Press Release
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Media Advisory For More Information Contact: Jan Marlese LH Horton Jr. Gallery Director (209) 954-5507 jmarlese@deltacollege.edu |
Delta Center for the Arts LH Horton Jr. Gallery Presents:
Altered Landscapes
Nov. 18 - Dec. 16
Reception: Nov. 18, 5-7 p.m.
STOCKTON, CA – Delta Center for the Arts LH Horton Jr. Gallery presents the first annual photography exhibition and awards competition, Altered Landscapes, November 18 – December 16. Each year the photography exhibition will present photographic images with a specific theme. This year’s national exhibition features 18 photographers and 34 images.
Exhibition Awards
Brian Jolley: $600 Best of Show
Sam Grant: $400 2nd Place
Alexander Bush: $300 3rd Place
The Best of Show Award is generously funded by the Stockton Arts Commission through an Arts Endowment Grant.
Landscape Photography in this exhibition refers to all of the visible features of an area, countryside or land, and is considered in terms of its conceptual content. Many landscape photographers show little or no human activity in their photos. However, what makes a landscape in photography is a very broad term. Unlike that of traditional landscape painting, fine art photography encompasses urban, industrial, macro and nature-based objects. Most places and things can be photographed as a landscape, a kitchen, an isolated building or a cityscape, and even the human body set in a specific site.
The juror for the exhibition is Carol McCusker, an independent curator, writer and educator. For eight years, she was the Curator of Photography at the Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA) in San Diego. She received her B.F.A. in studio art and art history at Massachusetts College of Art, Boston. She then received her M.A. and Ph.D. in art history with an emphasis on the history of photography and film at the University of New Mexico (UNM), Albuquerque.
Carol McCusker says, “My choices for the San Joaquin Delta College competition were based on several criteria: a refreshing number of film-based images, Polaroid, gelatin silver and platinum prints, minimal digital manipulation, and a variety of cameras (pinhole, medium format, and panorama). I delighted in the night ambiance of Mother Tree, by Benjamin Hoffman; or Bleecker Street by Nicholas Dantona; and Ranchos Church at Night by Steven Bundy (I‘ve never seen this much-photographed church at night), as well as the play of shapes, grids and compressed spaces in Past and Present by George S. Gati; Johnstown, Pennsylvania by D.B. Stovall; Shopping Mall: Edgecombe County and Boarded Over: Maxton, North Carolina by David Simonton. And I chose Reggio Emilia, Italy by Lia Moldovan; A Dog & Turquoise Door and Beautiful Child Sleeping by Marti Belcher, for their fine, quickly seen compositions and humanist touch.
Most of the images chosen are black-and-white or low contrast color. A subdued palette dominated the competition, which I appreciated. Digital can sometimes seduce photographers to over-saturate their images to the point of diminishing or distracting us from the content. Content for me is paramount; form should follow content, as in Weathered Truck: Gray, Tennessee by Melissa Stallard; and Little Giant and Road Ends by Vaughn Wascovich. Here the photographs themselves and their subject matter impose a feeling of mutual decomposition.
The images that won prizes contain many of the elements above and an added daring experimentation and creative sense of beauty. In the Leftbehind Series by Brian Jolley, Polaroid negatives were left in the landscape for further “developing.” Leaves and debris worked themselves into the emulsion, the result being actual photograms and other organic surprises. The black-on-black of the musically titled Movement #7 and Movement #10 by Alexander Bush denies the primary element of photography: light. The photographer allowed as little light as possible to register before embracing total darkness. Paris by Sam Grant is a lyrical display of architectural fragments that seemed from the past and future all at once. The dreamy use of space, partial views, and tintype patina enhanced their elegance.
To view the exhibition on-line and link to the artists’ websites, visit the Gallery website at http://gallery.deltacollege.edu and link to ART, Photography 2010.
The LH Horton Jr. Gallery is a non-profit organization and premier exhibition space in the city of Stockton. The primary mission of the Gallery is to promote the exhibition of quality and culturally diverse artwork in support of our students’ education and the community at large. The Gallery offers excellent exhibition opportunities to local, regional, and national artists, lenders and guest curators. The Gallery presents artists’ work in all media, with no thematic or geographic restrictions. The annual SJDC Student Art Exhibition & Awards Competition is held at the end of Spring Semester in April and May. Digital images available upon request.
Gallery admission is free to the public and wheelchair accessible. Recommended parking is available in the Shima lot for a nominal fee of $1. For more information regarding Gallery hours, tours, Gallery talks and special needs, contact LH Horton Jr. Gallery Director, Jan Marlese, at:
(209) 954-5507, jmarlese@deltacollege.edu.
AWARD WINNERS:
Brian Jolley: "Left Behind" $600 Best of Show
Sam Grant: "Paris Building" $400 2nd Place
Alexander Bush: "Movement" $300 3rd Place
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