The Power of Nature

This past May we traveled to the North Rhine-Westphalia area of Germany for a show of Lori’s photographs at Museum Schloss Moylan (Moylan Castle). Dr. Bettina Paust, Artistic Director of the museum, had seen Lori’s work at an art fair in Cologne in the booth of Galerie Klueser (Lori’s gallery in Munich) and was intrigued enough to contact Lori directly. Talks ensued and the idea for an exhibition of the work began to take shape. 

What came into being was more than we ever could have hoped. “The Power of Nature” featured over 30 photographs from Lori’s two series, The City and Lost. Galerie Klueser loaned many works from their Munich space and the balance was produced jointly by us and the museum. This collaboration allowed for large work to be printed, mounted, and framed - something that never would have been possible on our own. We later learned that many of the shows curated by the museum have a relation to nature in some form. They thought Lori’s work to be a different take on this theme, so I think it was win win for everyone. 

The museum did an excellent job mounting and framing the prints! They brought in an exhibition designer to help figure out the best arrangement of the space. The end result had one photograph featured on each wall (there were exceptions for contextual reasons) which really made the images stand out. it was arguably the best showing of the work we’ve ever seen. In addition to the exhibition, the museum produced an amazing catalog of the show which followed the ‘one image to a wall (page)’ theme to great success. It also has three (count ‘em), three essays! We really enjoyed the essay by Timo Skrandies which used the theme of the resilience of nature. It was a refreshing viewpoint on the work. The book publisher is working on getting U.S. distribution for the catalog. Fingers crossed!

We were invited over for the opening and we jumped at the chance to visit Germany again. We were there almost a week which allowed us some time to explore the beautiful city of Kleve, where we were staying. Big thanks to Dr. Paust and her amazing staff for treating us like royalty the whole time we were there. (Special shout outs to Verena Pichmann for keeping us organized and on time and Dr. Alexander Grönert for his fine work hanging the show and private tour of the museum collection!) They kept us busy with media events and openings, and made us feel extra welcome by introducing us to their family and friends. It made the whole experience truly memorable and one we won’t soon forget. The exhibiton runs through June 30.

Catalog published by the Museum Schloss Moyland

Museum Schloss Moyland

Exhibition Hall

Press conference with local media.

Exhibition installation. One image per wall made the images shine.

Obligatory tourist picture - a very yummy lunch!

The brilliance of German engineering - ketchup and mustard "teats"

We had a great time in Germany!

Burn Time

I don’t know about you but it is so easy to get caught up in your day to day routine and let it take over. There have been truly lovely days that have passed me by all because I didn’t want to give up a little time from whatever I was doing-painting walls of a scene, casting, whatever. It always seems like a good idea at the time to keep plugging away but then I am a little mad at myself later for staying cooped up.

 So I was thrilled when we needed to take some work outside this past weekend! The current scene needed some major distress to give it the proper look. Distress that can only come from an actual flame. Being the curmudgeon I am, I wouldn’t let Lori use the torch in the back room to get the necessary effects. Call me crazy. Years ago the apartment behind us had a fire and it freaked us out to watch the firemen battle it. Even thought the fire wasn’t huge, the damage was huge. Not just from actual fire, but from the firemen doing their jobs –break out the windows, ripping out parts of wall, and soaking everything with water. Something like that would be devastating to us because we would lose years and years of accumulated scenes and props. So, naturally I was opposed to the idea of doing this in our apartment. Luckily, we have some wonderful friends, Joni and Eric (also photographers-see the side bar for Joni’s work), with a house on Long Island. They came to our rescue with an invite to come out for the weekend to work on this scene.  Perfect.  Wine and freshly iced cake in hand, we loaded June (our trusty vehicle) and made the trip.

The weather was wonderful. The temperature and humidity had broken and we were treated to a picture perfect weekend. Behind their property is a little gravel drive, which was ideal. We ran some tests to see what would give the appropriate look and set to work.  Turns out that worn out collodion (used in traditional wet plate photography) works better than contact cement as an accelerant.  Must be the ether, or could it be the grain alcohol. Hmm? It is often pretty tedious when it gets to the distressing portion of the scenes. It can take hours to apply multiple layers of paint and glaze. Not so with fire. It was a nice change to have the results be so immediate. No, we didn’t just set the whole thing ablaze. We’re too much of control freaks for that. It was actually a lot of careful application of the torch to get the right density of color and texture. More like painting with fire.

All went smoothly except for one minor event. Lori was brushing some fresh collodion onto a portion of wall that we had previously torched. Apparently there was enough heat still there to catch fire. Fire went up the brush, over the hand (goodbye knuckle hair!) and into the small container of collodion she was holding. That all got dropped into the gravel where we watched it burn a little bit before smothering it with a heavy piece of canvas. Lori is fine, not even any redness later, but it was a little too exciting.

So now we have the pieces back home in Brooklyn and have to catch up the rest of the scene so we can start to assemble it. We’re pretty hopeful that the results will be what we want in the end. It’s a little too soon to tell, but so far so good. Stay tuned.

Buffalo

“Inspiring curiosity through exploration”, this is the mission statement of the Buffalo Museum of Science. On a recent trip to Buffalo, NY we had the good fortune to visit and were floored by the quality of the exhibits. Housed in a beautiful building on the edge of a Frederick Olmstead designed park, it’s collections feature the Western New York State and Greater Niagara Regions. It is awesome! Now, one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever heard about Lori’s photographs and the models that precede them is they look to be crafted with love. That would definitely apply to the dioramas and displays featured at this museum. I’m not sure when they were created but they did have a lovely handcrafted feel about them. The dioramas were in small-ish rooms, divided into different regions. The cases were against the walls with a flat roof that allowed for larger animals to be displayed. All of the cases were of a dark wood with brass hardware. Simple and beautiful.

I think the fact that the museum has a regional slant is to it’s benefit. It allows them to really focus on a few things and emphasize the design and craftsmanship of each diorama. I really enjoyed the play of scale and unusual contexts they set up. The skeleton of a mouse sitting on a vertebrae of a dinosaur, hysterical! The “tree condo” is a floor to ceiling display showcasing all it’s inhabitants from bugs at the roots to owls at the top of the tree. One of my favorites was the nocturnal diorama featured everything that ever gave me the creeps at night. Ok, maybe not the moth.

It is really hard for me not to gush over these things. The care that was taken with every aspect was amazing. The backgrounds were painted very well. The animals and scenery were dynamic and thoughtful. Many of the animal poses were things I hadn’t seen before. I mean, who doesn’t want to see a snake snatching a frog mid jump. A passel (group) of oppossums teetering on a skinny branch. Close inspection of the dioramas rewarded the viewer with great little details that might otherwise go unnoticed. One very large display showed four very small fish as they swam beneath some floating plants. Beautifully backlit, it was an exercise in silhouettes. But, if you looked closely among the plants you saw another dozen different varieties of fish and animals.

I admit, I’m a little tired of all the interactive displays you see in so many museums. To me it just means it will be broken soon, and for a long time. I loved the simplicity and straightforward design of these things. They also had a lot of humor. Accompanying each diorama was an information panel giving you more detail about what you were seeing. They were so funny! These simple, but very well executed, line drawings/cartoons added a whole new dimension to each piece.

So if you can’t tell by now I’m a huge fan of this place. I highly recommend it. If you are ever in Buffalo, give it a chance.

I love the midwest.

I love the Midwest landscape. The endless fields, the flatness, and its overwhelming sky, all have a special fondness with me. Like Lori, it’s the place where I grew up and I still feel its pull and how it has marked me for life. When it rains I think about how the farmers will be happy. Throughout the summer I try to remember at what stage the different crops should be at, or what would be growing in the garden. (When is the corn knee high?) And this is twenty-plus years after moving off the farm. Those feelings just won’t go away, but the details have grown fuzzy, and that really bothers me. See, I never dreamed I’d end up living in a big city. It was the farthest thing from my mind. But, starting with college, I gradually began a migration to the east until I somehow ended up in Brooklyn. It took a long time to make peace with my new surroundings, and if asked how I like living in New York, I’ll grudgingly say it’s ok. But, I don’t think I’ll ever allow myself to like it, and will never love it no matter how well I adapt to the urban life. I guess it makes me feel disloyal to my roots.

We had occasion to drive through the Midwest this past week and I found it very comforting. It’s like I could finally stretch and take a full breath of fresh air after months of swallowing the grit and grime of New York City. Distance was no longer measured by city blocks, but by country miles and small towns. Riding in the car my head was on a swivel, trying to take in every detail. I’ll try to soak up as much of the sights and sounds as I can, knowing it will be a while before I return. Lori and I are quite fortunate in that our Brooklyn apartment sits alongside the park, so I can still watch the seasons change and smell the freshness of the trees as they give off their oxygen at night. But for now, I’ll keep enjoying the soft breeze, the sound of the birds, and the scent of honeysuckle.