http://www.picturelife.com

full disclosure: Picturelife is the brainchild of my cousin and tech genius Nate Westheimer.

My self portrait made of 30 3″x3″ tintypes is in the show “Portraits: Beneath the Surface” at the Studio Montclair Gallery at Academy Square, 33 Plymouth Street in Montclair, NJ from May 18th to August 14th, 2012.  The opening reception is Friday May 18th from 6-8pm and will be part of the annual Montclair Gallery Walk event.

from the SMI website:

“Portraits: Beneath the Surface,” curated by Janet Boltax, encompasses a broad interpretation of what portraiture is. Artworks in the exhibit span a wide range of media and extend from traditional to contemporary art. According to Webster’s dictionary, a portrait is a likeness, a painted resemblance, or that which is copied from some example or model. Yet today, technology is transforming both the medium and subject matter of portraiture, as well as how we think of human identity. To portray the essence of a person, do we focus on the face? The DNA? How much of the artist’s nature should be reflected in a portrait?

Boltax believes that a compelling portrait should reflect the character and inner life of both the sitter and the artist. Several portraits in the exhibit are autobiographical—the many faces of photographer Bill Westheimer, the torso of sculptor Monica Litvany, expressive of the hardships she has endured due to physical illness, and the witty representations of Ruth Bauer Neustadter’s inner life. More traditional are the drawing and paintings of Brian Stymest, and the paintings of Andrea Geller, all exuding sensitivity, strength, and a skilled hand. In the vein of the great expressionist painters is the work of Paul Weingarten and Alaine Becker. Neil Korn’s drawings merge traditional draftsmanship with experimentation, his use of crumbled paper adding unexpected interest to his work. Monoprints, assemblage, and photography, both traditional and computer-based, further expand the parameters of portraiture.

“I believe that one thing all of these portraits have in common is the capacity to illicit feelings of awe and wonderment and that slightly unsettled feeling that comes with perceiving the world in a novel way,” says Boltax.

Artists featured in this exhibit are: Marjori Abramson, Alaine Becker, Ron Brown, Marcie Cooperman, Marilyn Deitchman, Andrea Geller, Joyce S. Hollander, Peter Jacobs, Neal Korn, Freyda Lazarus, Julie Levine, Monica Litvany, Clarence Mather, Ruth Bauer Neustadter, Anne Oshman, Arthur Paxton, George Saj, Karen Shala, Linda Streicher, Brian Stymest, Heidi Sussman, Paula Sweet, Paul Weingarten, Bill Westheimer, and Jodi Csaszar Zielinski.

Janet Boltax is a portrait painter, figurative artist, and printmaker. She has had several solo exhibitions in New Jersey and Virginia and her work appears in private collections throughout the United States. She also teaches painting to adults at the Montclair Museum, the Newark Museum, the Adult School of Montclair, and Studio Kids Art, and mixed media to children at the JCC of West Orange.

Artist Eric William Carroll’s eulogy for the darkroom of our memories is a wonderful installation of photograms made of the tools from that mostly bygone era.  Looking at the installation you can almost smell the stop bath.

On display at SF Camerawork May 4 until June 30, 2012 with an opening reception May 11th, 5-8 p.m.

SF Camerawork is at 1011 Market Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103 | Ph: 415.487.1011 | Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12 – 6 pm, Fridays open until 7 pm

Jay Maisel from The Big Picture Film & Video on Vimeo.

The Big Picture created this Emmy award winning documentary on living legend photographer Jay Maisel

Manual Project Photobooth - Ironworks Gallery January 21, 2012

The closing party for The Manual Project exhibition at Ironworks was a great success. 35 people participated in the photobooth.  View the gallery of the final images. Click on the thumbnails to see the photos enlarged.

Thanks to everyone who came to the closing and especially those who participated in the photobooth.

I hope you can come to the closing party for my latest show of The Manual Project at Ironworks Gallery in The Valley Arts District of Orange and West Orange this Saturday January 21st from 6 to 9 pm.   It is a two man show titled “Image/Identity: Looking For Who We Are” including the work of acclaimed sculptor Larry Dell.

Never satisfied to have the usual gallery party we are adding some special events:
I will be doing hand portraits of everyone using a digital photo-booth.  The images will be posted on a special website and available for downloading.
Also on hand will be Gerard Amsellem and Mikel Frank who are working on a video installation piece about the nature of love.  They’ll be videotaping interviews for part of an installation they’re doing entitled: Visual Heat: On Love. It will be installed in 1978 Maplewood Arts Center on Springfield Ave in Maplewood some time in the summer.

Ironworks Gallery is located at 406 Tompkins Street between Freeman and Forest Streets   (Click here for a map)

This is the closing party for the gallery as well.  This is your last chance to see a show at the Ironworks Gallery.  Come to say ciao to the gallery and Valley Arts Director Lorena LaGrassa who is moving on to bigger and better things in our community.

I hope to see you on Saturday- please come by to say hello, have a glass of wine, feel the excitement of the Valley Arts District and have your hand photographed !  I also will be signing my book MANUAL The Personalities of Hands .

I have continued the tradition of making my own Christmas cards since I moved out of my parents’ house to live on my own.  I went through my archives and found many of them going back to 1993.  Since 2009 I have been recycling cards from my stash of old ones.  Instead of printing new and adding to the piles of cards in my hayloft I am sending the old ones until they run out.  Golden Oldies, I suppose.

1993 Xmas Card

1994 Xmas Card

1995 Xmas Card

1996 Xmas Card

1997 Xmas Card

1998 Xmas Card

1999 Xmas Card

2000 Xmas Card

2001 and 2011 Xmas Card

2002 Xmas Card

2003 Xmas Card

2004 and 2009 Xmas Card

2005 Xmas Card

2006 Xmas Card

2007 and 2010 Xmas Card

2008 and 2010 Xmas Card

The Manual Project Salt Prints

The Manual Project is on exhibit at The Ironworks Gallery 406 Tompkins Street, Orange, NJ in The Valley Arts District from December 16th 2011 through January 21 2012. Also showing two series of sculptures by Larry Dell: “ghost” and “(My) Lost Identity: A Reflection on Dishonesty, Secrecy, Politics and Love” exploring themes such as family, deception and identity.

There will be an opening reception and book signing on Friday December 16th from 6 to 9 pm and a closing reception January 21 2012 from 6 to 9 pm. The gallery is open by appointment – contact 973-674-0183

The exhibition “Image/Identity: Looking For Who We Are” poses questions about the idea of the self and how experience forms our individuality.

I will present photographs from the “Manual Project” a collection of portraits of people from diverse backgrounds, occupations, ages, and cultures from around the globe. Each hand portrait is a study of the person’s dominant hand, revealing evidence of how they have lived, who they are, and what they may become.

Using 19th century collodion wet-plate techniques, I photographed each person’s dominant hand then collaborated with my subjects to make a camera-less photogram of the palm print. Both images were then combined with the subject’s handwriting to create one portrait of each person from three perspectives.

Larry Dell will present sculpture from an ongoing project prompted by the discovery of his adoption. Although highly personal the work is meant to pose questions about personality and relationships that are applicable to virtually everyone. The “Ghost” series explores the idea of “phantom” relatives lost through external circumstances, which may never be known. The “Lost Identity” work deals directly with last contact between the artist and his natural mother. “These are subjects that choose and propelled me to explore ideas about dishonesty, love, my relationships to the people most important in my life and my own identity,” said Mr. Dell.

ValleyArts, Inc. is a nonprofit organization whose mission is: to grow and maintain a vibrant arts district in the Valley neighborhood of Orange and West Orange and to create cultural and artistic opportunities for local residents of all ages. The IronWorks Gallery is one of ValleyArts’ initiatives to promote local artists and the benefits of art within the local community at large.

Part of the Windows in the Valley initiative of Valley Arts, the display is in coordination with an exhibit of The Manual Project at The Ironworks Gallery December 16th 2011 through January 21, 2012