Inventory

Seventeen framed works

Will soon hang again, but now...

They clutter my hall

DPP, Part 2: Heron Silkscreen (incomplete project)

Heron at Morikami Gardens, 2007

A silkscreen workshop at 90+ degrees ain't so bad. When you wash the emulsion out of the screen, you're pretty much wet to your forearms and depending on the height/shape of your water source, your belly/chest/lap/feet get a good soaking, too. I did enjoy working in nice, cool water but remember lamenting the amount of water gushing out of the tap and am hoping to find a more efficient way to complete that step of the process.

  

Digital image created from photograph for screen

Due to the hot weather the emulsion baked onto to the screen more than expected, and the water pressure in the utility sink faucet could not wash away the exposed parts of the image. We took it outside to try the hose, and determined to clear the last bits of emulsion, I squeezed the hose on and blasted my screen from an inch away. I cleared out some of my image in the process, hence the title of this post. Below is one of the prints I made to test the result of my close encounter with too-high water pressure.

Right side shows result of rinsing away too much emulsion

The instructor, Sarah Coyne, is awesome and offered to remake the screen for me and I look forward to my second attempt.

I think silkscreen is a great way to give my photography new life and I have more ideas brewin.

Dismissing photo paper, part 1: Heron Silkscreen

I want to bring my photography off of photo paper and onto other surfaces... like different paper, fabric, wood, metal...

I want to try all kinds of things, but you have to start somewhere so I signed up for a silkscreen workshop.

Instructions from instructor:
 You can make a screen with ANY design you want but it the image must be BLACK with no shading

NO SHADING?! Tough for a photographer.
I looked around for high contrast images. I was wooed by my cityscapes and, as usual, every tree I ever took a picture of... especially bare branches against the sky. When I searched online for inspiration I saw a lot of that floating around and felt sort of uncreative. (No offense, fellow artists. We all love trees!)

And then I found this heron and I am excited about creating my first silkscreen. I'm not done editing the photo to create my transparency, but you get the gist. I took this photograph in December 2007 at the Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens in South Florida.

My first experiment exploring alternative ways to share my photography will take wing this Saturday!

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum this week to celebrate the opening of the new wing. Here are some images (captured with my phone) of the new wing in the areas where photography is permitted. I especially enjoyed the living room with its rich warm tones, vibrant orchids growing, and birds chirping. It is a place for people to come and feel at home at the museum... I didn't expect such an amazing museum could get better, but it did! Can't wait to go back and put my feet up in that living room after taking in Ms. Gardner's impeccable collection again.

December Blossoms

December 11, 2011

Boston Public Garden

I am leading winter photography workshops through the City of Boston's Park and Recreation Department.  The first of five workshops was held Sunday morning on the bridge in the Public Garden.  I positioned myself in the sun, hoping to keep warm while outside for two hours. 

I noticed these cherry blossoms from where I set up, and kept turning back to them as my toes got more and more numb. I was enchanted by these mid-December blossoms, as were many of the workshop participants as is evident from their photos. Our theme was color and as people came back to the bridge to share their work I saw their renderings of orange berries, white roses, leaves in shades varying from green to brown, and other pops of color in nature I never expected to see during a Boston December. It was a pleasant surprise that I think it warmed us up a tad.

Upcoming workshops
Sundays 10am- noon

December 18 at Jamaica Pond Boathouse, Jamaica Plain
January 8 at Christopher Columbus Trellis, North End
January 22 at Back Bay Fens Kelleher Rose Garden, Back Bay
February 5 at Millennium Park Canoe Launch, West Roxbury

All are welcome. These events are free and open to people of all ages and skill levels with any camera.

For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/bostonparksdepartment

Thanksgiving Cranberries

Having Thanksgiving on Cape Cod was so memorable and meaningful. I got to spend it with the best people, in the best weather, and with the best food!  We gleaned cranberries at this beautiful bog on the bank of Santuit Pond. 

Deeply grateful you've stopped to enjoy my photography,

Sarah

PS: Last year at this very bog, I saw a gang of wild turkeys hopping over the water. I didn't this year. Hopefully they weren't garnished with somebody's fresh picked berries...

Hello?

 I spotted this 

phoneless booth 

in Brookline in front of American Craft.

The phoneless booth is a 3-year obsession
with no end in sight.

The pay phone is going the way of 

the film camera, the walkman, and dial-up internet...

only this technological t-rex leaves behind public

clunky vestiges of wired, stationary communication.

Please enjoy my growing collection of 

phoneless booths 

by clicking here.

Urban Autumn

Waiting for the T

The crisp air suddenly stills

Yellow underfoot

Interfaith Arts Connection's FAITH IN ART

Greetings readers :)
Yesterday I had the unique privilege to both participate in and photograph The Interfaith Arts Connection's (IFAConnection) first event, Faith in Art. After meeting people briefly in some icebreakers, we all sat down to create visual stories about our faith backgrounds. During the creation of this art, there was some minor chatting at the beginning, but soon people were totally immersed in their own thoughts, quietly drawing, cutting and gluing, and painting their paths on paper. The results were incredible. Just as differently as 20 people would describe their connections to their own journeys through religion, spirituality, or faith, the art they made was at once unifying and distinctive. We all shared our story- some described what religion was like in our childhood with imagery from "a fertile soil" to "full of judgment".

We all shared where our spiritual paths or faith had led us, and where we hoped to see it go in the future. There was certainly a common thread. Almost everyone spoke of using what they had learned to open up, to branch out, to share, to keep growing, and to nurture themselves and others. Muslims, Buddhists, Jews and Christians (of varying denominations and levels of observance) all colorfully imagined themselves as whole, searching, and open people. Some people had a clear idea, or so I thought, from the sharing we did before we created art, and some people seem to have had insight through the process of creating and sharing their art with others.

By having to make my story come alive I learned about what is important to me, and by sharing it with others, my values became quite real. I am so glad I was there. Being able to see an event like this as a photographer gave me a bird's eye view. I have included a handful of images I think capture the event and our collective process of artful interfaith dialogue.

Gallery Reception for Solo Show- FEB 23, 2010

In December I hung my first photography show in the Boston area! One dozen photographs taken during my time in France are on view at the Boston University Metropolitan Gallery through March.

The reception will be held on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 from 4-6pm.
755 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 103

T: Green line to BU Central
Parking: limited metered parking on Commonwealth Ave.