[Alt-photo] Re: Katharine Thayer Exhibit in Astoria, Oregon

Mon May 20 02:13:14 UTC 2013

Diana

Thanks for a wonderful summary of the show and the story telling. I wish I could be there to touch all those prints. I have been watching the pictures in the slide show several times over now and can not get enough.

I really have to congratulate you for picking the images that are so engaging.

 I knew of Katharine work from the web and had a pretty good idea of what it looks like (though never seen it in person), so for the judging I send something that is totally opposite. Gum prints that came from the time period that I was making prints that look like Cibachromes, absolutely saturated with color. They do make such a great contrast with her work.

 I really congratulate all the artists that have prints in the show. WHat a great body of work. 
It gave me so many ideas.

Perhaps after I am done with my argyrotype project.

Marek

> From: dlhbloomfield at gmail.com
> Date: Sun, 19 May 2013 18:40:42 -0400
> To: alt-photo-process-list at lists.altphotolist.org
> Subject: [Alt-photo] Katharine Thayer Exhibit in Astoria, Oregon
> 
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I wanted to finally report on the exhibit, "Two Friends Who Never Met," that is now showing at Lightbox Photographic, in Astoria.  We flew out last Thursday and stayed through Tuesday-- and had an incredible time.  I'd never been to the Oregon coast before, and it is so so beautiful.  I'm pretty sure I could live there.  Astoria is a wonderful small town about an hour and a half from Portland.  It's beautiful-- all the houses (mostly Victorian) are scattered on little hills looking down on the Columbia River.  Sea lions are down there-- barking all night long.  Fortunately, we were in a Victorian that was high enough up the hills that we could hear them only faintly.  Michael and Chelsea, Lightbox owners, are terrific.  We had such a great time with them.  
> 
> We had spent Thursday night in Portland and drove the slow scenic route to Astoria on Friday.  Katharine's grown son and daughter, Doug and Heather, came in on Friday as well.  We had dinner with them and with Michael.  They're a lot of fun, and I think they really enjoyed talking about Katharine, the "List," and the exhibit itself.  I had never seen much of Katharine's work, except what she had on her website-- which they have kept online, by the way (katharinethayer.com).  So much of her imagery was very pale and subtle-- a Payne's Gray kind of minimalist look.  And after seeing the Oregon coast and that area, I can see why she might have chosen that sort of subtlety as it really fit that environment and the way the surroundings really appear.  
> 
> Katharine had about 7 siblings, I think, and 2 of her brothers and 3 sisters came.  I think they were all just incredibly touched by the show itself, by all the work, and by the people who had a connection to her-- so many of whom are showing work.   I really really enjoyed talking to her family.  They're really interesting people and a close family.  They were very funny.  I always thought Katharine had a great sense of humor, though I sometimes think humor does not always translate so well online.  But they all seemed to know a lot of about the work she did, and they loved hearing stories about the "List."  And, well, there are some pretty funny ones. ;)
> 
> Friday night was some sort of a First Friday art event in Astoria, so even though the actual exhibit opening was Saturday night, tons of people came through on Friday night.  I think it's the biggest crowd of people I've ever seen at a photography show (and an all gum show, for sure).  In fact, I've never seen an all gum show.  And then Saturday was the actual opening.  Earlier that day, though, Michael had a smaller gathering of people-- including all of Katharine's family-- and others.   Heather, Katharine's daughter, showed a slide show of Katharine and her siblings growing up on a farm, in Oregon-- lots of great old images-- and then on up to the last one, taken probably in the last year of her life.  I never knew what she looked like, so that was neat to see.  And I gave a short talk about our friendship and also what  that friendship, her expertise-- and her generosity in freely giving that out-- meant to me, and to a lot of people.  i also tried to be amusing in the li
>  ttle stories I told-- but-- again-- I think her family just really appreciated the entire tribute-- really touched by it.
> 
> Michael wanted me to give a gum demonstration for a small group of their Lightbox members, and he'd asked that I bring some dichromate with me. ???  Considering my hair clip gets me pulled aside in airport security, I wasn't sure how accepted dichromate would be-- so Charles Ryberg, who is on this List and who also has some wonderful prints in the show, was nice enough to bring some dichromate-- already mixed-- along with gum-- so that was really very helpful and greatly appreciated (possibly kept me out of jail!)>
> 
> So mainly, I wanted to say that to be able to see so much work by people on this List was just incredible.  Sometimes, when you see work online, the work is either never as good in person-- or it's a disappointment in some way.  I have to say that all the juried work I saw ahead of time was pretty wonderful-- but the real deals were absolutely breathtaking.  I never saw such great work.  And I don't think I've ever seen an entire photography show, and certainly not this big, that was all related to gum printing.  People were coming in and out all night Friday and on Saturday, and people commented to me a lot about all the work-- and people were actually looking at the work (which sometimes doesn't happen at openings-- or maybe that's only at my openings//).
> 
> I was pleased, too, that a few people came that I've met only online-- so it was great to meet them in person, too.   
> 
> Thanks again so much to those of you who submitted work for this.  I loved seeing it all, and it meant so much to Katharine's family.  The only downside was that we couldn't take ALL of this great work.  But every inch of eye-level wall space was definitely used. Michael and Chelsea did a beautiful job of framing and hanging this work.  What I found interesting, too, is the amazing mix of images.  No image looked like any other.  
> 
> So I have been slowly uploading what are mostly iPhone pictures (so - sorry for the quality).  I don't have much up there yet, but I'll keep adding.  I put those in a "private gallery" on my website.  So if you go into the website (www.dhbloomfield.com) and click "login" at top right, the password for that is "lightbox."   I think Michael will be sending me some, too, so I'll add those when I get them.
> 
> And Michael sent me these links which are close-ups of all the work that's in the show, so you can go through these, too.  They are amazing.  I'm not going to name names of all those prints I kept staring at, because that would be everybody's-- but I will say that I lobbied really really hard for those white tulips of Chia's.  I don't even know how you do something like that.  I brought up Mother's Day; future birthdays; future anniversaries . . . 
> 
> So . . . I'm sorry for this way too-long post, but I wanted to update everyone, especially those who got involved.  Enjoy looking at all this great work.
> 
> http://lightbox-photographic.com/shows/two_friends_who_never_met
> http://lightbox-photographic.com/exhibitions/twofriends/
> http://lightbox-photographic.com/exhibitions/twofriendsjuried/
> 
> 
> -Diana
> 
> 
> 
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