Well, APIS is over and sad to say we'll all part for another
two years. I thought I would give a little gossip update
for those who couldn't attend--certainly a lot of you
because it was the smallest group this time ever! I know
gas is expensive and flying these days is a b---h but we
missed a lot of the regulars for sure. I've been coming
every time since 1999 and the group seems to have dwindled
down to the hard core alt addicts...
The most important update was a good lesson for us all. Art
Chakalis, brave man that he is, took a trip into the
wilderness to photograph a remote pueblo, and ended up
"spraining his ankle" there and had to walk out on his own
(no cell phone coverage, no other people anywhere) on it for
2 hours. A trip to the hospital ER room revealed not just a
sprain, but quite a bad break and he had to fly home,
missing the entire APIS. He is awaiting news of whether
surgery and plates are in order or if the cast he now has on
is sufficient. Fresson will have to wait until he heals.
What a stupid thing--Mark Nelson and I took him to dinner at
11 PM while waiting for his meds--where did we choose to
eat? IHOP. And Art was. Send him blessings.
Rondal Partridge's talk was wonderful as was his showing of
his platinum prints that he passed around and through the
audience like they were work prints. Beautiful imagery and
very inspiring as well as funny talk. Kenro Izu's talk was
really heartfelt. What a man--travels with this huge camera
all over, still doing analog work and printing pt/pd with in
camera negs--no digital. Barret Oliver gave an inspiring
talk on his 7 year research on the Woodburytype and his book
is just published. John Guider who traveled some 2800 miles
in a canoe on the Mississippi etc. rivers and photographed
showed his huge pt/pd prints and was the most wonderful
story teller of all he encountered in his months of solitary
paddling. Kim Weston did a retrospective of his
work--primarily the nude--and those lately that he
handcolors with oil paints, scans on a drum (?) scanner and
prints HUGE. Ron Reeder (great wry sense of humor) clearly
delineated the several different ways of skinning the
digital negative cat and even was brave enough at the end to
compare the different methods and mention names. He's a
sweetie. And as usual, Howard Efner is tinkering with
chemistry and coming up with the Physautotype--you'll have
to ask him about it--and Joe Sarff lectured on the
importance of vernacular photography.
Two evening events were really delightful--a cocktail
reception at the Sullivan house, and a free dinner for APIS
participants in the Andrew Smith gallery--have you even
eating BBQ right beneath $5000 prints???
My favorite part of the whole symposium is networking and
blabbing away, putting names with faces (and calling Paul
Lehman "Wayne" the entire time because I have a friend back
home named that). And the "5 in 5" where we see a bunch of
people's work, 5 allotted minutes apiece, including some
newbie APIS people such as Daniel Belknap who printed for
Irving Penn and prints for Mark Seliger (HUGE pds!!! 50ml
pt/pd per print!!) and Sal Lopes who prints for Mary Ellen
Mark and others I forget.
Oh, and did I say there were pt/pd printers there???
How about gummists? Hardly.
I am always especially interested in tracking female
participation, sometimes feeling like the lone female wolf
in a forest of male alt-ees. This time there was about 20%
female participation--about normal it seems--but some of the
quality of the work out of these women was really wonderful.
Elaine Querry did large cyanotypes of sculptures framed
with neat fabric patterns to complement the sculpture, Nina
Pak photographed easily 100 shots of women in costume for a
Tarot deck, etc. etc.
OH and Bernie (what is his last name??) developed a copper
cyano process that he HAS to name the Bernietype but I
unfortunately did not get the formula which he so freely
shared; Bernie is a chemist and the coppertypes are lovely
pink.
I hope that next time more will come. Talk of ideas to
share/processes to teach ended this symposium. If y'all
have any input, email the Sullivans and show up in 2009!
The rest of the listees that attended will jump in, I am
sure, with their experiences of APIS this time. I'm
looking forward to a nice, pricey dinner downtown Santa Fe
before I go back to reality and 2 days driving.....
Chris
Assistant Professor of Photography
Photography Option Coordinator
Montana State University
College of Arts and Architecture
Department of Media and Theatre Arts, Room 220
P.O. Box 173350
Bozeman, MT 59717-3350
Tel (406) 994 6219
CZAphotography.com