CalArti

Belatedly - the Signature Artist Cooperative has a group exhibit at the Portage Public Library, in neighboring Portage, Michigan. The theme of the show is “Renewal.”

I’m not doing much of anything with exhibits at this point in time - I let the deadlines on all of the early year entries slide away. But, I managed to conjure up this piece for the Portage show. You might have seen in before - from last summer.

The Story of Snow is featured in today’s USA Today’s Book Roundup - in an article entitled Weather the Winter with a Picture Book. The book is described as “an artistic science lesson about the rise and fall of snow crystals.” The article also features Carl’s Snowy Afternoon by Alexandra Day, Life in the Boreal Forestby Brenda Z. Guiberson, illustrated by Gennady Spirin and Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson by Sharon Robinson, illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

You can read the on-line version here:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2010-01-21-roundup21_ST_N.htm

Last night I spoke at the Grand Rapids Camera Club and provided a demo of how to take snow crystal photo. The turnout was great with well over 100 people in the room, and it was a lot of fun. A splendid time was had by all.

The presentation is a bit of a stroll down memory lane and the evolution of the process I use to take snow crystal photos. Of course, it starts at the beginning, with the very first snow crystal shots I managed to make. Here they are - from the winter of 1998/99. It was my second or third try at it, only very small crystals were falling, and on a wing and prayer I snapped a few shots with a high magnification setup, manual flash, and ancient Spotmatic film camera. I was really happy with the results, but it was the end of the season and there were no more opportunities that winter.

It took me a few more years till I was able to duplicate these results, but these photos gave me the inspiration to keep on trying…

I’ve been posting more in the Story of Snow blog these last few weeks, so if you are interested in what’s happening with the book or in some fastinating articles about frost by Jon Nelson, hop over there - the url is:

www.storyofsnow.com

The 2009 Signature Gallery is getting set up and soon will be open!

This year the gallery runs from December 5 to the 26th, with the Artist Reception on Sunday, December 6 from 12 to 5.

The address is 4644 West Main Street. Our new location is in the Westwood Plaza at the corner of West Main and Drake Road - near Mackenzies¹ Bakery and around the corner from Coney Island. The space was formerly used by Wild Goose Chase and most recently Quilts Plus.

I won’t be participating this year, except for the inclusion of the three framed prints. (Go figure - we finally snag a location between a Coney Island and Bakery and I miss out!) But I plan to hang out at the reception for a while.

Stop in and see the fabulous assortment of art objects in all media at the gallery!

For info about all things Signature, visit the website at www.signatureartistcoop.com

It’s coming right up! The Garage Sale Art Fair is this Saturday at the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds. I’ll be there with hundreds of matted prints, price to sell. Come on by!

For more info, see www.garagesaleartfair.com

Good news arrived a couple of days ago when I learned that one of my photos, Spent, was accepted into the 2009 West Michigan Area Show, hosted by the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. After a two year hiatus in having work accepted into this show, it’s nice to get a piece in.

This image is one that keeps popping up on this blog, mostly because I like it. It was shot on film with a Holga in October, 2007 and where-else but the Allegan Forest. This was previously exhibited in last year’s Your Best Shot show hosted by the foto foto gallery in Huntinton, NY

The 2009 West Michigan Area Show runs from February 28 – April 26 with a reception on March 1, from 2-4 pm. This year’s juror is Larry Fink.

Good news arrived last week when I learned that one of my photos, Allegan Forest Autumn, was accepted into the 2009 Midwest Photographers exhibit at the University of Indianapolis.

The exhibit opens on February 23, 2009, and runs to March 27, 2009. The opening reception is 4:30-6:30 on February 23.

A post describing the outing that resulted in this shot can be found here. I just re-edited it, rectified about 80 typos, and elevated it from incomprehensible gibberish to… well, a higher caliber of gibberish to be sure.

The 2008 Signature Gallery wrapped things up last Saturday. It’s amazing to see how quickly a retail storefront can shut down – though in the case of Signature, it will reappear in a year.

But the gallery is only a part of what this artist co-op is about, and we step into 2009 with a new group exhibit. Signature: 30 Years of Michigan Artisans opens at the Downriver Council for the Arts in Taylor, Michigan, on January 8, 2009. The exhibit will display work from the many media represented by Signature artists – personally, I’ll have 4 large prints from 2008 and 2007 in the exhibit.

The exhibit runs from January 8 through February 13, 2009, with an opening reception Saturday, January 10, from 12-3 p.m. The Downriver Council for the Arts is located at 20904 Northline Road, Taylor, MI 48180. Their website is www.downriverarts.org.

If you are in the area – stop on by!

I spent a few hours today getting set up at the 2008 Signature Gallery. The gallery is located in the same great location as the last two years - 5027 West Main, Kalamazoo, MI 49009. The gallery is in the West Century Center, just left of McGuinnis Landing Restaurant. The gallery runs from December 5-27, Monday thru Saturday 10 – 8 and Sunday 12 – 5.

For more about the Signature Artist Cooperative, and the annual gallery, check out www.signatureartistcoop.com.

If you are in the area – stop on by!

The Art Etc. Art Fair wrapped up about 24 hours ago… As usual, it was a great event and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with the dozens of visitors who stopped by my booth and took a look at the photos.

And now it’s on to the next event – which will be the Holiday Hop at the Kalamazoo Public Library. It’s Friday, December 5, 2008, from 6 – 8:30 pm. I’ll be there with dozens of other local authors and musicians. In my case – I’ll be signing and selling copies of Imperfect Symmetry – my little book of snow crystal photos.

It’s all part of the December Art Hop in downtown Kalamazoo - which features tons of great art and music.

If you are in the area – stop on by!

It’s that time of year again! Art Etc will again be setting up shop next week at the Oshtemo Campus of Kalamazoo Community College. As in past years, the Art Etc art fair will host several local artists in all media - including photography by yours truly.

So if you are in the area, stop on by. The event gets started Thursday, November 20, from 5 pm to 8 pm. It continues from 9 am to 8 pm on the following Friday and then from 9 am to 4 pm on Saturday.

See you there!