Viewpoint Exhibit History

Balance is the theme of the 2017 Twelve exhibit, Viewpoint Gallery’s annual December juried show. In life, balance is the oft sought equilibrium of daily activities from menu planning, exercise, speaker output, tire maintenance, and checkbooks. It is the obviously necessary skill of the tight rope walker, bicyclist, ballet dancer and bowler at the line. As a principle of art and design, balance describes compositional arrangement such as symmetrical, asymmetrical or radial, but in broader understanding, artistic balance indicates the totality of elements working together for meaning and visual impact. Balance itself can be symbolized simply by the placement of the horizon line or by the dramatic tilt of mast and sail against the wind. Balance is in the internal tug of subjects vying for attention within the frame or the quiet push of opposing space or textures. Within the craft of photography balance is tonal range, contrast, and color corrected to match expectation. Yet while balance comforts in its seeming correctness and familiarity, perhaps art is most interesting just at the edge of being out of whack. The principle of balance is open for your photographic interpretation. Any subject and photographic approach is invited for this juried exhibit.

In the world of pristine photographic prints, some people might consider it a heresy to print images on fabric and then sew on top of the image with thread.  Kerby Smith finds it quite liberating. He has been photographing for over 50 years, and has exhibited in a wide range of venues. For most of that time he printed on paper, matted and framed his photographs under glass. But, he was never comfortable seeing the image behind glass. He prefers the up close and personal relationship the viewer gets with the image when there is no glass barrier between them.

Before archival ink jet printers, Smith experimented with printing black and white photographs on canvas with a silver coating. He developed the canvas using garbage cans of developer, stop bath and fixer. He washed the printed canvas with a garden hose running into a plastic barrel. Then he would stretch the canvas for gallery presentation.

Today, in creating his digital images, he begins with a photographic capture which provides a first look at the scene. Then in his digital darkroom, he explores the possibilities of where the image can take himself and the viewer.  Smith says “I want to take the imagery to a place where it will put a smile on the viewer’s face when he or she interacts with it.  I often move a few degrees off reality to create the view I imagine. Sometimes, it is with an extended palette or color range, other times it is simply a change of viewpoint or scale”.

The Family of Mannequin is a group exhibit by members of “F/8”. These are some of our photographs of mannequins that are current or past residents of Continental Display, a business in Sacramento that sells used furnishings and paraphernalia from department stores and clothing shops that have either closed or replaced their old fixtures. Continental Display has mannequins—lots and lots of mannequins—retired now after years of service, or biding their time between jobs. The mannequins are waiting quietly (at least during the times we have seen them) for repairs and perhaps new homes. However, Continental Display will itself be closing this year, so the fate of the remaining mannequins is at best uncertain. Sadly, the demand for mannequins like these has diminished greatly in recent years.

F/8 is a group of photographers from Davis, Woodland, and Sacramento, formed in 2011. We spend a few quality hours together each month sharing our printed images and critiquing each other’s work, encouraging each other to be better photographers. We are also all members of the Viewpoint Photographic Art Center. The group and its members have participated in many  group, solo, and juried photography exhibits and publications locally, nationally, and overseas.

Current and past F/8 members represented in The Family of Mannequin are: Joseph Finkleman, Rob Floerke, Richard Halliburton, Dennis McCoy, Tim Messick, Anne Miller, Michael Radin, David Robertson, and Rick York.

Mother Earth is a photographic exploration of the natural world through a woman’s eyes. This exhibit is Charlotte Gibb’s latest collection of photographs that celebrate the delicate and ephemeral nature of Mother Earth — her rages, her quiet contemplation, her dignified poses.

Inspired by the constant change of nature, these images depict heartbreakingly beautiful moments, both fleeting and powerful—giant pines weathering a raging snow storm which momentarily reveals a massive wall of granite; ghostly white Aspen trees in the final throes of Autumn; reflections in still water that play tricks on the mind.

Charlotte writes, “This body of work is meant to convey my deep emotional connection to Mother Nature, and to invite the viewer to listen in on my intimate, woman-to-woman, visual conversation with her.”

Born in Chongqing, China, Jing Zhou is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and Associate Professor in New Jersey, USA. Her award winning work, from digital print to animation, from visual design to interactive project, has been widely shown and collected internationally.

As a Chinese woman artist living in the Western world, Jing Zhou is aware of art, literature, philosophy, and mythology from both cultures. Her understanding of Chinese philosophies has shaped her thinking and conduct. The prudent and contrary-minded Taoist beliefs, the attached-to-the-earth reality of Confucianism, and the sudden enlightenment and intuitive insights of Zen are the foundation of her life. On the other hand, Western culture has inspired her and opened new ways of thinking.
Developing a personal visual language that expresses universal ideas, she creates artworks for the stories and aesthetics of each image, and for making visible those concepts which reflect her personal experiences. She wants her viewers to look at her images through magical windows into deep secondary spaces.

She describes her work as “Inspired by nature and multiple cultures, my artwork explores our common humanity, diverse society, and my inner voyage. Creating artwork required me to realize my nature, re-study my culture, and adapt new thinking, which resulted in a new perspective on life. It has also challenged me to constantly solve visual problems, learn new techniques, and explore the splendid human heritage. My images form a visual communication that interacts in several collective dialogues. These dialogues are between eternity and transience, oneness and variety, existence and emptiness”.

The annual Viewpoint Members’ Exhibit, a long-time tradition at Viewpoint, is always exciting for the quality and range of photographic art it showcases. Because it gives all Viewpoint members an opportunity to showcase one image of their choosing, the exhibit highlights the diversity of techniques, approaches, and personal visions in our photographic community.

Over the years, the Members’ Exhibit has reflected the general shift from traditional to digital techniques, but Viewpoint members continue to explore methods such as traditional black-and-white darkroom printing, alternative processes such as platinum/palladium and van dyke printing, hand coloring, digital compositing, and hybrid traditional/digital processes as methods for their creative expression through photography. The overall quality of the work makes the Members’ Exhibit an inspiration for photographers and a testament to the vitality of Viewpoint Photographic Art Center.

Jerry Berry’s inspiration for these images comes from his interest in Zen, Asian culture, and painting.  Koi have been an inspiration for artists for millennia; especially in the Asian traditions. The beauty of color, form, and movement of these fish bring much joy to the viewer. Berry’s interpretations of Koi have been developed based on his growth as a photographer and artist.  He says that “as photographers we are taught that our camera is the perfect tool to capture the ‘defining moment’ and is unequaled at reproducing finely focused images of sharpness and detail. We subsequently strive to perfect our craft with this in mind.” 

He feels that the story of time and motion could be lost if the photographer freezes an image defining that moment. The spontaneity of movement and life can be lost when it is defined as an instant of time by the fast shutter speed of a camera. By allowing his camera to capture a longer portion of time/life and letting the koi become his brush stroking the canvas of his camera sensor; he blends the strengths of photographic art with those of a painter. Alan Watts in The Way of Zen, best describes Berry’s approach to his subjects as he describes Zen in the following passage: “…for Zen there is no duality, no conflict between the natural element of chance and the human element of control.”

From the time she was a child, Susan Turner has enjoyed being with people different from her. It thus strikes her as perfectly natural that she spent most of the period from 1982 to 2009 living and photographing in Papua New Guinea, a large, distant country with more than 800 languages. Her personal endeavor during this time was to record, in the most honest and beautiful way she could, the daily and ritual life of this beautiful, diverse, and fascinating place.

Ms. Turner was inspired by participating in the lives the local people—tending gardens, fishing, caring for children, helping to settle disputes, and contributing to bridewealth payments and mortuary feasts. She lived in villages for long periods, returning to some year after year, and was adopted into several cultural groups. This close relationship to the people was always satisfying to her, as well as the only way to photograph as a member of the group, rather than as a casual observer.

Susan says of her experience, “Whatever depth and significance my pictures may have is largely due to the patience and generosity of friends and adopted relatives, who graciously accepted me into their lives.”

Albert Camus said that writers are obligated to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. Susan believes this is true for all artists, and in particular for the photographers who work among people with few, if any, means of expressing themselves to the outside world.

Please join us for a special Artists Reception and Fundraiser on Friday, April 7, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Guests will enjoy an array of Italian appetizers, luscious desserts, wine and beverages and live music. 

Tickets ($20) may be purchased online at the Viewpoint Store, or at the door.

There will also be a drawing ($5 per ticket, 5 for $25, 30 for $100). Prizes include: Bella Italia donated prints by Donald Satterlee and Michael Dunlavey and two gift certificates for 3 half-day Viewpoint Workshops of your choice.

In April, Viewpoint presents a stunning exhibit of images by Donald Satterlee and Michael Dunlavey entitled: Italia Bella.

Michael Dunlavey has been enthralled with Italy for a long time. He is drawn to the rich patina, textures, and reflections found at every turn in the backstreets and canals of Venice. Whether shooting intimate details or capturing the power and magnificence of ancient buildings, the contours of century old vinyards, or the landscapes of Tuscany, Chianti, and Umbria, he has created lasting images that convey the haunting beauty of the country. “Searching for something new to shoot on early morning walks energizes all my senses and makes me feel alive.”

Donald Satterlee’s images were taken in Venice, Tuscany, and many small villages around Northern Italy. In 2008 Satterlee started a personal project entitled Fogscapes. “Shooting photos on a drizzly foggy morning is a very peaceful and ethereal experience. It is my hope that viewing the images conveys that peace and calm.” After researching when Italy was most likely to have fog, Donald made two trips there in January in 2013 and 2014. “There were very few tourists, and securing a room was easy and better yet, several mornings were very foggy.” In an effort to create an “old postcard” feel, many photos have been converted to black and white, split toned, then textures and faint borders composited over the images.

Kendall Isotalo’s body of work Quietude examines the emotional space that can occur during a time when a perceived threat of loss and transition coexists with feelings of gratitude and hope. She has found that in his attempts to be fully present and aware, she is able to experience profound moments of stillness, quiet, and tranquility.

Isotalo’s photography is about capturing the balance and difference between moments that she perceives as tranquil and mysterious, versus those she finds more melancholy or uncertain. “I’ve always been aware of how these two very different ways of perceiving and responding can trigger emotions on a multi dimensional level,” she says. “I’m also interested in negative space in the sense of what is invisible or unknown and how that can create imaginary or altered realities. I combine old family photos, as well as other photos that I may find at thrift stores, with new images, placing myself in most of them. I use old images not as a way of staying stuck in the past, but rather as a way of honoring, understanding and preserving it. In many ways, I feel that I’m breathing new life into old photographs, keeping the past alive.”

Jan Manzi enjoys photographing a range of man-made and natural subjects — often abstracting or isolating them in a way to bring attention to things that might not ordinarily be noticed. As she says, “I find myself responding to the wonderful play of light and shadow that can transform the appearance of a building, a forgotten object, a plant, or a rock.” Sometimes the results are a bit quirky, which can cause viewers to say “what is that?”… followed by surprise at how there can be a quiet beauty in so much that surrounds them, if they only take a little time to look and see.

Jan Manzi first became interested in photography in college when she was able to learn the basics of working in a traditional darkroom and photographing a wide range of subjects. She began large format work after attending her first photography workshop, the Owens Valley Photography Workshop with Ray MacSavaney, John Sexton and Bruce Barnbaum as instructors. Inspired by the work of the instructors and Brett Weston, who welcomed participants to his home, Jan began to see things differently. Using a view camera helped her slow down and to pay more attention to how light can change textures and shapes. Most of Manzi’s work is with a 4x5 view camera and some with a 6x7 medium format camera.

Mark Coggins is both an author and photographer.  His images have been used to illustrate his own novels as well as the books of other writers, notably Patricia Cornwell’s Red Mist (end papers) and Roland Barthes’s A Lover's Discourse: Fragments (cover photograph). Most of his photographs are street scenes from cities throughout the world. “I seek to capture people interacting or engaged in a representative activity,” he says. “I hope my work conveys the energy, communal bonds, and in some cases, inherent mystery and alienation of urban life.”

Originally, Coggins used photography to document places he wanted to describe in his books. Then he hit upon the idea of including the photos he was taking in the books. Later, he began to alter the plot of his books to have an excuse to include photos he liked that didn’t have a reference to an existing scene. Now he “moves fluidly between writing and photography, doing both pretty much at the same time.”

Look at his image Zoltar Gets a Shove.  Why is the woman in the photograph pushing the fortune-telling machine through the street?  What brought her to that instant in her life? If Zoltar were to talk, what would he say? These are questions that the viewer asks and then finds herself creating a story to explain.  Coggins’s images portray more than just an instant in time. Somehow, with his writer’s sensibility, he is able to capture a moment that evokes a bigger story—a story redolent with humor and compassion.