Sharon Lee Hart

Sharon Lee Hart is a D.C. born fine art photographer and a professor at Florida Atlantic University. She earned an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her first monograph, Sanctuary: Portraits of Rescued Farm Animals was published in 2012. Hart’s photography and mixed media works have been exhibited throughout the U.S. and internationally.

Sharon Lee Hart's solo exhibition, According to the Sky, is currently on view until March 9, 2016 in conjunction with the Joyce Elaine Grant Exhibition at Texas Woman's University in Denton, TX. Hart was selected as the solo show award winner by April Watson, Curator of Photography The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO in 2015.

Artist’s Statement: According to the Sky

“The stars we are given. The constellations we make. That is to say, stars exist in the cosmos, but constellations are the imaginary lines we draw between them, the readings we give the sky, the stories we tell.” — Rebecca Solnit, Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics

This project is a meditation on the sea. Personal narratives are formed by filtering ideas about the sea through a variety of subjects, including mythology, astronomy and mysticism. The ocean is a link to the cosmos, a backdrop and central character. We live on a planet whose surface is mostly covered in water and in bodies that are at least half composed of water – we are physically and psychologically connected to the ocean. The photographs are made in the water and on the shore. The shoreline, our evolving human access point is where earth and sea meet. This constantly shifting border between the known and unknown can be seen as a metaphor for change. The photographs are toned to give a nod to traditional darkroom practices. Blue was chosen to reference the natural hydrological cycle and the color of the sea being in part a reflection of the sky. The images are made with a medium format film camera and a DSLR. The photographs are printed with archival inks on hand-coated hosho paper.

Interview conducted by Deedra Baker

Deedra Baker: Your series According to the Sky is inspired by the land and sea. Do you find inspiration from other sources like fellow artists, literature, experiences, etc?

Sharon Lee Hart: Absolutely! During this project, I was inspired by readings on mythology, astronomy, and mysticism. Certain essays in Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics by Rebecca Solnit resonate with me so deeply that I used a quote from the book in my project statement. During the paper coating and printing process I listened almost exclusively to the band Warpaint. Their sound set the mood and helped determine the tone of the photographs. Daydreaming while floating in the water and also being mercilessly tossed around in the waves impacted the project.

DB: How do you think about your selection of props in conjunction with the human figure? What part do they play in your “meditation on the sea?”

SLH: Many of the objects the human figures are interacting with were made or selected for their symbolism or cultural meaning. In my mind, the props elevate the figures into something magical or mythological. Props are used sparingly as I only wanted to include essential information; nothing extraneous allowed in the frame. Simplicity is part of the mediation.

DB: Describe your working methodology. What is your process for creating your photographs and decisions like square versus circular format and your choice of paper?

SLH: For the most part the idea was first, although it sometimes evolved while making the photograph. The circles reference a continuous cycle and planets. Squares are stable and represent a decisive cut from a scene. Printing is expressive and I had a very specific look in mind. After way too much experimentation with variations of paper and tones, I found that hand-applied emulsion on Hosho paper gave me the look I was after. I was drawn to the visible brush strokes and the way the ink melted into the paper.

Installation shots from According to the Sky, currently on view in conjunction with the Joyce Elaine Grant Exhibition at Texas Woman's University

DB: What is your editing process for creating a body of work and a solo exhibition?

SLH: The editing process was a bit different for this series, as I mostly knew what I wanted in advance, making the process easier than usual. For other projects, I have spent a good deal of time editing down, considering pairings, and sequence. Removing images from a series can be brutal, but satisfying. We all can get overly attached to certain images, so it is helpful to have a trusted pair of eyes look at your work and assist with editing.

The space that comes with a solo exhibition is exciting as it enables you to share your vision with an audience in a tangible way and hopefully start a dialogue. I also viewed this exhibition as an opportunity to experiment with small installations and 3D printing to give context to the photographs. Four of these installations are included in the exhibition.

DB: As a seasoned artist with a monograph and several solo exhibitions under your belt, do you have any advice for emerging photographers?

SLH: I still consider myself emerging, but am happy to share a few thoughts...

-Always select subjects that deeply resonate with you.

-Be aware of, but don’t follow trends.

-Take responsibly for the work you put out into the world.

-Experiment and allow yourself to make mistakes.

-If you are serious, you will always make time for your work. Build it into your schedule.

-Be able to place your work in historical and contemporary context.

-Allow yourself to be inspired by things outside of the art world.

-Acknowledge that no one makes work in a vacuum; we are all inspired by others.

-Be open to feedback, not everything will resonate, but when it does it will help propel your work forward.

-Don’t underestimate the amount of time and money it takes to produce, frame, package and ship work for a solo exhibition. Build in extra time for correcting mistakes and start setting aside funds as soon as possible.

-Have specific goals and a written timeline to help keep you on track.

Acacia Johnson

Acacia Johnson is a photographer and artist from Alaska. Her photographic process can be described as expeditionary in nature, exploring her profound connection to the landscapes of the Far North in Alaska, Scandinavia, Iceland, and beyond.

Acacia has worked as a photojournalist in Norway and has exhibited her work internationally. Her work is also included in collections at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum and the Smithsonian Museum of American History. She holds a BFA in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design and is the recent recipient of a Fulbright Student Award to pursue a photo project in the Canadian Arctic for the 2014-15 academic year. She will be working as an expedition guide in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic this summer. 

Origins Statement

These images are a return to the boreal landscape of Alaska, my childhood home. In the Far North, a place not governed by conventions of light or time, hours pass in the movement of the stars, in the rush of the sea ice adrift in the tide. Together with my family, I roam this land, seeking the places and occurrences that illustrate the wondrousness I perceived as a child. Like birds and all things blessed with flight, the landscape escapes the bounds of the earth, its profound subtleties happening inside of us as much as they are happening outside. Through my camera, I construct a personal mythology for my family, in which the landscape serves as a gateway to a numinous realm, and we stand, awestruck yet at home, at the border. 

Krista Steinke

Krista Steinke was born in Richmond, Virginia but grew up mostly in Texas. She received a BA in Art and the Advanced Humanities from Valparaiso University, a BFA in Studio Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a MFA in Photography and Digital Imaging from The Maryland Institute, College of Art. Her work has been included in exhibitions from New York to LA and her time-based work has been featured in film and video festivals around the globe. She has received several awards and fellowships for her work, including an Artist Residency at Light Work, an Image Award from CENTER, Santa Fe, and recently, a 2012 Promise Award from the Sustainable Arts Foundation. Krista lives in the Philadelphia area. Her work is represented by the Schmidt Dean Gallery.

View more of her work here 

Ashley Kauschinger: Were you drawn to living on Purgatory Road because of its local folklore? How did the series surrounding this area begin? 

Krista Steinke: Purgatory Road is a wooded pathway (in some ways it is more like an extremely long driveway) leading up to a cabin by a small lake in rural New York State. This property has been in my husband’s family for generations, and I have spent the past twelve summers living in this area. As a professor, I find the summer months off from teaching to be a critical time in terms of my creative work. During the summer, I try to photograph every day; I naturally gravitated towards this place as a subject because of its haunting beauty and uncanny resemblance to a setting in a children’s story. When I first started this project (approximately twelve years ago), I took a straightforward approach to photographing the landscape. However, over time, I realized I was less interested in producing documentary-style photographs and more interested in using the natural environment as a platform for exploring the metaphorical implications behind the folklore that surrounds this area. It took me about ten years to figure out how to execute this project in a way that felt poetic, and at the same time, evoked a sense of place. 

AK: You use handmade filters to help create the aesthetic of these images. Do you feel this creates a barrier, window, and/or passage between one world and another? Do you create a specific filter for each image? 

KS: I have used the terms “window” and “passage” in explaining this work, but I have not thought about the use of filters in terms of “a barrier” – that’s another interesting read on these images. But yes, the concept of portraying a state of “in- between” (i.e., “Purgatory” – figuratively, not literally) is the main theme behind this series. Shooting through these handmade filters, in essence, is a way to obscure or abstract reality and create an illusion that suggests an intersection between two different spaces – a meeting place where two conceptual polarities collide, become blurry, muddied or ambiguous. 

I have over fifty pieces of Plexiglass sheets that were donated to me by a friend who manages a gallery. These vary in length from 5 inches to 8 feet. I first treat them with various painting mediums and then leave them outside to be weathered by the natural elements. They are rained on, bleached out by the sun, and often become embedded with bugs, leaves, spider webs, and dirt. I love the idea of nature serving as both my subject and collaborator. When I head out to shoot along the road, I load up a little red wagon with photo equipment and a random selection of these Plexiglass sheets. I reuse the filters as needed, and their appearance continues to change as they are banged around and left outside over time. 

AK: This series is exploring several concepts-- legends, stages of life, the unconscious, the in-between, the environment, etc. Are these ideas inspired by personal experiences, research, and curiosity? 

KS: Although never directly autobiographical, my work always seems to parallel the events, questions, and issues that infiltrate my everyday life. Research, curiosity, and personal experience all play a role in how my work develops. For years, my ideas have been framed around my interest in narrative, myth, and metaphor, and it is through “research” that I am able to locate stories that can visually inform these ideas. “Curiosity” is usually what drives my interest in experimenting with the photographic medium and finding new ways to approach materials and techniques. “Personal experience” often sets the tone for my work and points to some underlying emotional influence or psychological impulse that compels me to explore a particular subject in depth. The year that I embarked on producing “Purgatory Road”, my father had a life-threatening health scare and had to undergo serious surgery. Fortunately, the outcome was positive, but the experience weighed heavily on my mind that summer and certainly influenced the creative output for this series. 

In general, I have always been interested in creating multilayered work that can be interpreted through a variety of vantage points. My goal is to present open-ended references or unresolved moments which allow for various levels of meaning or associations to emerge. 

AK: What advice would you give about making a cohesive body of work and the editing process? 

KS: From my experience, creating a cohesive body of work takes time, exploration, revision, reflection, and then more revision. As much as I dislike writing artist statements and grant proposals, I find the writing process to be a critical component in helping me articulate the ideas and intentions that I am trying to visually communicate. My writing changes as the work changes – it is an ongoing, fluid process. The element of time has also been important in the evolution of my work. For me, it has been necessary to give ideas the space to incubate, brew, and ripen. (As I already mentioned, it has taken almost twelve years for “Purgatory Road” to be realized, and the series is still in progress.) 

When it comes to “reflection”, seeking critical feedback from someone with an objective point of view can be extremely valuable. As the saying goes, “photographers are the worst editors of their own work”. With that in mind, I think it is advantageous to seek the support of others who can provide honest, solid feedback. My husband, for example, is trained as a painter and works in digital media. He has a unique perspective as an artist and always seems to find bizarre connections in my work that I would have never considered without his input. (He is also my worst critic, so once I get through a critique with him, I am good to go.) Portfolio reviews are also ideal moments to observe how work is communicating to an outside audience. On average, I like to attend at least one professional portfolio review a year. Preparing for the portfolio review can be a helpful exercise in learning how to strategically edit and sequence work, as the order and the amount of images presented can be critical in how a body of work is ultimately perceived. Finally, in creating a cohesive series, it’s important to remember that not every image in the mix needs to be a home run or stand-alone piece. Images that are small, quiet pauses can be powerful, poignant moments when viewing the work in its entirety.

Antone Dolezal

Antone Dolezal is a New Mexico based photographer and writer. He is a member of the new media collective Finite Foto, and his writing has appeared in various photographic publications including photo-eye Magazine and Fraction. Antone received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the College of Santa Fe in 2006.

View more of Antone's work here

Ashley Kauschinger: I feel your work holds a close relationship to the FSA and that generation of photographers. Do you feel linked to that time in photography? 

Antone Dolezal: My personal connection to the FSA generation doesn’t go very far. When I first started Ghost Town back in 2009 I looked through a good deal of FSA photographs that documented the Dust Bowl as a reference and jumping off point. James Agee and Walker Evans’ Let Us Now Praise Famous Men was an influential book in that it helped get the wheels turning with how I would approach telling a story about the Panhandle of Oklahoma, a place once devastated by the Dust Bowl and geographically referred to as No Man’s Land.

With that said, this project isn’t really a documentation, but a fictitious exploration into the myth of No Man’s Land. Within the last few hundred years it is a place that has violently changed hands numerous times between Mexican and American Cowboys, Native Americans and Eastern European Immigrants. The communities have witnessed severe drought and rebirth, poverty and prosperity. I wanted to incorporate this history, while also creating a place that came from my own imagination -- inspired from old stories and songs written about this land. It’s a lonely and spooky expanse and if you stay out there long enough that past reminisce has a definite way of presenting itself… so for me it became a perfect place for creation.

AK: Do you have a personal connection to the panhandle of Oklahoma?

AD: I feel a strong connection to The Great Plains in general. I grew up in North Eastern Oklahoma, just before you get into the Ozark Hills and I still love going back and exploring the old run-down towns and landscapes of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. There is a strong tradition of oral storytelling, folklore and bawdy humor in that part of the country, and it’s been a powerful influence on how I express the places I photograph.

AK: Your images seem to create a conversation with the land-- what it has seen, created, destroyed, lived through. What does this land experience presently? Does anyone live or work in the places you photograph? 

AD: Yeah, I’m really glad you pointed that out. Even though I chose to leave out any portraiture in this series, Ghost Town is very much about the interaction of people within the landscape and the relics and memories that are left behind. There is mixture of decay and rebirth throughout the whole project and my hope is that while some of the images display a certain sense of loneliness and despair, there is also the notion of a definite resilience within the landscape.

Other than a few communities, most of No Man’s Land is pretty desolate today. Even with all of the open space between towns, I’m still mesmerized by what I find out there. I was driving through about a month ago – in the middle of nowhere -- and watched two huge Dromedary Camels barreling across the plain. I have never seen anything like it and was blown away! The light was perfect, and was beautiful in a very post-apocalyptic sort of way.

AK: What myths, tall tales, movies, books, songs, artists have influenced you? 

AD: Looking at a lot of photography has been the biggest influence with regards to informing my own work. I worked at Photo-eye Books for three years and literally buried myself in images. I left that job with a completely different understanding and appreciation for the history of photography. One of my good friends in Santa Fe, Melanie McWhorter, shared a working space with me and she taught me more about the medium than I would have ever learned by going to graduate school. My work and knowledge really developed during my time there.

Outside of Ghost Town, I am working on a collaborative project with Arizona based photographer Lara Shipley titled The Devil’s Promenade. It’s a project that explores a specific folklore legend in the Ozarks. What drew Lara and I there were tales of a mysterious light that appears on chance nights far outside of the small town of Hornet, MS. Locals call it the Spooklight and it has become this tall-tale that for many symbolizes the local community’s desire for redemption and fear of slipping into darkness. It’s a wild story and we have taken on the task of photographing and interviewing people who have first hand accounts of interactions with the light and the myths that surround it. While universal and familiar, we found that this story has played a significant role in shaping the identity of this place.

Working so closely with Lara on this project has really challenged my own notions of how to approach a story as complicated as the one we are attempting to tell. I think it is a project neither of us could do on our own, and speaking for myself, this project has taken me way out of my comfort zone and I am a much stronger artist after partaking in this collaboration. It’s influenced my other work tremendously.

AK: What is your process of self-promotion? How do you create a balance of making work and promoting it? 

AD: It’s funny, for the most part I just try to keep close friends and let Karma and hard work run its course. The photo community in Santa Fe has really pushed me to develop my work and ideas and has supported me in countless ways. My friend David Bram of Fraction Magazine saw the Ghost Town work a few years ago and invited me to show it through Fraction. It really wasn’t ready and I was a little self-conscious of it at the time, but the response was fantastic and it gave me a strong self-confidence to continue with this project.  Since then I’ve been quietly working on shooting, editing and asking advice from people whose opinions I respect, which has eventually led to being invited to have a solo exhibition and public lecture of Ghost Town at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Seeing the work up on the wall helped me to realize it was time to start promoting it, so I have submitted to a few online sources and galleries that I really like and think the work fits into and next fall I hope to attend the photoNOLA portfolio reviews, which will be the first time presenting my work in the review setting. Other than that I’ll be out on the road for most of the spring and summer to work on my other projects! 

Photo Friday: Patti Hallock

Patti Hallock recieved her BFA in photography from the University of Colorado at Denver in 2004 and her MFA in photography from Parons, The New School for Design. Patti's photographic work has focused on expressing loneliness and isolation and the ways in which we experience those feelings within or because of our environment. She is currently examining the myth of the American West and its many faces through the landscape. Patti teaches photography at the University of Colorado at Denver. Her work is represented by Plus Gallery in Denver, Colorado. 

To view more of Patti's work, visit her website: http://www.pattihallock.com/

The West Is Here: 

Do you know the old adage? "No matter where you go, there you are." The West Is Here. It is a place-less place, a myth, the utopia we want to escape to and in searching for the West we begin to define ourselves. 

There's a natural cycle in progress, and in these photographs we've entered it toward the end, at the stage where most of these objects or structures are slowly disintegrating and being reclaimed by the very landscape they once arrogantly sought to command. How does our landscape mirror our cultural identity and what does the visible death of the landscape mean to our collective conscience?