Aftermath of the MFA

 

Not to sure how or where to start…. I finished my MFA in August and a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Literally and figuratively. All I wanted was a break from school and I felt the day would never come. But now it has… and now I am like “well what do I do now.” I think the hardest part of graduating with a terminal degree is that school is officially over. Done. Fin!…..Right… I could start my PhD in Visual Art, but is that what I really want right now. Not a 100% sure. The thought has crossed my mind over and over again, but for now, I think it’s best to just continue to the practice. Which right now, for me is the hardest part… finding the time to create again. At least when I was in graduate school, I was pushed to make art all the time, be in the studio all the time and create create create.

Now that I have completed my program, I find it more difficult to make time… mainly because there simply are not enough hours in the day. Now with new job opportunities flourishing and doors are opening, (WHICH IS GREAT!!!!- WHO WOULD HAVE KNOWN THEIR WOULD BE 4 JOBS OPEN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA!!)

BUT applying to exhibitions and applying for grants…. is like…. applying grad school every week… like every week… LITERALLY! I FEEL LIKE I AM APPLYING TO SCHOOL AGAIN ALL THE TIME. But just like one of my favorite art videos on Ted talk… Just do it. So how does one find time to create, research and write and then create more. Well here goes…..

I am learning that the push comes from within. It is now more than ever, more important to push myself. Nobody is here to check in on me. I am also learning maintaining the relationships I made in school are more important, more than ever right now at this moment. I valued my cohorts voices and opinions when it came to my work. So keeping that connection is very important right now. I also find it’s important to continuing reading and keeping up to date with whats going on in the contemporary art world. Joining mail list, artist talks, and even seeing more and more exhibitions has become so much more important than when I was in graduate school. More important… taking the time to rest. There is no need for those sleepless nights and endless writing and reading sessions. Of course I try not to procrastinate, but I work two adjunct positions full time and have my daughter, I can’t help but wait to the last minute at times. I have realized that I just need to be okay with that. And I am okay. I also realize, that it’s not worth the last minute push if I can’t sleep and get my mind right. I also find it very important to keep believing that my work is amazing because I am amazing. Confidence. That confidence I built in critiques and during my thesis…. that confidence that my daughter looks up too. Confidence. I didn’t just get a degree, I got a terminal degree. So I am going to keep moving forward… like always.

 

New York Public Library Digitizing More Than 1,000 Unseen Farm Security Administration Photographs

Recently, a friend of mine ( Leah D’Ambrosia) sent me this reading. I was so excited to hear about this and more amazed that they had these photos and they have never been seen!! The most recent stash comes in the form of 1,000 photographs from the Farm Security Administration photo project that have been rediscovered at the New York Public Library.

For those of you who know me pretty well, the FSA photographers have been a huge inspiration to foundation of how I begun my documentary work on social issues. They were truly some of the best photographers around and really influenced the start of American documentary photographers.

The new discovered prints include work by Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans and Russell Lee. The original mission of the Farm Security Administration project was to photographically combat American poverty, but today the work is considered an important documentation of American life.

About 1,000 of the images have been digitized and will soon be revealed on The New York Public Library digital gallery.

SILVER & LIGHT by Ian Ruther

 

Ian Ruther is a photographer I came across from people using facebook and vimeo to show his work. He has been photographing by using the old process of wet plates, but onto huge images of silver sheet metal. It is probably one of the most amazing processes I have ever come across. Since I have been experimenting with my own process about etching cooper and zinc with Ferrier chloride, I can’t help to take notice to this! I have become so intrigued with going back to traditional techniques of photography and hope that I will continue to keep motivated. Its people like this in the field that keep me motivated.

Here is what I found out!

Ian Ruther has taken the 19th century photographic process wet plate collodion a complex hands on craft of using silver nitrate to produce insanely enormous photos to the next level. Known for innovative snowboard photography across the globe, Ruther has succeed in capturing riders in mid-air, becoming the only person in history to suspend motion with this process using artificial light.

SILVER AND LIGHT (click on to see film) 

This project was created with the same spirit that america was founded on. Our intentions are to connect everyone in america through the lens of this camera and social networking sites. We can’t do this without you. We want to tell your story and show your city or town through photographs of you, and people you know. As we travel around america looking for people and places to shoot you will be able to keep track of where we are going and help us decide where we go next. Join us in our journey by liking our facebook to get yourself photographed by us.

facebook.com/pages/Ian-Ruhter-Photography/159583283699
ianruhter.tumblr.com/

Watch the film and spread the word. comments are always appreciated!