ANMPAS 2017, the Annual New Mexico Photographic Arts Show, is now open and runs through April 23. The show is in the Fine Arts Building at EXPONM. Hours are 10:00am-5:00pm daily, except closed on Easter Sunday. If you live in Albuquerque, or will be passing through the Albuquerque area, consider visiting the show. I think you’ll enjoy it. All photographs are framed and available for purchase.
And, once again, I invite you to see a variety of my other pomegranate images, as well as rose images and two from “Persephone’s Choice: Every Woman’s Dilemma.” These were published in the March/April Shadow and Light Magazine, Tim Anderson, editor. Tim was kind enough to allow me to use a pdf of my portfolio published there, as the Featured Photographer and Grand Prize Winner of the 2017 Color It Red Contest. Thanks, Tim, and also to the jurists.
“Fruit of Ancient Myths” as a photographic image can be seen in two major venues this spring: 2017 ANMPAS and the March/April ssue of Shadow and Light Magazine.
Fruit of Ancient Myths
Regular readers here know that in the fall of 2015 I photographed many pomegranates for possible use in composites in the Persephone series. In the fall of 2016 I revisited and reworked some of those images. I looked simply at the beauty of the pomegranates themselves, not as perfect specimens, but as living things with beauty and grace as they approached the end of life. The seeds they contain, the hope of rebirth and new life, are clear and distinct. This image is one in a series.
2017 ANMPAS
2017 ANMPAS, the Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show, opens April 2 and runs for three weeks. It will once again be held in the Fine Arts building at EXPO New Mexico. All images are framed and mounted, and are for sale.
2017 ANMPAS2017 ANMPAS. Image by Sandra Corless
The show itself is free, although at times, especially on weekends, EXPO NM may charge a parking fee.
Shadow and Light Magazine
This image, “Fruit of Ancient Myths,” also appears on the cover and also within the March/April 2017 issue of Shadow and Light Magazine. Thanks to the jurists of this year’s Color It Red competition, I was selected as the Grand Prize winner. In addition to images related to the pomegranate/Persephone/myth work, the editor, much to my surprise, requested some of my rose photographs to include.
Editor Tim Anderson of Shadow and Light Magazine was kind enough to allow me to share a pdf of my portfolio (click to see all of my images included) in the March/April issue of the magazine. The entire issue can be purchased for $3.50, and I recommend it for interesting articles as well as great photography.
Black and White Photography: ANMPAS Presents “Shades of Gray” December 4 – 27, 2016 at ExpoNM
Black and white photography as the sole focus for the December ANMPAS show is new this year. All of the ANMPAS (Annual New Mexico Photographic Arts Shows) shows feature New Mexico photographers. The December show has been a general show, with color and black and white images. The April show (Insight-NM) has featured women artists of New Mexico.
Organizer LeRoy Perea is changing things up a bit this year. December 2016 is “Shades of Gray.” April 2017 will be the standard ANMPAS show. December 2017 will be “Insight-NM.”
Shades of Gray Black and White Photography Show
The show is closed December 24 and 25. Otherwise, it is open from 10:00am – 5:00pm December 4 – 27. The show itself is free. ExpoNM may charge parking on weekends or during special activities. All images are framed gallery style and all are for sale.
Those of you who read here often (Thank You!) know that, as a photographer, I am basically a colorist. To my eye, the colors of New Mexico demand that of me. But, every now and then, I do see things in black and white. I have always seen these boots, handmade by my son, in monochromes. When I realized he planned to come for the holidays and might be able to see the show, I entered this image. I was very happy that it was juried in. Many thanks to the jurors.
“Beware Barbed Wire.” Custom handmade cowboy boots by Brandt Graham, with fancy stitching and inlaid silver leather.
If you are in the Albuquerque area in December, consider visiting this black and white photography show, “Shades of Gray.” I am very happy to be included in this show.
Those of you who are regular readers here have seen this work from the time it was barely an idea, now up to its presentation as a Kindle ebook.It is important to note that you do not have to have a Kindle to be able to view the book. Amazon offers free Kindle apps for desktops (PC and Mac), laptops, tablets, and smartphones (iOS and Android). In fact, since this ebook features images in color, I can view it better with an app on any of my devices other than my Kindle Paperwhite, which shows the images in black and white.
If you have followed the Persephone series as it developed here, you have already seen most of twelve images that are featured in the ebook. New text has been added: a discussion of myth, meaning, and various approaches to interpretation; a look at the mind-body dichotomy in human society; and some autobiographical references. From the Preface:
Persephone, Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld in Greek mythology, became a truly fascinating mythological figure to me in 2015. I became determined, almost obsessed, as a photographer, to interpret a portion of her story. A complex myth, the part that initially captured my imagination involved Persephone’s cyclic descent into the Underworld and return to Earth each Spring.
Now that this small portion of the story is completed as a photographic series, I realize I was so driven to do the work because it presented an unexpected opportunity for me to synthesize much of my adult life – as a woman, as an anthropologist (PhD University of Arizona), as an obstetrician and gynecologist (MD University of Kansas, residency training University of New Mexico), and photographer (University of New Mexico).
As I worked with the images from what was intended to be a simple photoshoot, I began to realize that in many ways I was telling a story of an archetypal Woman, through one woman’s learning what it is to be female, in both body and mind. This is not a story about a woman learning to accept society’s or other’s definitions, but rather it is about a woman defining herself to herself, in her many complexities. Twelve images from the series are presented in this volume.
Myth, “the repository of the collective unconscious” – I learned to say that as an anthropologist. I learned what it meant as a photographic artist well into my mature years.
It is fitting that the portion of the myth involving Persephone’s cyclic descent into the Underworld and return to Earth, bringing Spring with her, consumed so much of my time during fall and winter. I first became aware of the myth on September 15 in casual email correspondence with friend Jim Stallings. By the end of September I had submitted for jurying three images inspired by the myth, using subjects well known to me: sunflowers and butterflies. All three were juried into 2015 ANMPAS (Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show) and shown there in December:
Heart of the Matter
Awakening from the series, Persephone
Emerged, from the series, Persephone
I spent much of October photographing beautiful split pomegranates from my mother’s dwarf tree. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with all of those images; I just knew I had to photograph them.
By the end of October I began thinking of doing a series with a model. As a photographer, at one time I had done maternity portraits. And, once I had worked with someone else’s model on that person’s project. But, I myself had never chosen and hired a model. I really had no idea how I was going to do that. But, on October 30, the perfect person just sort of appeared. The following day I surprised myself by walking up and asking her if she had ever been a photographer’s model or if she would ever consider being a photographer’s model. Almost as much to my surprise, she said that although she had not done that before, she would be willing to do it.
Kelly Angerosa and I did the photoshoot on November 12, 2015. I spent the next two months consumed with processing the images to say exactly what I wanted them to say, getting the images out for review, and then writing this explanation and meaning of the project as a Kindle ebook.
While there is still some work to do on this series, it seems fitting that, while we will still have some very wintry, cold, windy days, the lengthening light with its hope of spring can be both seen and felt. Work is winding down on this series as spring approaches. Thoughts are turning to a new photoshoot with Kelly and a new emphasis in the spring.
I hope you’ll take the time to click on the Preview (above) and consider sharing your thoughts. To those of you who have been through this saga with me, Thank You!
2015 ANMPAS – Annual New Mexico Photographic Arts Show
2015 ANMPAS, the Annual New Mexico Photographic Arts Show, will once again be held in the Fine Arts Building at EXPO NM. It is open to the public December 6 through December 27, 10:00am – 5:00pm, except December 24 and 25. The show is free to the public throughout. Some days, particularly the weekends, EXPO may charge a parking fee. The opening reception is December 5, from 2:00-4:00pm.
This is a juried show, and artists participating must be residents of New Mexico. All artwork is for sale, and may be taken by the buyer at the time of sale.
I have enjoyed participating in ANMPAS and the related InSight shows over the years. These are the brainchild of organizer LeRoy Perea, who has watched the submitted entries grow in both quantity and quality over the years.
I am thrilled that for 2015 ANMPAS, the jurors selected three images from my series, Persephone.
Those of you who have followed me very long know that sunflowers are frequent photographic subjects for me, as are butterflies. I grew these sunflowers, and they are from the second crop of 2015. I really liked the structure of the sunflower plant in the “Heart of the Matter.” My son appreciates structure, especially in black and white images, and I converted the image immediately.
Sunflower in Black and White
My son liked it as much as I had hoped.
I showed that image to a friend, Jim Stallings, with whom I have corresponded over the past couple of years and whose input has influenced some other photographic work, such as “The Observer/The Observed,” which I decided to show after Jim wrote a short poem. He wrote in the context of activities of autumn, after seeing the sunflower image:
…it is that ancient mythic time for the daughter Persephone of the Earth Goddess Demeter to return to the Underworld and stay there until the return for Spring. So all that feeds into the unconscious…the separation of between life on the surface of the world of fall and winter and waning and yet returning light and another go at renewal and new life. It must be motivating in your photographic subjects as well.
It is true that my fall images, even of bright flowers, tend to be dark.
I had not read mythology in a long time. As I read some of the stories of Persephone, I was struck by the fact that she did not seem to be constantly miserable in her months in the dark Underworld with her husband, Hades, who had first abducted Persephone with the permission of her father, Zeus. Mythology is full of plots and subplots, but I decided to create this particular series using some of my favorite subjects – flowers and butterflies – around the theme of hope in a dark spot.
Butterflies have multiple meanings to me. They are a symbol for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus – “lupus” – an autoimmune chronic disease with multiple manifestations, with treatments but no known cure. One of the manifestations for some people is the so-called “butterfly rash,” and thus, the butterfly as a symbol.
The particular butterflies I chose to use in this series have special meaning to me. The butterfly in “Heart of the Matter” is a tiny hair streak butterfly photographed at the Corrales home of friends Tim and Laurie Price: special friends, special place, special day. People who have brought hope to some of my dark places… The butterfly in “Awakening” is a glass wing butterfly photographed at the Albuquerque BioPark. The butterfly in “Emerged” is a red lacewing photographed at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.
I was asked to write a brief description of “Heart of the Matter:”
Persephone, goddess of Spring, was abducted by Hades to become his wife in the Underworld. Her mother, Demeter, goddess of the Earth and of the Harvest, in her anger and grief, caused the earth to go barren in her daughter’s absence, our dark winter months, and to bloom again upon her return in spring. This series is about the annual descent into the underworld of the darkness of Winter and rebirth into the light of Spring. “Heart of the Matter” represents the potential for rebirth – from any dark situation – in the developing bud (the heart) of the sunflower, and in the butterfly (with its heart shape), showing the strength, delicacy, and light of hope.
Heart of the Matter, from the series, PersephoneAwakening, from the series, PersephoneEmerged, from the series, Persephone
I have been asked whether there will be more in this series. Persephone’s story is one full of plots and subplots, all very stimulating for this photographer. These particular three, tell one of the stories I wanted to tell. There are many more I look forward to telling visually, but I do not anticipate black and white sunflowers with colorful butterflies as the vehicles of the next set or sets.
The Persephone series that will be shown at 2015 ANMPAS means much to me on a very personal level, and I thank LeRoy Perea and the 2015 jurors for selecting these three images for the 2015 show. I hope those of you in the Albuquerque area will come out for the show in December.
ANMPAS – Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show, 2014
ANMPAS 2014, the Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show, will be open to the public this year beginning December 7 and running through December 29. Hours are 10-5 daily. The show will be closed on Tuesdays, as well as December 24 and 25. The opening reception will be on December 6.
This juried photography show, organized by LeRoy Perea, has become a yearly photographic event widely anticipated in the art community for the month of December. It is held in the Fine Arts Building at EXPO NM. There is no charge for admission to the show itself. EXPO NM does charge for parking, however. There is parking directly across the street from the Fine Arts Building, making it quite convenient, even on cold winter days.
All photographs in the show are matted and framed in accordance with this show’s specifications, and all are available for purchase.
My entry in ANMPAS 2014 is “Fibonacci Sequence – Sunflower.”
Fibonacci Sequence – Sunflower
For a quick view of the Fibonacci Sequence and its occurrence in nature, check this link or this link.
Future posts will have more about this fascinating sequence of numbers and its occurrence in nature.
ANMPAS 2012 – the Annual New Mexico Photographic Arts Show – will open this year on December 1 and run through December 28. As in previous years, the show will be held in the Fine Arts Building of EXPO NM. This is juried show of New Mexico photographers.
The Opening Reception is Saturday, December 1, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. The show will be open to the public December 2 – 28, from 10 – 5 daily. The show will be closed Tuesday and December 24 and 25.
This year I have four images in the show, one shown as a single framed print, and the other three shown as a framed triptych. All are from the Adobe in New Mexico series. They are just a small part of a large, ongoing study of the disappearance of adobe structures in New Mexico. Adobe was once the defining construction material in New Mexico. It was highly functional and “dirt cheap” at one time, but adobe requires regular maintenance such as yearly “mudding.”
Adobe is rapidly being replaced by more modern and longer lasting construction materials. Abandoned adobes dot the New Mexico landscape. Many are unstable and dangerous. Some will be demolished, as the one depicted in all four images in the ANMPAS show. Others will gradually weather away and return to the earth from which they came.
Over time, it is highly likely that the only adobe structures that will remain will be those that are cared for and maintained by communities, because it is simply too expensive and time consuming for individuals. Examples of adobe structures currently being maintained are the Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales, New Mexico, and also the historic Martinez House in Corrales.
Abandoned on the Bosque #2. In the background is a large adobe with attached mobile home. That adobe, as well as a smaller one, were scheduled for demolition in 36 hours.The Original one Room Adobe. No one knows the date of construction of this adobe. By the middle of the second day, this is what was left of the adobe structure with attached mobile home seen above.Demolition of the Original Room Progressing. As you can see, this phase was very dusty. I had to have my camera professionally cleaned after the week spent photographing the demolition of two abandoned adobes on the bosque.The adobe construction, with the adobe bricks and plaster are clearly seen in this image
I hope to see many of you from the Albuquerque area at the ANMPAS show this December.
Over time, as I work through the more than 1,000 images I have so far on adobes, abandoned adobes, maintenance of adobes, and demolition of adobes, I’ll be showing more of the Adobe in New Mexico story here and elsewhere.
