CAPTURED

WalterFedy, a local architect and engineering firm has started to host art exhibits in their main foyer area as a way to engage with the art community here in Kitchener & Waterloo. Their first show is called CAPTURED and is a curated collection of the work of 11 local photographers. The show opened in late October and continues through the end of December.


I was invited to show a couple of my photographs. And in particular I was asked if I could/would produce something especially striking for display on a large red wall. I had just the image that would do very nicely. It is a scene of a local railway station taken from a bridge. During this past year's Contact photo show in Toronto I saw a number of very cool images printed on aluminum. It struck me that a scene of the railway station would look fabulous printed on aluminum. So, I did a bit of research and sent off a number of sample images to a couple of printers to see that my idea would work. It has turned out even better than I could have imagined.

Transportation, printed on 4' x 6' sheet of aluminum
(ignore the watermark, this photo taken by Jared Davidson (using my camera))

The photographers were given a chance to hold a reception for friends and family to view the show (access is normally somewhat restricted because it is a regular working environment). We put together a very nice reception and invited about 80-100 people. It was wonderful to see people's reaction to our work.

More images from that evening can be found on my Flickr CAPTURED set.

BOX-11

My installation

BOX-11 is an annual art show and sale that happens in the Kitchener/Waterloo region. This is its third year and it has become very large and influential. This year, there were at least 60 or more eligible entries but only about twenty three that were accepted by the curatorial jury. And only five of us were photographers.

It was quite an honour for me, my first art show. I was very excited. (I was also accepted to show some work in another art show at WalterFedy about this same time, I'll write about that in another posting).

Preparations

Preparations for this showing were extensive. First selecting the works that would define my body of work had to be done. I knew what, generally speaking, I wanted to show - my industrial images. But which ones? After a great deal of contemplation I had decided on the required four images for the initial jury review. If they liked my work I would be able to submit more images for a second review. Printing the images turned out to be a big problem. I was having serious problems with the ink in my printer and could not get a consistent black. Finally, after a lot of experimentation with ink and with papers, I found a combination I was happy with. Then getting the initial four images printed and still making the deadline was a challenge.

Sample of one display area

Setup

The show is always held in a local, derelict factory (with permission, of course). Getting the factory space cleaned up and prepared for the show is a huge challenge that I am fortunately shielded from. The week before the show starts all artists are expected to attend an initial reception where we are given directions on how the show will run. We get to see a lot of the preparations at this time. The lighting system is being installed as we listen to our directions. Cabling is being pulled by our heads, we duck and shuffle to miss being bumped (we're not in any real danger, it's more fun than anything).

Darren documenting the show

Friday night arrives and an invitation only reception is being held for local big wigs and mucky mucks and fancy "people of means". (I'm not dissing this, actually. I count myself as one of that group ;). Just before the doors are open, I walked about and took this image of Darren documenting the show. Everything looked great. And there was a huge turnout. I met many people who were very interested in my images. I was inspired by many of the comments I heard (and overheard). I was inspired by how I saw people studying my images. I was tickled pink that I sold a few that night too!

Saturday and Sunday were very busy days. Maybe a thousand people came through those two days. I had great fun talking to people about my photography, about art, about the historical significance of the factories I photographed, about so many other things. I was excited to sell a few more images. It was a wonderful event.

I am talking to two interested art collectors