Kenro Izo lecture and book signing
Bhutan: Sacred Within
FITCHBURG ART MUSEUM

Sunday, March 21, 1 - 3 p.m.

Japanese born photographer, Kenro Izu will discuss his artistic process and travels in the little-known country, Bhutan.  Izu’s pictures, taken over a decade, depict Bhutan’s majestic mountains and valleys; monasteries, from which the country is governed and schooled; and portraits depicting across-section of the kingdom’s society including King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (1999 graduate of Cushing Academy, Ashburnham, MA); Buddhist monksand novices, families and children.  Izu focuses on the Bhutan’s timelessquality of life that holds its own in the 21st-century world.

Free with Museum admission.

PRC Member Christian Waeber is fascinated by the passage of time and the permanence and simple beauty of medieval Churches. Seven years ago, he started a long term project aimed at photographically documenting Swiss Romanesque churches.

Waeber will be having an exhibition titled, Listening To These Walls at the French Library on Marlborough St in Boston from March 1-31, 2010.  An informal artist talk will be held on Saturday, March 13th at 3pm and a reception will be held on Thursday, March 25th.

For more information, visit: www.frenchlib.org

Wednesday, February 17, 6:30-7:30pm

“Twins When They Began to Take Modified Milk”
Part of the In-Sight: Looking Deeper and Differently Lecture Series
Arthur M. Sackler Museum Lecture Hall, 485 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138

Tickets $18 (members of Harvard Art Museum $12, students with valid ID $8, Harvard students free on a first-come, first-served basis).  Space is limited, and registration is strongly encouraged.

Michelle Lamunière, John R. and Barbara Robinson Family Assistant Curator of Photography, Harvard Art Museum/Fogg Museum

This compelling photograph of a mother and her twins is the basis for a larger discussion of Harvard’s Social Museum, a compilation of photographs and graphic material established in 1903 to collect the social experience of the world as material for university teaching. The image prompts an exploration of the early use of photography as a social document and its role in educating students about social problems and the solutions ­- such as the provision of pasteurized milk ­- developed to ameliorate them.

For more information, visit http://www.harvardartmuseum.org/calendar/detail.dot?id=25202. To register, call 617-495-0534.

Are you interested in collecting photography, gallery hopping and wish the weather was nicer?  Then you should head out to Los Angeles next week and visit Photo LA.  The event has moved back to the Santa Monica Civic Center and will take place from Thursday, January 14th - 17th.  Look for the PRC portfolio advertisement in this year’s PhotoLA catalog!

For more information (click here)

Curtis Mann, currently featured in the Leopold Godowsky Jr Color Photography Awards at the PRC was just selected to take part in the prestigious 2010 Whitney Biennial.  Congrats Curtis!!!!!  A complete listing of the 2010 Whitney Biennial artist can be viewed here.

Curtis Mann, Photographer, Scratch (Beirut), from "Modifications"

The Photographic Resource Center has been getting some nice press recently, most notably in the Boston Globe and the Improper Bostonian.  Check out the recent issue of Stuff Magazine (Nov 3, 2009 - Nov. 16, 2009) where they have printed a full page write-up about the 2009 Leopold Godowsky Jr. Color Photography Awards.

Article about the 2009 Leopold Godowsky Jr. Color Photography Awards at the PRC.

Do you see this box?

Click on it to start connecting with thousands of other PRC members and photography enthusiasts.  The PRC is on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and You Tube.  Stay up-to-date on PRC related events, find out about lectures and openings, read book reviews and hear about calls for entries from around New England and beyond.

Our friend and sister organization, The Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA had their 2009 Annual Gala last week. Thanks for inviting us over to be a part of your wonderful evening. We hope your event was a success!

Jim Fitts, Executive Director at the PRC with Jason Landry, Project Manager at the PRC. Photographed at the 2009 Annual Gala at the Griffin Museum of Photography.

In this new feature, we’ll be featuring two simage per week from EXPOSURE: The 14th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition. Keep checking back on Mondays and Thursdays (with a break for the holiday!) to see an image per artist as well as artist statements and website links.

We’re very excited here at the PRC to see it all come together. Come to the opening reception on Thursday, May 21st from 5:30-7:30pm and see the real work! (For those not in Boston, we’ll also be posting images to our flickr page as well.)

RICK ASHLEY - “The Prom Series,” 2006 - 2008

The high school prom is a social ritual unique to North America, and as with any good social ritual, photography is an integral part. From an early age we are coached on how to present ourselves to the camera, yet we still look to the photographer for direction and validation.

These photographs began with a simple idea: What if prom couples gathered to walk the red carpet were unexpectedly directed instead to a professional studio set up in the school, given directions only on where to stand, immediately photographed, and then told to move on as the next couple was called?

Young people today are hyper aware of the power of photography in a socially networked world. When the spotlight unexpectedly shines, there is no time to prepare, and no one to assist, what do you do? As you look at the photographs can you see yourself?

ABOVE IMAGE: Rick Ashley, Prom Series #6103, 2006/2009, Archival inkjet print, 24 x 16 inches, courtesy of the artist.  Click here to visit the artist’s website.

CNN recently had a fascinating story about the daughter pictured in Dorthea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” photograph from 1936.  You can click here to see a slideshow of other Lange images of the Thompson family.

From CNN:

The photograph became an icon of the Great Depression: a migrant mother with her children burying their faces in her shoulder. Katherine McIntosh was 4 years old when the photo was snapped. She said it brought shame — and determination — to her family.

“I wanted to make sure I never lived like that again,” says McIntosh, who turns 77 on Saturday. “We all worked hard and we all had good jobs and we all stayed with it. When we got a home, we stayed with it.”

McIntosh is the girl to the left of her mother when you look at the photograph. The picture is best known as “Migrant Mother,” a black-and-white photo taken in February or March 1936 by Dorothea Lange of Florence Owens Thompson, then 32, and her children.

Click here to read more…