Framed Photos on view at Piedmont Community College

These three images will be on display at in the PVCC Faculty Show Jan 30- Mar 14. They are the first to be printed and framed from my recent body of work combining my fascination of abandon structures, motion, time, and connective systems.

From the Car

I love to photograph from moving vehicles. As I travel down paths I've seen before I always find something new. This trip granted us a beautiful sky as we drove past DC. I enjoy the subtle presence of humans in the landscape.


Contrails

Contrails and skywalk

Contrails, Lampposts and Trees

photo by John Grant

photo by John Grant

New Year's Day Photos

Every New Year's Day I take a few photographs. I enjoy the process as a reflective practice on my current state of mind. In the past it's been powerlines, TV sets, parties but this year I was simply looking for the beauty of light and natural elements.

Trade #4

C_4


A_4

I think this is the fourth trade between Warren, Ian and myself. It gets a little confusing three people working on three different pieces. Ian had an emergency this last trade so we did not get to see his piece. Warren currently holds both A & C, we'll see what he adds.

Warren Craghead in studio.

Let There be Light Research

While researching symbols of the Winter Solstice I came across this paragraph by David Pratt, Patterns in Nature, January 2006 mentioning humans selfish and shortsighted ends.

All monads, or units of consciousness, are said to progress through a series of kingdoms towards a state of relative perfection in the system of worlds in which they are then evolving, before passing, after a long rest, into other world systems, on other planes. Humans, in their present stage of rebellious selfconsciousness, often succumb to the temptation to misuse their free will for selfish and shortsighted ends, creating discord and suffering. But it lies within our power to attune ourselves to the fundamental harmony of our inner, spiritual selves – sparks of the universal ‘Self’ – and to become voluntary coworkers with nature in the great cosmic adventure of evolution.

beautiful photo

This photo is of the Lofoten Islands in Norway. I used the pronto plate process to print it on paper for Frankenstein project at the VABC. The final print is completely different than what you see here. The pronto plate is a lithography process using xeorox techonolgoy to create plates. It's all new to me so I cannot explain it, YET.

Heart and Soul

Working on the Frankenstein collaboration "F" project at the Virginia Arts of the Book Center has pushed me to try a few new ideas. One idea was to resurrect my sewing machine to adhere a cut-out black heart of ash to pages. First I had to thread the needle properly, thanks to the internet I was able to find the manual. I read, read and read again the directions until I understood I must hold the excess thread between forefinger and thumb during the last step of this process. The hearts were not added due to the pressing of the book and the impression the edge of the heavyweight paper would create. Now I have 40 oiled black hearts of ash...what to do.

Printmaking

Digital photography sometimes challenges my upbeat personality. A special moment that was so magical and unique has been replaced with an overload of imagery created by myself and others . To step away from modern technology I became a member of the Virginia Arts of the Book Center. Every year the members collaborate on a group book project. This year the inspiration was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I have contributed three pages.
The books will be auctioned Nov 14. at the VABC

Next

I am working on a submission to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship. One of the hardest parts of photography is the editing. It is a subtractive process rather than additive. Not all images are winners and it's hard to let go of those special losers!

Floating Lanterns

John and I are working on a collaborative piece for the exhibit Let There Be Light at Piedmont Virginia Community College this December. The exhibit is one night only, December 12 from 6-9, celebrating the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. Rain date is Saturday Dec 13.

We are in the process of constructing floating lanterns out of bamboo. This image is our first prototype to see if the structure would float.

American Diptych