Portfolio Flash: Marc Ullom

Enter AAU Faculty Marc Ullom. As a way to challenge our sense of time and place, Ullom braved a series of self-portraits in abandoned spaces. Ullom says of this project, called Transcience of Self:

My physical presence intrudes upon these places, and interjects an energy of temporality that contrasts with the environment. This interaction between living flesh and decaying environment provides the viewer with a strong desire to identify the relationship between the figure and environment and at the same time causes them to ask questions that have no singular answer.

Something Old is New Again

Text and images by Matthew Pailes

The decision to place limits on my photographic work was not made lightly, but I believe it has made all the difference in the world. The irony that I just earlier today began the process of selling a lot of my digital equipment in order to buy older analog equipment is not lost on me.

I was born in 1974. In full disclosure, I am a history teacher. I am enthralled by history. When I was a little boy I would wear a NY Yankees baseball cap. People would ask me, being from Southern California, why I was wearing such a thing. They would ask me if I was a Yankees fan. I would reply, “Yeah, the 1937 Yankees.”

Like jazz music, or the blues, the greatest product of these media (including but not limited to photography and motion pictures), according to almost all of the people who care, the more seasoned products are always the best. In many instances, older really is better. When I think of the greatest images ever made, "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941," by Ansel Adams, comes to mind. As do images by Atget, Salgado, and Sally Mann. Salgado is still creating work, as is Mann. He uses digital now, but I think his most powerful work, by far, was his work in Africa, which was all done on film. Mann is still creating work, but her process uses equipment that hails from the toddler years of the medium. Of course, this decision for her was made with earnest deliberateness.

View fullsize

Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941, by Ansel Adams

Like music, these older processes and the images themselves seem to be more authentic. They carry an heir of authenticity that cannot be reproduced, even by the greatest digital image manipulation masters. The images I am interested in making are in the alternative process of wet plate collodion, originally created in 1851. They have a tactility, a depth, a liquidity, and even an odor (lavender oil) to them. Viewing them in person is a more encompassing experience, because “viewing” them involves more than just the sense of sight.

I am not largely caught up in fanboy hysteria, although I will admit to using Apple, Nikon, Pepsi, and Adidas (sometimes all at the same time). With my fine art photography, I genuinely do not care what brand of light tight box I use or what kind of lens I use, as long as the box leaks a little in an interesting way, and the lens has quirks from being over a century old.  Powerful occurrences of here-to-fore unbeknownst pieces of happenstance are in abundance with self-imposed limitations and antiquated equipment that somehow brings the past to life, or at the very least a bit of on heir of authenticity.

To be sure, I am in the process of creating a podcast that will discuss, in depth, matters very similar to this one. As a matter of course, I will be relying heavily on several different digital platforms to make this enormous, expensive project come to fruition. Again, the irony is not lost on me, although it is becoming less and less humorous the more that I mention it. 

Join Us in Florence This Summer!

Well, we’ve finally done it! We’re jumping on the bandwagon with other AAU departments like Fine Art, who has been rocking in Florence for a few summers now. In case you missed last week’s online chat, here are the “5 W’s” for PH499/699 Study Abroad, now scheduled for Florence, Italy, Summer 2016.

Who? Any AA or BFA students can take PH499, and any MA or MFA students can take PH699. You need not be a PH major, and there are no pre-requisites.

What? This is a 6-unit, studio course that follows the structure of a group directed study. You’ll propose a portfolio-related project, and you’ll work closely with classmates and your instructor to execute it. Final submissions will be realized as an exhibition in Florence!

Where? Did we mention it’s in Florence? Florence is the capital of Tuscany, a region of Italy known for its art, culture, and historical significance. Supervised tours will allow students to explore and photograph Siena, Volterra, San Gimignano, Cortona, Montepulciano, Fiesole, and Rome.

When? Summer 2016, June 20 – August 13 (7-1⁄2 week semester).

Why? We want to broaden your artistic education by allowing you an immersion experience. For its visual wonder and plethora of museums, restaurants, sites, and monuments, we’re sure Florence will be an unique and inspiring opportunity.

And lastly . . .

How? For more information, or for any questions about the PH class, contact Katty at khoover@academyart.edu.

Click here to view a recording of last week’s chat.

We hope to see you in Florence this summer!

Portfolio Flash: Amberlyn Nelson

Just in time for Halloween, PH Department Manager Amberlyn Nelson shares Self as Monster.

Nelson describes the series as "self-portraits exploring the fascination I have with zombies. In the late 1970’s, I first watched Night of the Living Dead and was terrified and intrigued with the concept that the dead could rise and walk again. With recent Hollywood productions like Walking Dead, Zombieland, and 28 Days Later, my fascination continues."

See more at https://instagram.com/agrolina/

Custom Portfolios by Meridian Press

We're halfway through the semester at AAU, and graduating students are gearing up for portfolio and presentation efforts. We know there's more than one way to showcase your work, and we believe the strongest designs reflect content and concept. As such, AAU Lens always has our eyes on alternative formats and all of the inspiring possibilities out there.

This week, we are looking more closely at the work of Meridian Press, a full-service letterpress studio and book bindery in Reno, Nevada. It was started in 2011 by Katherine Case, a poet and printmaker. Katherine learned bookbinding and letterpress printing at Mills College while pursuing her MFA there between 1998 and 2000. She also worked at the limited-edition book maker Arion Press in San Francisco, managed the studio at the San Francisco Center for the Book, and taught book arts for nearly a decade at the Nevada Museum of Art, the San Francisco Center for the Book, Sierra Nevada College, and AAU.

Katherine in the studio at Meridian Press.

Katherine's work at Meridian Press includes custom letterpress work, fine art prints, letterpress greeting cards, handmade books, and an array of classes, and for Katherine, some of the most rewarding parts of her work are the custom books and structures that she produces to client specifications. Many of these custom jobs have been books and broadsides ordered by poets, such as Chana Bloch, Jennifer K. Sweeney, Devorah Major, Kay Ryan, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti's custom book was a long, previously unpublished poem. It was letterpress printed entirely from metal type cast at M&H Type in the Presidio of San Francisco and bound in an edition of 250 using high end all-cotton papers and end sheets that were Japanese “Grain Indigo.” This paper is hand dyed and dried carefully on planks of wood so that the paper absorbs the wood grain. The paper's deep blue wood grain pattern ironically evokes water, beautifully appropriate for this long poem, “At Sea,” where Ferlinghetti, one of America's great poets who is now in his 90's, contemplates his own mortality (photos are attached of At Sea).

Other custom binding jobs have included individual Coptic-bound books, hardcover portfolios and cloth-covered boxes. Katherine says, "It's always inspirational to see another artist's project and to find a way to convert it into a portfolio, box, or book."

Another example of this is Elizabeth Kenneday-Corather's photo series about the dry reservoirs of Nevada. When her photos were to be included in an exhibition at the Bridge Gallery in Denver, Elizabeth wanted them to be displayed as an accordion book. She printed the book and brought it to Meridian Press, where Katherine folded it and created a cloth bound portfolio casing for it that included muted gray colors to match Elizabeth's color palette and a hanging device at the top that could double as the holder for a wrap around tie when the book wasn't being displayed. It was a great collaboration!

So tell us - what inspiring portfolios and designs have you seen recently? What are you working on? 

AAU Alumnus Puts Adobe Mobile Apps to Test

Adobe MAX 2015 -- Adobe's premiere creative conference -- welcomed AAU Alumnus Weston Fuller to Los Angeles this month. Fuller was asked to illustrate the power of Photoshop Fix and Photoshop Mix -- Adobe’s new mobile apps -- to create a surreal, constructed environment of his signature style.

To meet the challenge, Fuller conceptualized a fantastical story in which explorers encounter an ice cave capable of supporting an undiscovered, adaptable species of butterflies. To pull it off, Fuller sourced images from Adobe Stock, then executed a shoot of models in similar lighting conditions.

First, Fuller cleaned his original image and adjusted the cave opening in PS FIX. He then imported the results to PS MIX, where he composited over 40 layers featuring, he says, “lots and lots of butterflies.”

Fuller finished with final touches in PS FIX, which meant shaping the explorer’s facial expression. This was made possible by the facial recognition tool -- one of the key components of the app.

View fullsize

Fuller capitalized on PS FIX's facial recognition tool to emphasize the explorer's facial expression.

View fullsize

Keep an eye out for an interview with Fuller on his process in Adobe’s Create magazine, to debut this fall.

More of Fuller’s work, including his project, The Barn, can be seen on Behance.net.

Portfolio Flash: Jennifer Spitzer

Every weekend for two years, recent MFA grad Jennifer Spitzer traveled to the "Desert Oasis" known as the Salton Sea, a rift lake in Southern California.

Explains Spitzer, "The Sea, now surrounded by muck, salt and debris, has been reclaimed many times by nature, and today is often regarded as a vision of a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The communities surrounding the Sea mostly lie abandoned, waiting for their patrons to return. Here, I find unique beauty and a relationship between nature and man that is ubiquitous to the landscape surrounding the Salton Sea."

Below are images from Paradise Lost. For more, visit Spitzer's website.