IT'S A SNAP! CATALOG OF SNAPSHOTS FROM 23 DIFFERENT COLLECTORS AVAILABLE NOW

It's a Snap! was a group show of found snapshots from 23 different collectors throughout the United States.  They include:

Steve Bannos, peter Cohen, Randall de Rijk, Maria DiElsi, John Foster, Mark Glovsky, Clare Goldsmith, Richard Hart, WM Hunt, Robert E. Jackson, Nigel Maister, Sabine Ocker, Nicholas Osborn, Billy Parrott, John Phelan, Ransom Riggs, Estelle Rosen, Joel Rotenberg, Ron Slattery, Albert Tanquero, John Van Noate, and Erin Waters. 

The show was curated by Stacy Waldman, and includes some photos from her collection as well.

It's a Snap! catalog, now available on Blurb. 

IT'S A SNAP! by Stacy Waldman | Make Your Own Book

IT'S A SNAP! PANEL DISCUSSION OF SNAPSHOTS

In conjunction with the "It's a Snap!" show, Kristen Gresh, a curator at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, moderated a panel discussion with some of the participating collectors.

Collectors on the panel include:
Mark Glovsky
WM Hunt
Nigel Maister
Ron Slattery
Stacy Waldman

Kristen Gresh is Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Assistant Curator of Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

“It’s a Snap!” Is a show of anonymous snapshots from the collections of some of the most prominent collectors of found photos in the US. Feb 2-28. Gallery hours: Mon, Weds, Fri, 12-5pm

Contact: Stacy Waldman
houseofmirthphotos@gmail.com

It's a Snap at MAP from Easthampton Media on Vimeo.

IT'S A SNAP! - GROUP SHOW OF VINTAGE SNAPSHOTS FROM COLLECTORS AROUND THE UNITED STATES

I'm really excited to announce that I'm curating a group show of snapshots from 19 collectors of snapshots in the United States. The show is going to be during the month of February at MAP in Easthampton, Mass. I need a little help from you guys to raise some money so that I can make the show as wonderful as it can be. Can you help????

It's a Snap! Important Group Show of Found Photos Crowd Funding

Here's the press release:

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IT’S A SNAP! FOUND SNAPSHOTS FROM 
TOP COLLECTORS IN THE UNITED STATES

A group show from February 1 to February 28, with the opening on

Saturday, February 14, 5-8 PM, AT MAP (Mill Arts Project) in

Easthampton, MA

Easthampton, MA, January 10, 2015 – Can snapshots be art?  You bet ya!  “It’s a Snap!” Is a show of anonymous snapshots from the collections of some of the most prominent collectors of found photos in the United States.

The exhibition will be on view throughout February at MAP (Mill Arts Project) located in Eastworks, 116 Pleasant Street, Room 137, in Easthampton, MA.  Join the opening reception during Art Walk Easthampton on Saturday, February 14 from 5-8PM, with entertainment by Zack Danziger. The exhibition is free and open to the public, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 12-5 PM. 

In the age of the selfie, it is not surprising that the paper snapshot still holds a special place in our culture.  Snapshots are the rage and have been the subject of books and major museum exhibitions in the past few years. The personal printed photo has always been a way for humans to record family, friends and important life events. They are about memory and nostalgia. Now more than ever with digital media dominating our photo memory making and printed photos disappearing from our lexicon, snapshots exert a powerful tug on us.  We still live in an age where boxes or albums of family photos are tucked away in a closet or attic.  To take them out and view them (or to see them exhibited in a museum or gallery) is to engage in a voyeuristic ritual not unlike watching a reality TV show. Snapshots tell us about social conventions, fashion, hairstyles, and what was considered important enough to be captured via the camera. They are simply history we can see.  

Curator Stacy Waldman says, “I want to show people how an anonymous snapshot, sometimes with quirks and mistakes, can be magical.”

Waldman has been dealing and collecting in photographs since 1999.  She is excited by the prospect of this exhibition, where collected snapshots can be seen as art.  She sets up a photo and ephemera shows throughout the country. Her collections can be found at facebook.com/houseofmirthphotos and houseofmirthphotos.blogspots.com

One participating collector in the exhibition is Robert E. Jackson who has collected snapshots since 1997.  In 2007, his collection formed the basis of The National Gallery of Art’s show and catalog entitled: “The Art of the American Snapshot: 1888-1978”.  

Jackson notes, “It is an honor to have Stacy Waldman ask me to participate in a group show whose members have such good eyes for images and who all have such wonderful collections.  I try never to miss an opportunity to share with a larger audience the exciting photo medium which is the snapshot.”

WM Hunt, another collector in “It’s a Snap”, is a champion of photography.  He has been looking at and talking about pictures for many years.  He has written two books “The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious” and “Hunt’s Three-Ring Circus”.  He lives quietly in New York City surrounded by stuff.

Hunt says, “People get hung up on the notion of legitimacy when it comes to photographs and specifically snapshots.  'If I can take them, how can they be art?'  My advice.  Relax.” 

The full roster of collectors whose photos will appear in the show include:

Steve Bannos (Garantuaphotos.com), Peter Cohen, Maria DiElsi, John Foster (accidentalmysteries.com), Mark Glovsky, Clare Goldsmith, Richard Hart, WM Hunt (WMhunt.com), Robert E.Jackson,(instagram.com/Robert_e_Jackson), Nigel Maister (foundphotographs.com), Sabine Ocker, Nicholas Osborn (facebook.com/pages/wwwsquareamericacom/23010434588) Billy Parrott, Ransom Riggs (ransomriggs.com), Randall De Rijk, Ron Slattery (bighappyfunhouse.com), Albert Tanquero (thefound.com), Erin Waters (finedags.com), John Van Noate (flickr.com/photos/82329524@N00/sets/72157600314602483/

For more information about this exhibition, please contact Stacy Waldman at Houseofmirthphotos@gmail.com.

The Mill Arts Project is a collaboration between Easthampton City Arts+ and Eastworks that offers gallery space to incubate new curatorial voices in a community context. While curators bring a vision and dedication, Eastworks and ECA+ assist with space and offer an intensive educational curatorial and organizational guide as well as assistance in project direction. Learn more about ECA+ at easthamptoncityarts.com/MAP.

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JUST MARRIED by Robert E. Jackson

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I like to think of myself as an aesthetic based collector of images.   But there is one area which proves me wrong and that is my interest in “Just Married” photos--or “JM” for the purpose of this small essay.  Why do I collect such photos?  I guess I was first drawn to the folk art aspect of them.  The writing of words on one of the most American of objects—the car—to commemorate the wedding ritual is a curious phenomenon.  And sometimes the words are not written on the car, but instead are printed on pieces of paper and applied to the car.  Plus, as these photos show, much more colorful and original comments are to be found on the “get-away” vehicle than simply “JM”.   Generally the photo is all about the car, not the couple who recently married and who will have to suffer the embarrassment of riding off on their honeymoon with a very public announcement of their recent vows.   I haven’t found any foreign examples of this ritual which might point to the car’s place in society not exerting the same power as it does in America or it is perhaps just the sources I use to find material.  I am thinking this ritual is dying out as more people rent fancy cars to leave the reception or don’t drive to their honeymoon destination but rather just take a trip on an airplane.  Also having some sign or writing on the wedding car announcing the recent event was the one public way of telling the world that the couple was JM.  Now we share all via multiple images and videos on Facebook, a special website, YouTube etc.  

THE VINTAGE SELFIE

-->The concept of the “selfie” isn't new, as the photos below show. What is new, is the media dissemination of them.  Before, they were taken for private visual consumption. Now, they are made mainly for public dissemination.

Jim Radke

 

Erin Waters
www.finedags.com

Mark Glovsky

Joel Rotenberg
 http://lookingforsnapshots.tumblr.com/

 

Robert E. Jackson

John Van Noate
https://www.flickr.com/photos/82329524@N00/

Stacy Waldman

 www.houseofmirthphotos.com

Randall de Rijk - including a recent photobooth selfie.

THE ALTERED CABINET CARD by Robert E. Jackson

I collect 19^th and early 20^th century U.S. cabinet cards.  I know people associate me with snapshot collecting, but as the years have passed since the 2007 D.C. show at the National Gallery which used my collection to tell the story (or a story) of the history of the snapshot, I have searched for another area which might yield some interesting finds and which there would perhaps be less competition for images.  I found it in cabinet cards. The area is rich in content, understudied, undervalued (generally), and underappreciated (mostly). There is no book written in English which deals exclusively with the cabinet card and its history. Not a one. Nada. 

My thought would be that if ever a museum show is mounted using as its basis my cabinet card collection (or images from many different cabinet card collectors) , the last room or final wall would be devoted to how contemporary artists are using this 19^th century photo medium as the groundwork for creating their own art. I am a big proponent of the idea that some collections find me, I don’t actively look for them. That is the case with altered cabinet cards. I didn’t know such work existed and then I started seeing them mentioned on Facebook, etc. And I became intrigued and starting purchasing a few as a natural offshoot of my collecting the originals.  People make contemporary dags, cyanotypes, etc., but the cabinet card is the only 19^th century photo medium I know where artists use the physical object as the basis of creating something new and exciting.  In other words, I don’t see or hear of many people taking an old tintype and painting on it (although it has been done to a limited degree).  And while there are altered CDVs, the larger size of the cabinet card offers a richer canvas for creativity.  Going down this road has meant dealing with fine art galleries as some of the artists included here are represented by galleries and don’t sell their work outright to collectors. This work is not sold as photography, but as painted or collage pieces using the photo object as its basis. 

So without further ado, I would like to share some examples of what artists are doing with the cabinet card.  And I should note that this isn’t every artist or altered cabinet card I own, but a representative sample. There are a few artists who are still working on pieces which will hopefully end up in my collection.

 Artist:  Anne La Fever

Artist:  Tom Butler
He is represented in the U.S. by Aucocisco Gallery in Portland, Maine.  His work was recently the subject of a show there entitled "Inner Worlds."  See http://69.195.124.94/~aucocisc/2014/02/25/tom-butler-inner-worlds/

 

Artist:  Warren Munzel

Artist:  Bill Lee

Artist:  Mike Wellins

Artist:  Jonah Samson

Artist:  Amy Johnquest
www.bannerqueen.com

Artist:  Alex Gross
His work is represented by the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in NYC.
This piece is entitled "Legolas."

Artist:  Colin Batty
Batty's work will be featured in a show at The Peculiarium (founded by Mike Wellins who is one of the artists featured here) in Portland, Oregon, from 4/2 - 5/15/2014
http:/www.peculiarium.com/

Artist:  Lynn Skordal

Artist:  Marianne Clancy
Encaustic (Heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added).

Artist:  Margaret Meehan
From her "Barnburners" series
Gouache and vintage glitter glass

Artist:  Rachel Phillips
From her "Divinations" series
Note website and process for making this work on the featured folder for the work above.  Her cabinet card art will be featured in an exhibition in July at Jack Fischer Gallery in San Francisco.

PAIRS by Joel Rotenberg

From the collection of Joel Rotenberg.   His blog is Looking For Snapshots.