It is gratifying and humbling for me to have experienced how so many people and organizations came together for this exhibition project.  Light Work, Syracuse University, the Society for Photographic Education, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the indie Photobook Library and close to 50 individual artists all played important roles in this endeavor.  The reception was packed and the response was great.  So many thanked us for all the work we put into it but, honestly, it was such a pleasure!  I'm particularly grateful to Willson Cummer, Larissa Leclair and Hannah Frieser for their invaluable participation.  Enjoy the reception pictures that are here and all over Facebook!  The installation photos serve as a record of the exhibition and can be found here on their own page.  Thanks to everyone who took part and to the many who attended the exhibition.  What a totally awesome blast it has been!

I debated whether we could accommodate this piece as it is extremely space-consuming.  The concept and audacious execution were hard to pass on, but the artist will be assisting with our installation as his piece will require some special attention.  Come see Ben Altman's idea of a photobook this weekend in Syracuse!

Yep, it's true.  The New York Times covers photography in general admirably well but doesn't really treat photography books with the same attention as it does other kinds of books.  Nonetheless, this recent article on zines is encouraging.  It is not specifically about photozines and is clearly written for the uninformed, but just the fact that it's in the Times makes it noteworthy.

About Jennifer's 5-volume piece White Ponds, she writes:

"This loose metaphorical narrative is comparable to a daydream, following and flickering between the characters, as the end references the beginning, the characters tend to lose identity and become one notion. Bits and pieces of these characters and their spaces are explored slowly revealing facets and dimensions of identity within each character. I see these photographs as pools of reflections for these characters, as well as myself."

Breath is a visual journal of a personal investigation during Dawn's artist residency in Iceland this past summer.

McCann Family
by Karen Davis
2008
34 pages
Blurb

When my sister died, I inherited “The McCann Family”, dolls that she played with throughout childhood and kept with her all her life.

Cheryl pretended she was Tom McCann, spunky and misunderstood.  I was Mary Ann, Mother’s favorite.  When Tom couldn’t stand on his own, Cheryl fitted him with crutches and braces like hers. (She had spina bifida).  Arranging the family in scenes, she created her private world.

Decades later, I place the four-inch dolls on stage, directing their actions.  I present my photographs in book form where the dolls are actual size and in large format prints to bring the McCanns and memories of childhood to life.

As many of you know, the SPE Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions' 2011 Conference at Light Work in Syracuse is sold out, but I got word of some good news.  Not only is the bookMARKs exhibition open to the public but the conference's keynote event, the Alec Soth lecture at the Everson Museum in conjunction with his survey exhibition From Here To There: Alec Soth's America, is also open to the public!  The exhibition is viewable during regular museum hours and the lecture event begins at 7PM on Friday November 4 with Doug Dubois being honored with a special educator award, followed by Alec's lecture.  Tickets for the lecture are available at the Everson Museum's website and they're $20 (or $10 if you're a student or an Everson member).

The bookMARKs exhibition is free and open to the public!  It will be open on Friday Nov 4 and Saturday Nov 5 from 10AM to 4 PM.  The official reception at the gallery will be on Saturday Nov 4 during the SPE luncheon at the Schine Student Center from 1:30PM to 3:30PM.

The Robert B. Menschel Gallery is located in room 303 on the upper level of the Schine Student Center, which is on the east side of University Avenue between Waverly Ave and University Place on the Syracuse University Campus, just down from Light Work.

We hope to see as many of you there as possible!

From Christine's book THE LIVES OF CHILDREN... the image you see is called The Girl Who Stopped Turning from a painting series entitled "The Lives of Children".  The series was  completed in the months after I constructed my installation "In Our Name: Iraqi Children in War" and  my focus shifted from the specifics of war to the themes of loss and memory.  The images are digitally printed on Hahnemuhle's William Turner 190 g paper and on  an overlay of 2P Polyvoile Fabric.

The front and back covers of Kat O'Brien's book My Dance With John, about her father who would've been 100 years old on the opening day of the bookMARKs exhibition, November 5, 2011.