Thanks to All

The November 1st Salon “Documentary Storytelling and Social Change” marked the end of the FRANK: In Focus photography festival. As the festival wound down, my internship with FRANK also came to a close. For the past few months I’ve been on board with the FRANK team, photographing and documenting the events, assisting in PR, and communicating with lecturers and members in the community. I have gotten to meet numerous talented artists and curators and contribute to discussions on the artist of today. Being a part of this festival was unbelievable and is an experience I will never forget!

Although I have come to the end of the internship and am no longer reporting on FRANK events, I will most surely still be seen at the gallery, attending future Openings and lectures and keeping the crew updated about UNC news.

I am extremely fortunate to have had this opportunity and thank my intern advisers and all who followed the blog and/or supported me during my internship. To my followers, I do not currently have another blog, but will post an update when I start the next in the future!

Until next time!

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Endeavors Article

Friday, October 19th, UNC’s magazine Endeavors ran a feature about “The Lens of the Emerging Artist.” Marc Derewicz’s article focused on the three UNC student shows that Opened at FRANK, Hanes Art Center, and 143A University Square on October 12th. UNC MFA’s Ali Halperin’s “Border Glitches” and FRANK’s UNC undergraduate intern Kaitlin Knapp’s “The American Landscape”

The original article can be found here.

The American Landscape Opening

Friday, October 12th, also marked the Opening of FRANK intern Kaitlin Knapp’s show, “The American Landscape.” As a part of the FRANK: In Focus photography festival, this show featured works of photography or works with elements of photography. Four UNC Undergraduate Studio Art majors explored the cultural and political landscape of America.

At 8:30pm, Knapp gave a short introductory speech, presenting the theme and the featured artists to the visitors. Jeremy Bass, Senior Studio Art major with Entrepreneurship minor, focused on the food industry and the influence major corporations have on our lives. Diego Camposeco, Sophomore Studio Art major, used photographs to explore Latino-American identity and the common representation of this group as hybrid or spectacle. Kaitlin Knapp, Senior Studio Art with Art History Emphasis major, used collagraph prints to discuss suburbia and its effect, both physically and aesthetically, on the American landscape. Hannah Shaban, Senior Studio Art major, explored Middle Eastern-American identity and the experience of a veiled woman in a Southern town.

A light reception followed and visitors had the chance to talk with the artists. The gallery will be open Saturdays and Sundays 2-6pm through November 4th.

Border Glitches Opening

Friday, October 12th at 6pm, FRANK hosted a reception for the Opening of Ali Halperin’s show, “Border Glitches.” At 6:30pm, Ali Halperin led a discussion on both her works and that of the other featured artist, Michael Lauch. Halperin’s exhibition theme is “Border Glitches,” exploring the blurred line between our digital lives and our corporeality, perpetuated by recent technology.

Halperin’s works are layered images of hoarders superimposed over their hoarded goods. Through photography, she aims to show the muddied distinction between the two separate worlds.

After her speech, Ali Halperin encouraged the visitors to attend the Opening of her Undergraduate students’ show “A Sense” at the Allcott Gallery of Hanes Art Center. This show explores the five senses through digital photography. Featured artist Deigo Camposeco gave a short speech introducing the theme and the artists.

Daily Tar Heel Publication

Friday, October 12th, the Daily Tar Heel featured an article on “The Lens of the Emerging Artist,” the series of exhibitions of UNC student work at FRANK, UNC, and University Square. The article by James Smith can be found here.

 

The American Landscape Setup

Wednesday, October 10th, the artists of Knapp’s show, “The American Landscape,” met to hang their works in the gallery space. The exhibition, up until November 4th, features works by UNC Undergraduate Art Majors Jeremy Bass, Diego Camposeco, Kaitlin Knapp, and Hannah Shaban.

The group worked together to arrange and hang the artwork.

The Documentary Project

Thursday, October 4 at 6PM, FRANK hosted The Documentary Project, a Salon with Vincent Joos, Jessica Kennedy, Christopher Sims, and Jeremy Lange. Through the evening, the four speakers shared their documentary work exploring, as Bryce Lankard noted, “themes unseen.”

Jessica Kennedy, UNC undergraduate student and grant recipient, began the night with her presentation on “The Shifting Face of Agriculture in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.” Kennedy’s project documents her hometown and the new direction farmers have been taking within the past few years there. Her photographs explore a new approach at sustainability, seen in Half Hippie Farm’s promotion of hand-picking produce and Boone’s community garden.

Christopher Sims, instructor at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and represented photographer at Ann Stewart Fine Art, spoke about his work, “Theater of War: The Pretend Villages of Iraq and Afghanistan.” Through his photographs and film, Sims investigates life on the military base and the military’s use of fake villages. His images capture the foreign environments of conflict simulated for training and the strong impact they have on the troops.

Vincent Joos, UNC Graduate student and grant recipient, continued next, speaking about his project “Little Haiti, Mount Olive, North Carolina.” Joos’ work documents the development of a Haitian community in Mount Olive, North Caorlina. After settling into the community, Joos was able to photograph the everyday life of the Haitian immigrant and capture the tight-knit sense of community and family that is alive there.

Following Joos, Jeremy Lange, published, award-winning, and internationally exhibited Independent Weekly staff photographer, spoke. Jeremy Lange’s works focus on the unseen side of military culture. In a four year series, Lange documented the funerals of military soldiers and the sensitive environment of their return. His more recent work, “The Farmer Veteran” explores the meditative role farming plays in the life of a military veteran.

The evening ended with a short reception.

The Modern Photographer

Thursday, September 20th, FRANK hosted a Salon focusing on the photographer of today. Through the evening, lecturers Jock Lauterer, Pat Davison, and Michael Itkoff discussed this topic, showing their work and delving into the malleable world of photography.

Jock Lauterer, UNC Journalism School professor, published and award-winning author and columnist, and founding director of the Carolina Community Media Project, began the discussion of photography’s changing status. Lauterer described the new tools available for taking photographs as a second language we are learning to expand our photo-taking options and abilities. We are breaking from our rigid definition of photography as a product of the darkroom and broadening it to an art form possible anywhere, with an iPhone, for example, and Instagram.

Pat Davison, UNC Journalism School associate professor, award-winning photographer, and professional staff photojournalist, continued the conversation, speaking next. Davison described how the world of photography is expanding, the top no longer being composed of a petite elite of 500. Instagram and other new methods, in print or on the internet, allow individuals to gain more visibility with more ease.

Michael Itkoff, award-winning and internationally exhibited photographer, published author, and founding editor of Daylight Magazine, followed Davison on this topic. Itkoff discussed the possibilities of the modern photographer and how for many, multiple platforms are now available for publication. In his words, the iPad application is, “the way of the future.”

In the question and answer session that followed, the three lecturers explained that they did not see the new methods and tools as the “erosion” of photography necessarily, but as a means to expand our knowledge and capabilities in an ever-changing, technologically-advancing world.

Daily Tar Heel Publication

As part of my internship, I am curating “The American Landscape,” a UNC Undergraduate art show. Set to open the evening of October 12, this show will be examining different facets of American life, politics, and culture. In a recent interview, Mary Stevens, arts editor at the Daily Tar Heel, talked with Barbara Tyroler, Bryce Lankard, and me about the FRANK: In Focus photography festival and October 12 show. You can find it at the Daily Tar Heel site or through the hyperlink above!

Closing Reception of Beijing Impressions

Tonight kicked off the beginning of the FRANK: In Focus festival with the 6 pm Closing Reception of Beijing Impressions, an exhibit at UNC’s Global FedEx Center. The festivities of the night included lectures by Dr. Yan Song and Barbara Tyroler.

Dr. Yan Song, associate professor with the UNC Department of City and Regional Planning and director of the Program on Chinese Cities (PCC), began the evening with a discussion of the changing Chinese urban landscape. In her talk, she addressed the tensions that have been developing over recent years due to the growing population of migrant workers in urban villages and the effect their movement has had on the environment, water supply, and architectural preservation in China.

Following Dr. Yan Song’s slideshow, Barbara Tyroler, award-winning photographer and FRANK Gallery Education Outreach Co-ordinator led a discussion on her works of art. Her photographs were created in response to her daughter’s translations of Lin Bai’s Chinese poetry and the migrant workers she saw when visiting her daughter in China.

During Tyroler’s presentation, Manchen Hao, a Chinese UNC Senior Economics major with Entrepreneurship and Mathematical Decision Science double minor, read Lin Bai’s poem in its original form alongside Tyroler’s husband, David Cooper, who read the English translation. Hao then talked about her family in China and the effect the changing landscape is having on them.

The evening closed with a reception.

Upcoming events:

1. Artist’s Talk Sun., Sept. 9, 2:30pm at Framer’s Corner

Art, Controversy, and Censorship: panel discussion with Donn Young and guest panelists including Todd Drake.

2. New Shows Fri., Sept. 7-6 Jan. 2013 at the Ackland Art Museum

Elegance and Extravagance: Japanese Posters from the Merrill C. Berman Collection.

Pop Goes Japan: Short Films by Tadanori Yokoo and Keiichi Tanaami.