On Landscape Magazine Article

I'm very honoured, excited, and basically just thrilled beyond belief to have an article published in the UK based On Landscape Magazine. You can read the complete article (including 16 photographs and approximately 2000 words) at this link:

https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2021/06/the-trailings-project/

 

Exhibit Catalogues

The province of Nova Scotia went into a lockdown on April 28th to try to reverse the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and only essential services are open. Our public libraries are closed, which means my Trailings exhibit is also closed. But....you can view my whole project online! 

I compiled a guide as part of my project....part exhibit guide, part project history. I created a 32 page magazine and ordered some hard copies for sale. I also put the whole magazine into pdf format and into an easily viewable online magazine. Details about the process are below...but first...here is the link to view here:  https://my.flipbookpdf.net/exxim  Just click on the arrows at the top right of your screen to page forward and back through the magazine.

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Exhibit Guides - Part 4 of an ongoing series about preparing for exhibits

I have only participated in two exhibits that included an exhibit guide as part of the experience, so I have very limited knowledge about this whole subject. 

The first exhibit guide was created as part of a group exhibit that my photography club put together in 2017. I was in charge of the exhibit, and took it upon myself to create a guide. This guide was not for the general public, but the participants all ordered a copy of it as a keepsake. I created the guide using a print on demand company called Blurb Books, and I selected an 8x10 inch trade publication to reduce expenses. Each page of the exhibit guide featured one of the participants, and included the image title, large image, location and date under the image, a brief description/blurb about the image, and the photographer's name and bio at the bottom of the page. 

The second time was a 2018 exhibit at Viewpoint Gallery in Halifax, NS. A juried group exhibit called Picturing Health, it included work by 10 photographers. The cover of the guide was simple, and included the exhibit title, one line explanation "A Group Exhibition Exploring the Relationship between Wellness and Creatvity", exhibit dates, participating photographers, and gallery logo. 

The contents of the exhibit guide consisted of:

- a two page introduction to the exhibit

- a one page note from the President of the sponsoring foundation

- each of the 10 photographers had a two page spread, with their images on the left page and a brief artist statement and bio on the right page

- one page with information about the host gallery and the sponsoring foundation

Simple, straight forward, and professionally put together, the exhibit guide certainly made me feel like I was part of something special.

When I was putting together my Trailings exhibit, I was originally scheduled to show the exhibit in two locations. In the first location, I would be able to sell my work and I decided to create an exhibit guide to give people an item they could purchase at a much lower price point.  

I decided that my exhibit guide would be more than just information about the photos in the exhibit...it would include background information to explain the whole project. (In case you haven't yet taken a look....go to the top of this blog post to click on a link and view it online)  It took many hours of organizing...and reorganizing...but I finally got the document to what I wanted.

Then I found out that my first exhibit location fell through due to some unexpected renovations. I wasn't able to sell the guides at the second location, but decided to order a small batch of magazines to sell myself and then created the online magazine to share my project with everyone who was interested.

And...I'm happy to say....I have sold all but one of my hard copies.  In a non COVID world where I could have had an artist talk with the public, I'm sure I could have sold many more. 

Would I put something like this together again? In a heartbeat. I love creating books/magazines..it's one of my favourite hobbies. 

Would I recommend other exhibiting artists to spend the time putting something like this together? Only if you are creating the exhibit/project guide for YOU and your own satisfaction. It's not a big money maker and the time invested in the creation of the guide could be spent in more productive ways if you're looking at it from a financial payback point of view.

One last tip - creating online viewable books/magazines. If you create your guide using Blurb Books, you can simply select the option for the public to view your book. You can select a few pages, or the whole book, for viewing. However, I didn't want people thinking I was trying to push sales so I came up with another option. I created a pdf of my guide, and then I did a search for "free online pdf to flipbook converter". I selected FlipbookPDF.net  and chose the free version. That means they "brand" your flipbook with their logo...no big deal for me. You can easily add your project title, select the "sound" you want when the pages are flipped (I opted for no sound), and then you get a link you can share.

Easy peasy.

I hope this gives some insight into exhibit guides. There is no right or wrong. If you're part of a gallery exhibit, they will look after everything for you. If you're arranging your own exhibit, it's your choice whether to have an exhibit guide or not....and what to include or not.

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Previous articles about preparing for exhibits:

1. Exhibits - Selecting a theme

2. Exhibits - Applications and writing statements

3. Exhibits - selecting images

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Also from the Trailings Series: 

Lacework 

Barely There, Water Dance, I'll Cry if I Want To - The passage of Time

Skeleton - not everything has to be beautiful

not everything has to be beautiful

I stumbled across this quote a few years ago, and it's still one of my favourite quotes about art:

"Art is not always about pretty things. It's about who we are, what happened to us, and how our lives are affected." 

- Elizabeth Broun, Director, Smithsonian American Art Museum 1989-2016

When I was selecting images for my Trailings exhibit, I went through many iterations. Indecision was my enemy, but I kept coming back to Skeleton. Should I include it? It wasn't the typical photograph you might see in an exhibition. But it called to me, and could not be ignored so it made the cut.

In some ways, it makes me feel uncomfortable when I look at it. It's not pretty and it's not happy, but it intrigues me. It draws me in and tells a story of vulnerability. Bare to the bones, the lack of surrounding earth strips the scene down to a sense of loss. Maybe not a happy story, but perhaps a story that needs to be talked about and shared.

People seem to be drawn to it, or repelled. That's okay! Any response is a good one.  I felt particularly gratified when someone saw the image without seeing the title and said "it looks like a skeleton". Yes! 

 

 

The passage of time

Trailings series, continued

Time can't be captured, but photos can tell the story of passing time. Photographing the same subject over months, or years, is a way for me to gain perspective. Nature has a way of teaching us that allowing time to pass can help us, and the cycles of life will ebb and flow. 

The three images in this post were all photographed in the same location, over a 2 month period. Barely There (above) was the last in the series.

The first in the series was Water Dance (below).

I stumbled on this scene by accident. I was looking for a gathering of trees with yellow fall foliage, part of a monthly project called Inspiration Collaboration that I work on with artist Helen Eaton. I wanted trees with yellow leaves as a response to her painting Aspens in Autumn. However, when I saw this scene it stopped me in my tracks and I forgot all about yellow. This photograph is full of colour and joy, a celebration of life. The leaves seemed to be drifting on the water in a silent dance, poetry in motion.

One month later, I decided to return to the same location and I photographed I'll Cry if I Want To (below). 

The party from Water Dance was over. The scene was more subdued but no less beautiful. The leaves had finished their dance and were submerged at the bottom of the stream. It was a grey overcast day and the rain was gently falling, nature's tears creating ripples on the water.

Three different photographs, three very different feelings, all from the same location. Some photographers search for new locations constantly, but I believe that some of my best work comes from places that I'm familiar with and can return to time and time again.

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Also from the Trailings Series: 

Lacework

Lacework - Trailings Series

 

Trailings is now being exhibited, so I thought I would feature some of the photographs here.

Do you see beauty, or do you see destruction? 

I first saw these branches last year in mid August and I was fascinated with them. I thought they were beautiful and looked like delicate lace. A couple of months later, I was in the same area and took another series of photos. There were many trees in the same condition and the leaves were even more skeletal than my previous visit. 

Just a few days ago I was on the trail in the same area that I had taken Lacework. The sun was shining and the frogs were singing a beautiful chorus, but it will be a while before we have leaves on the trees. Apparently it's not too soon for the creators of the delicate lacework to be out in full force. I stopped in amazement when I saw them, not dozens, not hundreds, but thousands or millions of them!

Here are a few shots I took with my phone...the tiniest little artists you've ever seen:

Trailings Exhibit opened

Trailings Exhibit - Margaret Hennigar Public Library

I spent part of yesterday morning hanging my Trailings exhibit at our local library. I had a few people who had asked for updates on my project (a result of asking for public involvement back in November...see this post for more info). I let them know I would be at the library, but I finished so quickly that I missed a couple of them who dropped by to see me in action. Oops. 

I had measured the space ahead of time, and had made a hanging plan of the order I wanted the images, so it was all smooth sailing to hang them. Planning ahead makes the job much easier. One thing I changed on the fly...I had planned to hang everything at the same height. I decided once I started hanging that...1. it would be very, very difficult to get them all at the same height using their wire hanging system...and 2. it would be much more visually interesting to have the images staggered. That decision made the hanging job so much easier!

It's difficult to see in the photo, but there are a couple of things sitting on the shelves which are part of the display. I'll talk about them more in a later post....a comment book, and a couple of copies of a project guide I published that includes the images from the exhibit, as well as some details about the project.

Trailings Project - February Update

Comment Book & Exhibit Guide - Trailings Exhibit

I posted an update about my Trailings exhibit preparations at the end of January, and things were going wrong. Challenges continued through early February, but things have finally turned around and are back on the right track.

First is my good news/bad news story. I was scheduled to hang my exhibit on February 23rd, with an opening date of the 24th. On January 28th, I met with the organizer who told me they were undergoing unexpected renovations to the museum. I had been scheduled to hang the exhibit in the main exhibit area, and the revised section available was less than half the size and...how shall I put this?...looked like a make shift corridor. I asked for some time to think about it overnight, and let her know the next day that I would prefer to wait until they finished their renovations. I guess that didn't go over well, as I was told I was welcome to apply again for exhibit space at a later date. I don't think I'll be applying again (I'm wondering why that would be necessary, as I had already been accepted?)  I still have space at the local library running from April 1st through May 31st.

I had mentioned in the aforementioned previous posting that my frame order had arrived, but the frames were poor quality and unusable. I received a replacement order in mid February, and unfortunately encountered the same problems. The company was very good to work with, and a full credit was received for the frames (just the frames, I was still able to use the other supplies from the order...glass, mats, backing, hanging wire). So here's where the good news comes in from the canceled exhibit....I had more time to figure out how to solve my frame problem since I didn't have an exhibit opening on February 24th. Every cloud has a silver lining. 

I did find a local frame maker who made the frames for me. It cost twice as much, but I have received them and they are beautifully made. Yay!  Most of my framing is now complete, with only two of fifteen left to frame. Another Yay!

The reprint of my exhibit guide arrived one week ago. I'm very happy with them! An exhibit guide is not a necessity now that I'm only showing at the library, but I'll figure out what to do with them. It was a great experience to put them together....I'll likely post about exhibit guides sometime soon.

Under advisement from a couple of experienced exhibitors, and due to lack of space at the library, I have decided to only show my photography and to leave out the story cloths (quilts) I worked on. They are part of the exhibit guide, so that will be enough for now.

I don't think I mentioned before that I created a comment book for the exhibit. In a blog post from December, I talked about getting the public involved. I have included their photographs and comments into this comment book, and there is lots of room left for anyone who sees the exhibit to leave their comments. Is there a need to have a custom made comment book? No, but I'm happy I created one!

Another good news story... four of the final images for this exhibit will be published in an upcoming issue of On Landscape magazine, a UK based online magazine.  The quality of photography they publish is top notch, and I am thrilled about this!

Despite some challenges in February, things have done a turnabout and are looking up. It's all sunshine and roses at the moment.

when things go wrong

Preparations have been underway for my upcoming Trailings exhibit. I have been well prepared for months, but no matter how well prepared you are, things happen. Instead of going into panic mode, I decided to write it out. Perhaps venting will calm my nerves...lol.

First, my test prints of the exhibit guide I created arrived in the mail last week. I had ordered 3 copies in hopes that I would be able to send some out for advance publicity. The magazines are unusable. They were printed with incorrect margins and with "slip sheets" (some kind of printer test sheets) inserted throughout the books. I have used this on demand printing company for over 10 years and have never had a problem. The packing slip said my books were 8x10 books, not 8.5x11 magazines...I think maybe that's why all the margins were incorrect, with the print running off the pages.

Of course, I sent a help desk inquiry (you can't phone the company) but have only received a message saying they are dealing with high volumes and to expect a delayed reply. What to do? I ordered another test print...I want to make sure it is printed correctly before I order 50 copies. I am not sure that there is time to wait for the test print, order 50 copies and receive them before the exhibit opens. So....maybe no exhibit guide.

This is only a big deal to me...no one else will care...but I did invest an enormous amount of time into preparing the guide. I am trying to look at it as experience gained, not opportunity lost.

Next issue....I print and frame my own work. I ordered my frames in December, thinking I had left myself lots of time. My frame order arrived last week...on the same day as the magazines...

I have ordered from this supplier many, many times over the past four years. Always the same kind of frames. Never had a problem. I unpacked the boxes the day they arrived and everything looked good. No broken glass, everything packaged very well and undamaged.

I decided to start printing and framing yesterday. The first frame I unwrapped was not put together correctly, so there was a gap in two of the corners. The second frame was the same. Then the third. There are only 2 usable frames in the order of 20.

I have photographed examples and sent off an email to the frame company. They are on the west coast, a five hour time difference, so I am waiting patiently for a response. Trying not to panic. 

And I'm trying to brain storm. Realistically, even if the frames get replaced I'm not sure they will arrive in time. They usually take two weeks to process an order and shipping takes two weeks at best. Set up date for the exhibit is February 24th. Today is January 26th. 

Ideas...

- figure out an alternative mounting system instead of traditional frames. 

- see if a local frame maker can make 20 frames without glass (this is a custom size frame)

- cancel the show at the Museum and just exhibit at the Library (scheduled for April 1st)

- use frames from our own walls (9 of various sizes - I need 20) and hang quilts on wall at exhibit instead of from the ceiling (less content at exhibit)

 Did I mention? Our wireless service is not working properly, so live tv and recorded tv is unwatchable and internet service is extremely slow. Bell is here as I type this trying to repair the problem.

When it rains, it pours.

Good news...one of my pieces at the Flight of Fancy exhibit in Dartmouth has sold.

Savour

Layout planning and more image selection

I went to the DesBrisay Museum on Friday to measure the main exhibit area so that I can plan how many images to hang. I went well prepared....I forgot my measuring tape! However, their floor tiles were 12 inch squares so I was able to measure using their tiles.

 

I met with the woman in charge of exhibits, and we discussed a few options. We decided that we would hang my story cloths from the ceiling down the middle of the space. I am thrilled about that...I think it will add visual interest and it also will increase my hanging space for framed photographs.

 

She also told me that it would be best to have 18 inches between each of the frames, which is more space than I was planning on. This increases the "viewing space" so things don't feel crowded and allows the viewer to see one image at a time, with the side images in their peripheral vision. This also means that I will have fewer images in the show, which makes my decisions tougher. But it's a good thing. It means that I will be forced to choose the best and not leave in images that are so-so.

 

When I came home, I sketched out the layout:

Layout of main exhibit area

And I realigned my bulletin board into three sections....dark for one wall, colour for the back wall, and white for the third wall. I eliminated more images, so my discard pile has grown again.

Our son, DIL, and granddaughter visited today so I had them each pick their top 3 images from each of the 3 sections. It was very interesting to see what their favourites were. There was overlap, and a couple of extra images chosen, so in total 17 images were chosen from the 33 that were on the board. All 3 of them picked five of the same images...so I'd say those ones are keepers. Two of them picked 2 more of the same. So that leaves 10 images that were picked by one person.

It was such an interesting exercise, both to watch them look at the images and then sometimes hear why they picked them. I would love to do this with more people. Obviously I can't invite them into my home, but maybe I can find a way to do it online. Something to think about.

The biggest news on Friday was that I found out my installation date is actually on February 23rd, with the exhibit starting February 24th and running until March 28th. That leaves me one less week than I thought for preparation....my timeline has now been changed by five weeks. The time crunch is on!

I finished another storycloth on Saturday, so now 4 are complete. My target is still 6. 

Decision making time

I found out some news a few days ago that is both exciting and daunting at the same time. My Trailings exhibit at the DesBrisay Museum has been moved from a corridor wall into the main exhibit area and I'll be able to show my photographs and stitched art all in the same location. Exciting! (originally, I had planned two exhibits to run concurrently...photographs at the museum and stitched art at the library...due to space limitations).

However, since my show will be in the main exhibit area, the date has changed and will be for the month of March instead of starting April 1st. Daunting! I am generally feeling organized, but am in a bit of panic mode at the moment. 

The new plan in a nutshell: full exhibit at two locations

March: DesBrisay Museum

April & May: Margaret Hennigar Public Library

All in all, having one month less to fret about everything is great. Instead of continuing to "create" I will be forced to start preparing. Exception: I will continue to work on quilts...I have to finish my current project and create at least 2 more...hopefully 3 more....by mid January. Why so early? I'll have to include them in my exhibit guide, which will need to be created in time for a test print, review, and final print before March 1st. 

Exhibiting in the main space means more photographs will have to be chosen, printed and framed. Hence, my bulletin board test prints have been reorganized yet again.

Note for curious onlookers - the photo on my left desktop computer is me with my son

I have narrowed down the scope and organized the photos into just a few categories: 

Top row: ice patterns

Second Row: the white series

Third Row: Reflections

Bottom Row: Misfits, yet important to me

There are approx 45 photos in those rows, which I'll have to narrow down to approx 20. At the bottom of my bulletin board, you may notice a green photo which is a picture of a rock surrounded by ferns. I'm sentimental about that photo because there's a story behind it. But it just doesn't "go" with anything else so it's going in the discard pile.

Today (Friday) I'll be heading over to the museum to measure the 3 walls in the exhibit area to get a better idea of exactly how many photographs and quilts can be shown. I have a general idea, but general is not good enough at this point...I need specifics so that I can place my frame order.

And my list writing is getting more serious!

Trailings Project - November update

Shifting Seasons

I'm generally not a fan of photographs made with intentional camera movement (ICM)and mulitple exposures, but it seemed appropriate for this image. It was a dreary day in early November, but the rain brought out the red colours in the dying undergrowth and the white bark of the birch trunks brightened up the side of the trail. I wanted to capture the idea of the changing seasons so I set my camera to take a simple multiple exposure, combining two images into one. Shifting time and shifting seasons.

It's also time to shift focus for my Trailings project. The opening date of my exhibit is April 1st, which seems a long way down the road, but the background work for an exhibit takes time and planning. So I must shift my focus from creating to curating. The biggest challenge: how to select 20 images to exhibit from the 3000+ photographs I have taken?

It's actually not quite that challenging. I considered only 400 or so of those images worthy of publication in a book, and of those I only ran test prints on 100 or so. So...I have to pick 20 to frame from approximately 100 images.

How to narrow down the selection? Do I pick a theme? Do I pick a style of photography? Do I pick a specific subject? I attended a webinar recently about project based photography, and the speaker suggested taking all your photos and sorting them into different piles to see if a theme develops. Sort, discard, resort and sort again to see what happens. 

I have a large bulletin board over my desk where I pin up test prints. I do my sorting and resorting on that board. My focus for this project has changed dramatically over the past few months and many "possibles" have turned into "discards".

the "possibilities" bulletin board

the discards

So now I have to narrow things down and curate photographs to create three things:

1. 50 to 60 images for a photo book (must finalize book and run a test print, review and finalize, and print final copies!)

2. 20 images to print and frame for exhibit (must order frames, print and frame images!)

3. an exhibit guide with photos and "blurbs" about each image (must create the book, run a test print, review, and order multiple copies!)

And then there are the quilts that I'm making for this project. Three completed, one quilt top finished and ready to quilt, and three more to create! Sometimes I get a little anxious thinking about it.

Update on the public participation cards mentioned in an earlier post: 162 cards were removed from the bins on the trails by the public. It's possible that some of those cards were destroyed...one bin was stolen, and another bin was thrown into the town pond. Never fear...it was rescued. Ten submissions have been sent by the public, including 2 poems, 3 written statements about the trails, and many photographs. Only one person has contributed fabric for the proposed community quilt, so I may have to re-think that side project. The good news is that all 10 people have requested monthly updates about the project. It's great to have the public interested!

Fingers are crossed for more public participation...I requested people to send their submissions by December 15th. What I do with these submissions depends on how many I actually receive. To be decided at a later date....

Trailings Project - Community Involvement

I mentioned in an earlier post that I will be hosting two exhibits during April and May 2021....well, it's really one exhibit that will be displayed in two locations at the same time. Different things in different places. Crazy me.

Anyway....as part of this whole project, I decided that I wanted to involve the community. So...I printed up some cards:

And I put them into containers:

And I placed them in various locations around our town trails:

The cards have been in circulation for 9 days. So far, 180 cards have been put out. I have moved some of the bins to different locations, so I know that 60 cards have been taken from 2 of the bins. I'll be checking the other 2 bins on Friday. And...I have received emails from four people with photos and one poem. A pretty good start!

I was disheartened when I found 15 cards dumped in the woods (not included in the above totals). Why do people do things like that? Anyway, they must be good quality cards because they lasted a couple of days outdoors with no damage.

And...I have received one amazing email from someone who took a card. I'm not sure where it will lead, but I'll talk about that soon.

Trailings Project

Sara and her walking companion, Riley

 I have been working on a photography project for the past year. It officially became a "project" several months ago in my mind, but it had very humble beginnings.

Last year was one of strife and challenge for me, and one of the most difficult periods in my life. I became depressed, something I never thought I would say about myself, and ended up on prescribed medication. I really couldn't see how I was going to continue to hold myself together. 

I was walking my dog Riley every day, and every day my thoughts would whirl and swirl around in my head during our walk. They were dark thoughts indeed.

I'm not sure when things started to change, but they did. I started to notice things around me. The light bouncing off the ripples on the river, the sweet scent of the wild roses blooming, the crunch of the gravel beneath my feet on the trails. Little observations that became things to focus on, taking me outside myself and my thoughts.

Being a photographer at heart, I began snapping some images with the phone I carried. Then I started writing some notes when I returned home, just simple records of the weather and some of the sights I saw along my walk. 

Instead of thinking of my daily dog walk as a chore, I began looking forward to it. Our walking route became longer, along the LaHave River and up through the walking trails. I wouldn't use rain, or cold, or anything else, as an excuse to cancel our walk. We walked in all types of weather...on days so cold, my teeth would ache...on days so windy, we had to lean forward to make progress...on trails so iced over, we would have to skirt the paths and go into the woods...and on hot days as well, days so hot that I would long for my teeth to be aching with cold.

I started carrying a camera and a notebook, documenting sights and recording memories. I printed some photographs and pinned them to a bulletin board above my desk. My notebook writings became less observational, and more introspective.

The forest was working its magic. My mind was engaged with the beauty of nature, the wonders of life.

I am a photographer, but Trailings is more than a photography project for me. It was as if the forest wanted me to tell it's story. Sounds crazy, I know.

I will be exhibiting my Trailings collection, photographs and story cloths (more about these later), at two locations from April 1 through May 31, 2021. Throughout the coming months, I'll talk some more about how my daily walks through nature inspired my creativity and saved my state of mind.

Wabi-Sabi

Our photo club has not met since March, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut most of the world down. We now meet virtually, including our "field trips". Last month, our theme for submitting images was Wabi-Sabi.

What is Wabi-Sabi?
 

According to internet sources, in traditional Japanese aesthetics, Wabi-Sabi is a world view centred on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. Wabi-Sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: 

nothing lasts, 

nothing is finished, 

and nothing is perfect. 

I have been attracted to this type of image for a long, long time, but I wasn't familiar with the concept of Wabi-Sabi. 

On a walk with my dog in August, I was enthralled with the leaves on the trees that had been decimated by some kind of insects. They looked like lace...fragile and beautiful.

Over the past year, I have been working on a photographic series that I call Trailings. Most of it involves photographing details from my daily walks along the Bridgewater trails. Sometimes I bring a finding home to photograph. This feather is far from perfect. It shows evidence of the passage of time, a favourite theme of mine lately.

I saw these flowers laying on the road, just off the curb. I walked by. Then I turned around, walked back, and pulled out my camera. Why, I don't know. It spoke to me, and I needed to capture the image.

This example is from a beach walk in July. I was actually running....frightened and exhilarated at the same time, with my camera raised above my head and pointing behind me as the plovers were on the attack and determined to chase me out of their comfort zone. Not a perfect photograph. But an outstanding memory.