cultivate visual literacy. An advocate for the arts, I also serve on my city’s arts commission. I live in Walnut Creek, California, with my family."

www.sagastegui.zenfolio.com/
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
OUTLINES by Anita Sagastegui
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
ROBIN'S EGG BLUE by Anita Sagastegui
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
MORNING LIGHT by Anne Connor
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Anne Connor says, of her series, 'Practicing Impermanence', "It's been a tough week.

We lost a few chickens to the unseasonable heat spell that has gripped Wisconsin.

My teenage daughter's horse colicked yesterday, but we stuck with him and kept walking and it looks like he's going to be alright.

Today, I got a text from my husband that nobody wants to receive ... "Bike accident, in ambulance on way to hospital. Please keep phone nearby." (I'm notorious for not answering my phone. Fortunately, after a few dozen stitches, he is on the mend.) 

Somehow, I've managed to keep my head level ... to move steadily and deliberately through these challenging days. Photography helps. I create one image ... then another ... freezing moments in time. I know that this is folly. That nothing is permanent.

But the act of seeing something beautiful, be it light, a shadow, or an old buddha's head near a dumpster, and then capturing that image, allows me to practice impermanence, to let moments pass knowing that I have seen them, experienced them, photographed them, and then let them go."

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

Anne Connor is a Wisconsin-based visual artist. Her fine-art photography has been shown in venues as diverse as Overture Center for the Arts (Madison, WI), A. Smith Gallery (Johnson City, Texas), the Von Liebig Art Center of the Naples Art Association (Naples, FL), The Center for Fine Art Photography (Fort Collins, CO), PhotoPlace Gallery (online, Middlebury, VT), PhotoMidwest (Madison, WI), The Midwest Center for Photography (Wichita, KS), Photo NOLA (New Orleans, LA) and many more. She has shown extensively in the Madison area and many of her images are in private collections throughout the United States.

www.AnneConnorPhotography.com
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
PRACTICING IMPERMANENCE by Anne Connor
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
READY FOR WINTER by Anne Connor
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
COSMOSBURST by Barney Taxel
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Barney Taxel says of his work, "From my hoardings- these ‘ doorways' to my psyche are from where I walk, travel and work and have been published on-line through @barneytaxel." 

Barney Taxel is an award-winning fine art and commercial photographer and teacher of photography based in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Taxel studied architecture and photography at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He studied with of Minor White. Commercially, he specializes in creative photography for agencies, designers, architects, publications, institutions, and manufacturers. Food, architecture, people, still life, and landscape photography are among his special interests. 

His documentary and advertising work appears frequently in local, national and international publications. He has participated in numerous exhibitions and some of his images are now part of the collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Taxel also has several books to his credit, including Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens; The Science of Music as Medicine, Cleveland’s West Side Market: 100 Years & Still Cooking, and The Lake View Cemetery: Photographs From Cleveland’s Historic Landmark.

Career Highlights/Recent Accomplishments:

2018- One person show- UNSTRUCTURED. The Gallery at Old Stone, Cleveland, Ohio
2017-2018- One person show- Vintage Silver Gelatin Prints from the Lake View Cemetery Project. Case Western Reserve University, Linsalata Alumni Center.
2017- Five archival pigment prints from the Lake View Cemetery Project accepted into the permanent collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art.
2017- Group juried show- Photo Now– Artist Archive of the
Western Reserve
2016- June- Cleveland Print Room- Annual Juried Members Exhibition
2016- One person show- Spice Kitchen + Bar, Cleveland, Ohio- Spring
2016- March 17. Lecture- Cuyahoga Valley Photographic Society- The Lake View Cemetery: Photographs From Cleveland’s Historic Landmark
2015- Spice Kitchen + Bar, Cleveland, Ohio- one person show- Winter
2015- Lake View Cemetery portfolio published in Parabola Magazine web edition 
2015- Photo Now. Juried group show- Artists Archives of the Western Reserve.
2015- Lake View Cemetery Photograph- J.H. Wade 2000 accepted into the Cleveland Museum of Art permanent collection. Gift of Tom Hinson and Diana Tittle.
2015- Solo Exhibition of Fifty Photographs from The Lake View Cemetery: Photographs From Cleveland’s Historic Landmark in The Public Gallery-
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. August 2015-February 2016
2015-  CAN Journal- Lake View, Barney Taxel’s Meditation on Cleveland’s Landmark Cemetery by Henry Adams, PhD.
2015- Athens (Greece) Photo Festival 2015, finalist- photography book competition for The Lake View Cemetery book.
2015- Best of Cleveland, Scene Magazine, for The Lake View Cemetery book
2015- Nominated for the Cleveland Arts Prize
2015- Cleveland Creates: A Juried Exhibition. ArtNeo. Group Show
2015- Cleveland Botanical Gardens Eleanor Squire Library Annual Botanical Book Talk The Lake View Cemetery: Photographs From Cleveland’s Historic Landmark
2014- Inaugural Exhibition for The Lake View Cemetery: Photographs From Cleveland’s Historic Landmark. One person show- Lake View Cemetery Community Mausoleum.
2014- The Lake View Cemetery: Photographs From Cleveland’s Historic     Landmark, University of Akron Press (200 photograph monograph)
2014- Awards Artist for 38th Annual Cleveland International Film Festival- Photograph ‘Love Is Possible’ (2012)

www.barneytaxel.com
 
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
REDCRACKS by Barney Taxel
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
RESIDUE by Barney Taxel
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
SAN CLEMENTE by Barney Taxel
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
SNOWBUCKET by Barney Taxel
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
STUDIO BLOOM by Barney Taxel
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
UNTITLED #10 (HAVANA) by Dana Mueller
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Dana Mueller says, "May Days is my first monograph. I have worked on this series of photographs in book form for the past three years.

In 2014 and also the following year I taught photography at the Center for the Studies of Jose Marti, where I met Cuban friends who introduced me to attitudes, views, and life of the island. The series of photographs are a visual record of my time-- during the days of May--and encounters with places which seemed significant to me at this specific moment. 

Although I grew up in the former East Germany, it was important to me not to see things through the filter of socialism and economic hardship - although only too apparent - but through engagement that was serendipitous and open. I conceived the work in book format from the start and am excited to present it for publication in 2018."

 
RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS:

MAY DAYS | Dana Mueller 
Soft cover, 6.75 x 9 inches (170mm x 228mm), 98 pages, 65 plates 
Limited edition of 500  
Publisher: Fraction Editions, May 2018 
Printed in Germany 
ISBN: 978-1-943948-17-8 

Mueller was born and raised in Thuringia, East Germany until the fall of the Berlin Wall. She received her MFA in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art + Design.  

Awards include the 1st Prize Juror's Award, New England Photography Biennial 2015, Danforth Art Museum, MA, the Visual Arts Artist Fellowship Grant, Somerville Arts Council, the Half Prize Books Award as part of the Joyce Elaine Grant Award, Texas Woman's University, the St. Botolph Foundation Grant, St. Botolph Club, MA, the first place Visual Art Exchange Award, NC, the second place in the Hotshot International Next Perspective Award, UK, among others. Her work has been extensively exhibited, including the Le Lieu Unique/ National Center for Contemporary Arts, Nantes, France, the Pavillon de Bagatelle, Paris, France, Rick Wester Fine Art (NY), the Chase Center, RISD Museum of Art (RI), the Photographic Resource Center (MA), Gallery 360, Northeastern University (MA), Bakalar Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art + Design (MA), Art Institute of Boston Gallery (MA), St. Botolph Club (MA), Danforth Art Museum (MA), Black Cloud Gallery (IL) and Visual Art Exchange (NC). Recent publications include Ain't-Bad Magazine, TIME LightBox, Flak Photo, Humble Arts Women in Photography, Prison Photography, One One Thousand - Publication of Southern Photography, Purpose (France), Artscope, and The New York Photo Review.  

Mueller currently teaches at Lesley Art + Design, Massachusetts College of Art + Design, and Northeastern University College of Art, Media + Design. 

www.danamueller.net  
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
UNTITLED #26 (HAVANA) by Dana Mueller
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
UNTITLED #62 (HAVANA) by Dana Mueller
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
BIRD SKELETON WINDOW DISPLAY by Elaine Ellman
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Elaine Ellman says, " In this series, I explore our connection to nature in the city. 

My sociology degree prepared me for the artistic beliefs of my great mentor, Lisette Model. After many years of working on our consumer/celebrity culture with Lisette, I took on assignments for major publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, the New York Times, the Village Voice, the New Yorker and Metropolis.

I exhibited in the USA and in Europe and my work is part of museum, school and private collections."

www.elaineellman.com
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
SHARK FETUS GIFT SHOP DISPLAY by Elaine Ellman
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
WOUNDED by Elaine Ellman
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
TEMPORARY ARRANGEMENT NO. 12 by Elisabeth Hogeman
HONORABLE MENTION
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Elisabeth Hogeman says of her series, 'Temporary Arrangement' consists of a series of propositional domestic spaces. 

Each tableau is created through the process of photographing pictures stacked on top of pictures, moving back and forth between the studio (with sun, dust, shadows) and the digital canvas (flat, selectable, scalable). I am interested in the differences between inhabiting physical and virtual space and how this relates to picturing space."

Elisabeth Hogeman is a Chicago-based visual artist working in photography, collage, and video to consider conventions of still life.

Her practice seeks the slow excavation of domestic subjects through repetition and variation. She received her MFA in Visual Arts from the University of Chicago and her BA in Studio Art and English Literature from the University of Virginia. Her projects have been supported by the Versailles Foundation, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Arts, Science & Culture Initiative at the University of Chicago, where she currently works as a part-time lecturer in photography. 

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

Elisabeth Hogeman has previously exhibited still image work with the Flak Photo Midwest Print Show, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan, and EXPO CHICAGO, and has has participated in screenings in Chicago at Mana Contemporary, Roots & Culture, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

www.elisabethhogeman.com
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
TEMPORARY ARRANGEMENT NO. 9 by Elisabeth Hogeman
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
TEMPORARY ARRANGEMENT NO. 15 by Elisabeth Hogeman
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
DRINKING GLASS by Eric Nichols
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Eric Nichols says, "Growing up I was always told that when I reached adulthood I would get a fulltime job, buy a car, a house, and have a family of my own. 

Things have changed however. People are starting “life” at a later age, we spend longer in school accruing debt, and we put off major life decisions such as buying a home, or getting married. 

People are waiting for the American dream, but that dream feels far away in this economic climate, laden with debt from our education and complicated by a lack of employment. Full time, stable employment, affordable healthcare, and a retirement plan were once reasonable expectations. 

However these things are no longer guaranteed. This combination of factors has created a generation of young adults burdened by debt and unable to meet the expectations of “the American dream.” The millennial generation is stuck, delayed in the transition between adolescence and adulthood.

The reality of my adulthood is very different from the expectation I had imagined in my early 20’s, this project is an attempt to cope with the disillusionment.

Using my camera I capture the minor imperfections contained in domestic everyday life, there is a genuine impact the unfulfilled expectations have on the individual psyche and domestic relationships.  My lack of resources to improve my situation doesn’t speak to a flaw in my character but to the lack of time, energy, and money that makes having that picture of perfect domestic life unobtainable.

These moments of imperfection show a lack of the ideal domestic life, but also create traces of the life I live in the space.  These moments create a unique self-portrait, a portrait of the things left unfinished, broken and in semi-functional states. My work sheds light on the reality that lies just under the surface that is there for anyone to see."

Eric Nichols is an artist, cinematographer and photographer based out of Worcester Massachusetts.  

He holds his MFA in studio arts from Maine College of Art and is the photo lab manager and faculty member at Worcester State University. He is currently pursuing a career as a fine art photographer and has shown nationally including the Fitchburg Art Museum, The Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Portland Maine. 

EDUCATION:

M.F.A. Studio Arts May 2013
Maine College of Art, Portland, ME
 
RELATED EXPERIENCE:

Photography Instructor September 2008 – Present
Worcester State University, Worcester, MA
 
Photography Instructor January 2018 – Present
Clark University, Worcester, MA
 
EXHIBITIONS:

The Fence Regional Showcase, The SoWa – Southie Plaza Boston MA 2017
82nd Regional Exhibition, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA 2017
Pop-Up Worcester 2017, Pop Gallery on Franklin St., Worcester, MA 2017
Affinity The Amblewood Gallery, - Chattahoochee Hills, GA 2016
One, Arts Worcester - Worcester, MA 2016
Instantly Yours, Photographic Resource Center – Boston, MA 2016
Cirque du Noir, The Sprinkler Factory - Worcester, MA 2015
The Curated Fridge December 2015/January 2016 - Somerville, MA 2015
Arts Worcester Biennial, The Aurora Gallery - Worcester, MA 2013
Alter Ego, The Nave Gallery- Somerville, MA 2009
Doctors without Borders, Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography- Turner Falls, MA 2006

http://ericnicholsphotography.com/
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
EARRINGS by Eric Nichols
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
PULLED CURTAIN ROD by Eric Nichols
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
GRACE UNTITLED 1 by Gretchen Grace
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Gretchen Grace says of her series, 'Motion Pictures',  I paint with the camera using 3D collages as my subject matter. I developed my own language of abstraction in the studio, after many years as a street photographer hunting for found abstractions.

These photos are the opposite of still lives, they are unstill lives. Just as the Cubists used fragmentation to describe varying perspectives, these photos use the camera’s multiple exposures to collage layers. Although the objects in front of me are not moving, the camera is. These images are dependent on extreme experimentation and chance, and a calculated loss of control.

By synthesizing different points of view, I create an evocative, rather than a literal, interpretation of the subject in front of me.

I am an artist, photographer and designer. I utilize all of these skills and experience in my photography. With my studio photography I look inward, deliberately controlling all aspects of each image to create something new.

With my street photography I look outward, finding and recording the random and iconic moments of daily life. I define “street” as anywhere outside my front door, which, at the moment, is located in Brooklyn, New York."

www.gretchengrace.com 
Instagram @_gretchengrace_.
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
UNTITLED 3 by Gretchen Grace
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
UNTITLED 7 by Gretchen Grace
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
BLOOD ORANGE INSECT 1 by James Baab
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Jim Baab says, "Since 1994, (before I knew what pareidolia was,) I have been creating simple photographic illusions - mainly, with food.

My earliest “food porn" inspiration was Edward Weston’s wonderfully contorted ‘Pepper No. 30’; and, with great luck and vision, I created ‘Vegetarian Nude’ and 
'Vegetarian Slumber’ in a 'Photo I' class that I took as an elective during my last semester of college.

These images, still life photos of a red pepper and Brussels sprout that resemble the human form, at first, are dismissed by many viewers as a "bronze sculpture" or "person dipped in chocolate with a cabbage on their head”. But, after a second or third glance, or, when companions gasp upon noticing something odd with the scale, the surprise gives way to energetic conversations about the deception, the gender of this subject and, of course, Weston’s photos.

My most recent focus on photographic illusions, an ongoing project that I call ‘Exploring Pareidolia’, attempts to create something familiar from organic shapes and patterns by, simply, adding symmetry. 

My creative process takes advantage of a live, in-camera, digital reflection effect which produces symmetrical views of everyday scenes and still life. By subtly repositioning and rotating the camera’s perspective, while in this mirrored mode, (most of the time, also, in a macro mode) I am able to align the resulting geometric patterns in ways that create grotesque hearts, winged creatures, war masks, genitalia, otherworldly artifacts, and fantastic beasts - illusions that elevate the mundane in a very Rorschachian way.

But, my mind’s eye is not the only one at play. Still life rendered unrecognizable (or, transformed) by my process can be interpreted differently by each viewer. e.g. An interesting grapefruit study’s overall shape can represent an ornate glass or wax bowl with a winged figurine on the front of it, to me; yet, the same image presents the face of a fox and the shape of a frog to others that pick-up on secondary patterns in the subtle array of colors."

Jim Baab photographs everyday objects, scenes, and the human form, with an eye for light, line, and illusion. Since taking his hobby more seriously in 2011, his artwork has been chosen for national and international group exhibitions in TN, CA, MA, MI, VT, TX, and Budapest, Hungary. His awards and recognition include a Gold Artist award for ArtAscent magazine’s Vol. 8, ‘Hidden’ issue, and, being chosen as the sole visual artist featured in the Boston-themed, 40th issue of POESY, a bicoastal poetry magazine.
    
http://jimbaab.com
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
MORNING MUFFIN SMILE by James Baab
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N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
VEGETARIAN NUDE by James Baab
(Click on image for larger view)
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
SMALL AND LARGE THOUGHTS 167 by Joan Fitzsimmons
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Joan Fitzsimmons says, "The ordinary act of living is endlessly complex and uncertain. It is through the ordinary that, for me, the world resonates.
 
With  'Small & Large Thoughts' the artifacts of daily life pass unnoticed until, one day, that simple bowl of yogurt suggests a stroke of paint and the whole history of art is revealed. This series literally began with a casual glance, a random thought, an observation after lunch. My emptied bowl of yogurt looked like the remnants of a painter’s palette. I began to reflect on that artform’s centuries of practice. I initially shot in black and white then, color. I also, often, increased the scale, further referencing other media. The casual glance occurs again. In shooting, I noticed neglected spoonfuls of yogurt, now given over to decay, demanding to be stacked, sculptural presences.
 
Re-examining heirlooms of home is also a process of reclamation; not merely recycling objects and collecting memories but claiming their very simplicity as material for art-making. In considering my work’s relationship to the past, I now also look at it in a present-day context, and the past is present. Given the current political climate, I now note that my materials and imagery and manner of collecting them, suggest/are traditional female work, so I am, once again, ready to place it within a feminist context. This project will continue for many more years.
 
The work in this series contains both gelatin silver prints and archival inkjet prints, dimensions variable."
 
Joan Fitzsimmons’ work examines the endless complexities and uncertainties of the quotidian in varying explorations of the photographic image, working with both incidental observations and materials of daily life, constructing imagery for both the camera and for photograms. The scale varies according to the concept, from small intimate inkjet prints to large-scale gelatin silver collages, selectively bleached and toned.
 
Recently Fitzsimmons has traveled to Poland on grants from Artslink, and The John Ansom Kittredge Fund of Harvard University, researching Wycinanki, traditional cut-paper arts, and visiting the forest Bialoweiza for her series, The Woods, a personal reflection on landscape, a place of both fear and fantasy. In Warsaw she also performed in a trilogy of videos, HalfAWoman, by Jacek Malinowski. In fall 2016, at the invitation of Zacheta Gallery, she participated in a curator’s talk about the videos, and conducted a photographic workshop, In Response to Place for young artists.

Additionally, Fitzsimmons has collaborated with Jeanne Criscola on, Oral History: A Recipe for Memories, a project that looks at food as a marker for memories and cultural transformation. Currently she is expanding her series Small & Large Thoughts, selections, of which, were recently exhibited at The Institute Library in New Haven, CT.
 
Fitzsimmons has exhibited nationally, internationally and online. In 2015 she had a solo show at The Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA. Her most recent group exhibitions include, curated exhibits Eighties and Hearts at Concepto/Hudson Gallery, Hudson, NY; Three Decades of Change Reunion Exhibit at Artspace, New Haven, an invitational in which past curators selected an artist to exhibit, whose work had had an impact on them; Analog v. Digital, Foley Gallery, LES, NY, NY; and Art & Oppression, a curated CENTER exhibition at the Marion Center for Photographic Arts,Santa Fe, NM.

This past spring her work was selected by Robert Calafiore for the States Project of Lenscratch: Lenscratch: The States Project, http://lenscratch.com/2018/03/joan-fitzsimmons-the-states-project-connecticut/
                                                                      Fitzsimmons’ work is in the permanent collections of The Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA; The Brooklyn Museum of American Art; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art among others public and private collections. Curated flatfiles include The Flatfiles at Artspace, New Haven, CT, Pierogi Flatfiles, LES, NY, NY, and The Drawing Center at Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston, MA.Fitzsimmons is represented in upstate NY by Concepto/Hudson Gallery, Hudson, NY
 
Currently Fitsimmons is a Professor at  Norwalk Community College, Norwalk, CT. She has taught  numerous workshops in the US and abroad. For five years she conducted an art class at Webster Correctional Institute, a men’s minimum security prison in Cheshire, CT.
 
B.F.A. Washington University School of Art, St. Louis, MO
M.F.A. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
 
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

• 2015 solo exhibition of my Plant Life series at the Griffin Museum of Photography.
I was also pleased to have work in a number of interesting museum group exhibitions:
• Light From Illumination to Pure Radiance, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Curator Patty Carroll
• Dogs, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. IL; Curator Lynn Warren; Traveled under auspices of SITES
Group exhibitions:
• Three Decades of Change Reunion Exhibit, Artspace, New Haven, CT; invited by former curator
 Eileen Doktorski who chose the collaboration between Jacek Malinowski & myself
• Fictitious Truth, Photographs by Tina Barney, Mary Frey and Joan Fitzsimmons, Real Art Ways,
 Hartford, CT; Curated by Leslie Tonkonow     

www.joanfitzsimmons.com
N.Y. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards- 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
BURIED WISHES by Jo Fields
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