Open Water Winners: Rahshia Linendoll-Sawyer

Eschewing seamless and other traditional non-spaces, Juror’s Choice winner Rahshia Linendoll-Sawyer chose to shoot in the liquid environment of a pool. “I wanted a figure detached from the ground; adrift in its surroundings.” After scouting and experimenting with locations for a year, Linendoll-Sawyer finally found the effect she was looking for. “My initial experiments failed as the figure looked too contrived […] or worse, the photograph looked digitally manipulated. All of the work is done in lens, no digital manipulation.”

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Linendoll-Sawyer’s winning image, We Are Not Made of Wood No. 23, is part of a larger series of similarly titled underwater self-portraits. The titles come from a letter Vincent Van Gogh wrote to the owner of a café expressing sympathy for the man’s ill wife: “Diseases exist to remind us that we are not made of wood, and it seems to me this is the bright side of it all. And after that one dreams of taking up one's daily work again, being less afraid of obstacles, with a new stock of serenity…” Linendoll-Sawyer appreciated the sentiment in Van Gogh’s words, and saw a parallel between it and the themes of fragility and confidence in her own work. “[The line] summed up, for me, the strength it takes to be helpless and out of control is often overshadowed by the disease.”

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Linendoll-Sawyer describes this series as “a narrative on losing control and grappling to regain control. I want to push the viewer to take on a role in the paradox of control – being in control or control-less.” Though a departure from her previous work with miniature environments, it maintains her fascination with water, continuing her journey “from miniature vessels filled with glycerin and objects, to water filled filters, and now myself being underwater in the environment.”

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Recognizing that presentation was critical to how her work would be understood, Linendoll-Sawyer took the unusual step of mounting her images on aluminum and displaying them without a frame.

I wanted to keep as much as much of the glossy, wet feel as I could. I tried many different techniques and settled with the aluminum because not only did it retain the wet feel, it also added a subtle metallic shimmer and a 3D quality to the final piece. The float mount was a natural choice as the framed piece needed to retain the feeling of endless expansion.

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Paradox is a recurring theme in Linendoll-Sawyer’s work, and sees success as a paradox as well. “On one side, what do I want success to provide? For me, it is simply being successful enough to continue making and evolving my work, and on the other side, as the artist, I must be an agent for my own success.”

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Open Water is on view through June 1, 2013.

Vicki Goldberg

The Kiernan Gallery is thrilled to have renowned photography critic Vicki Goldberg as juror for our second annual Portfolio Showcase. In addition to having written about photography for the New York Times for 13 years, she has published several books and the texts for more than 25 photographic monographs. We have asked her a few questions about her work as a critic.

Your role in the photography world is often thought of as an interpreter of art, curating, discussion panels, and writing are all manifestations of this role. Do you or have you ever seen yourself as a maker of art?

No, I don't consider myself a maker of art. What I do when I write I hope I do well, but it's not what I think of as art. Nor do I think I could do two things equally well, and I do love to write most of all. (And during the brief time that I was taking pictures, I realized I had quite a good eye but probably wouldn't be a "great" photographer, and besides, every time I went out with a camera I was late to wherever I was going because there were so many things I wanted to record).

How do you approach a critique? What do you think makes for the best critique experience for both the photographer and reviewer?

The reader of a review mostly wants to know if the show is worth seeing, which a critic can approach in a variety of ways, but 'good' or 'bad' isn't necessarily the critic's major message… I'm very interested in context, relation to culture, history, etc., which can't always be put into the mix. See The Power of Photography: How Photographs Changed Our Lives, or The White House: The President's Home in Photographs and History for my interest in photography's influence on and involvement in history and society.

Putting together a body of work is complex. In your opinion, what are the most common mistakes photographers make in their edits or presentation?

Photographers, like other artists, often include too much rather than editing rigorously. It's particularly hard for them to give up favorite pictures, or pictures that were hard to get, and to acknowledge that effort (or even fondness) doesn't necessarily mean good, and more doesn't necessarily mean better. Generally speaking it helps to have an independent eye, since it's difficult to see what is too close to the self.

As photographers, we often find ourselves being lumped into categories and trends. As a photography critic, how do you respond to “trendy” work?

If the work is really good, that has to be noted, even though its derivative status must also be made clear. Generally what I think you refer to as trendy tends to be boring because you've seen so much of it. Then too, it may be a suspect attempt to jump on a bandwagon. Cultural "trends," however, might be something less obvious that work fits into or reflects, and that can be worth deciphering.

The deadline to submit work for Portfolio Showcase 2013 is May 23

www.kiernangallery.com

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Announcement: New Call for Entry!

Eye on the Street

Deadline: July 25

Exhibition: September 4 – 28

Opening Reception: September 6

Street photographers are guerrilla documentarians. They capture the world as they see it, using small and forgotten moments to present a larger narrative. Themes of class, age, occupation, or background are brought to life by small stories that evoke our shared humanity. The keen eyes of street photographers see what others take for granted, and depict the richness and variety of our public lives. For Eye on the Street, The Kiernan Gallery seeks street photography in all its forms.

For this exhibition, juror John N. Wall will select up to 25 images for display in the main gallery, and up to an additional 35 to be included in the online gallery. All images will be reproduced in an exhibition catalogue available for purchase. A Juror’s Choice and Director’s Choice will also be announced.

All photographic media are encouraged.

The Reflection of Desire © John N. Wall 

About the Juror

John N Wall is a photographer and educator from Raleigh, NC. A native of North Carolina, he is a member of the faculty at NC State University. He has exhibited his work in solo and group shows across North Carolina and the South, and has won numerous awards in regional and national competitions. His work has been supported by grants from the United Arts Council of Wake County. He holds a Certificate in Documentary Photography from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. Wall maintains Southern Photography: The Blog about Fine Art Photography in the American South, named one of the 100 Best Sites for Photographers in 2013 by the folks at PhotographyDegrees.org. 

For more information and to see submission guidelines visit: www.kiernangallery.com

Changes in Commission Policy

A few months ago The Kiernan Gallery ended its policy of taking a 30% commission on the sale of artwork. The Gallery now does not take a commission from artists exhibiting in our monthly shows. A few people have asked why we made this change. Ultimately, we came to believe that it would be unfair to take a fee from artists when they submitted to the show, and then take a portion of the proceeds from the sale of their work. Taking money on both ends of the exhibition process does not fit squarely with the Gallery’s goal of promoting emerging artists. The solo exhibitors that we now show in conjunction with our monthly group exhibitions do not pay a submission fee, and we therefore retain a 30% commission on sales of their work.

We have never sold a piece without having some sort of conversation with the buyer about the price. In the past, the Gallery often found itself dipping into its commission during negotiations. The ability to negotiate with buyers is important, and the Gallery now reserves the right to negotiate 20% of the sale price with the buyer in order to make the sale.

It has been several months since we changed our commission policy. Exhibiting photographers’ prices have come down because artists are no longer factoring a commission into their pricing. Lower prices have meant more sales, and who doesn’t love that?

Spring Featured Artist: Heather MacRae-Trulson

Drawing inspiration from her environment in Savannah, this spring’s Featured Artist, Heather MacRae-Trulson, uses her art to discuss the environment and the effect our choices have on it. “It developed into the idea of human influence on the environment, specifically, certain structures and systems we exist in and build for ourselves, and their effect on us and our local habitat.” Using acrylic paint and other materials, MacRae-Trulson expresses the feelings and emotions of moving through her environment on her canvas. She is adamant that interactions with her environment are colored by emotional responses, and cannot simply be reproduced in a representational image. “I take the time to soak things up, move through the city streets observing.” Her paintings then tend to evolve organically. Her ideas are jotted down on paper, but rarely does she sketch before beginning a new piece. Rather, she allows her ideas and emotional responses build in her head before beginning to work. “I wait for these things to compile, and present themselves as gestures, layers and marks.”

Histories

MacRae-Trulson used to work in specific canvas sizes and ratios, but she has recently been experimenting outside of her usual comfort zone. “Lately the work I have been doing finds itself at home on small traditional rectangular canvases.” Despite this change, her approach to the blank canvas is the same. “There is a period of sitting and staring at the blank canvas, then a frenzy of action – pouring, scribbling, brushing frantically – all to get the ball rolling. Then I sit back and wait.” This second phase of observation allows her to start to fine-tune her vision and to see what other media (conte crayon, graphite, charcoal, ink) might be needed. She has not formalized this process, and this period of reflection allows her to determine what to do next, or if more work is even needed. “Sometimes I don’t know if I’m just stopped for the day or if I’m done with that piece. So I have other pieces around to work on preventing me from killing something by going back into it too much when it’s finished.”

Veil

Every person who is able to pursue something they are truly passionate about is lucky. Given her work and the joy she takes in painting, MacRae-Trulson concedes that she is very lucky. “Success in art means painting every day and paying your bills while still being able to look your reflection in the eye.” Her abstract style is engaging and expressive, which is truly what she aspires to.  “There is a wonderful snowball effect that happens when you take things that you are inspired by and try to put them down on canvas, they wrap up into themselves and take on a new life ‒ the painting is given space to exist as its own inspirational object.”

Structure

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Heather MacRae-Trulson is The Kiernan Gallery's first non-photographic artist.