New Photography Project with TAKE Dance!

 

I am thrilled to be working with Choreographers Take Ueyama, Brynt Beitman and Jill Echo of TAKE Dance to document the rehearsal process for Anamnesis.  This new work will premiere at NYC’s ornate West End Theatre on May 23-25.  Anamnesis means the remembering of things from a previous existence.  It is an honor to be a fly on the wall as these talented artists turn this concept into a dynamic dance performance!

 

Photographing Tarik Currimbhoy’s Kinetic Sculpture

I have had quite an adventure lately shooting my friend architect/sculptor Tarik Currimbhoy’s wonderful kinetic sculptures.  The works I have been photographing are tabletop size, sleek forms in stainless steel and bronze called Rockers.  The trick was to convey movement.  I shot some video, which will be on Tarik’s website http://www.tarikcurrimbhoy.com in due course.  The challenge was to photograph these elegant pieces, which are narrower at the top, in a way that would convey movement.  First I shot stills of the various versions:

But  Tarik needed photographs to use in print materials.  I experimented with various sorts of double and triple exposures, and I think I nailed it!

An Update on the Art Creation Foundation for Children in Haiti

The Art Creation Foundation for Children in Jacmel, Haiti is alive and well!  We have had a number of substantial grants over the past year, which have paid for the rent on our building and our food program, but we are facing a shortfall this summer for general operating expenses and for educational expenses (school fees, books, uniforms, shoes, backpacks) for our children when the new school year begins in August. Any help you can give us will be greatly appreciated!

Here is a link to a new video that outlines our services and the children who are part of our program.  In it, you can see some of the work created by the children in Jacmel and understand exactly how the dollars you donate are used by ACFFC. I urge you to help us help our children achieve a better life in a difficult country. We are proud in the knowledge that we are helping these children learn the skills that can help them to change their lives.

In this blog I have written about some of the children I worked with in photography workshops.  Here is an update on three of our young adults:

Bruno Rene has moved on to a position as art instructor on the staff of ACFFC. He recently took part in a countrywide painting competition for Sogebank where he rose up through the ranks.  He was a finalist to represent South East Haiti, one of three.  He then traveled to Port Au Prince to compete with artists from around the country, and ultimately won an honorable mention and an award of 75000 HTG (about $1200 US).  His work is currently for sale at a premier local art gallery in Jacmel where he has sold some of his larger pieces.

 

 

Michou Jouissant is now leader of the Mosaic Product Team – an important part of the ACFFC program. She is charged with team management, product development and quality control. A natural leader, she is the highest paid student intern and is performing work that will lead to jobs in the private sector in the future. The Haitian culture is very difficult for women with aspirations to move beyond service and caretaker roles. Michou has benefited from a special program within ACFFC devoted to the empowerment of our young women, giving them a voice and helping to build their confidence and self-esteem where they learn to speak up and take on leadership roles.

 

 

Fedno Lubin has two more years in high school, where he is a star student and has learned fluency in English. He is a part-time student intern at the foundation, and the official ACFFC photographer. He has created his own photography business and is in demand as a photographer of communions, weddings and baptisms in the Jacmel area, and has developed a line of postcards that he sells to hotels and tourists.

 

 

Please help us create more success stories! Donations can be made through our website or PayPal

Or they can be sent to:

Art Creation Foundation For Children

14113 Drakes’ Point Drive

Jacksonville, FL 32224

Every penny you donate will be used with care.  Thanking you in advance!

My Historical Archives Part II: FDR to National Park Service Resource Center

Over a five-year period, I made thousands of photographs of sculptor Neil Estern creating the full-round statues of President Roosevelt, Eleanor and their dog Fala for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Park in Washington, DC. Dozens of the images were reproduced in the book Shaping A President: Sculpting for the Roosevelt Memorial, written by Kelli Peduzzi; and a large group of black & white darkroom prints and color photographs appeared in solo and group exhibits across the United States. (Many of these images are on my website.)

I followed Estern working on this historic project as he sculpted the tiny maquettes and larger scale models in clay in his Brooklyn studio, enlarged them in clay at Tallix Art Foundry in Beacon, NY, and supervised the many phases of bronze casting.   At each stage of creation, I was struck by the forceful personae emerging out of inert substances. Neil’s concentration was total. The figures, even in armature form, seemed to interact with him and appreciate his perfectionism.

I felt like a fly on the wall. I endeavored to illustrate the unfolding emotional relationship between the sculptor’s artistic intensity and the complex personalities of the President and First Lady emerging from armature and clay.

The Memorial Park was inaugurated in May 1997.

Last summer, I contacted various government archives to find a home for my archives. I was thrilled when they were accepted by the National Park Service. Their offices and storage facilities are located in Washington, CD and Maryland, where objects related to the monuments on the National Mall and Memorial Parks in this area of the country are preserved.  Here are the materials in my studio before I packed them up:

I still retain the copyright, however, and sets of exhibition prints.  My husband and I drove to Maryland earlier this year to deliver them to Curator Laura Anderson.

The next day we were given a tour of the facility by Tom Sonderman, Director of the NCR Museum Resource Center,. It was fascinating.  Along with historical documents, there were objects left at the Vietnam Memorial by visitors, furniture from historic homes and all sorts of interesting ephemera.

I am honored that these historic materials – negatives, slides, darkroom notes, work prints, shooting diary, etc. are now part of this wonderful archive, where they are available to the public for research and exhibitions.  2017 will be the 20^th anniversary of the monument park and there is talk of an exhibit.  Meanwhile, I am on to new projects!

My Historical Archives Part I: The Rafael Hernandez Colon Library and Museum

In November 2015, my husband and I traveled to Ponce, Puerto Rico to visit the beautiful Rafael Hernandez Colon Library and Museum.  In Spanish, La Fundaciòn Biblioteca Rafael Hernández Colón (FBRHC).

RHC Library & Museum

 

From 1972-6 I worked for Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon of Puerto Rico. As his aide in the states, I accompanied him on his many trips to New York and Washington, and produced a variety of television programs for him in Puerto Rico, such as the first televised news conference and the first televised address to the nation. I carried my camera with me everyplace.

Hernandez Colon served as governor again from 1984-92. We remained in touch, but I was working elsewhere. This past year the Rafael Hernandez Colon Library and Museum was inaugurated in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is a beautiful combination of two buildings; one a renovated colonial building and the other a new state of the art modern archive of the Governor’s papers and records. My negatives, slides, and campaign ephemera have been added to the collection.  I was so impressed by the design of the archives and thrilled to see my material included.

There is a beautiful, large exhibit area illustrating the governor’s life and accomplishments during his total of 12 years in office.   Several of my historic photographs have been printed and hung.  This column of my photographs depicts the arrival of world leaders for a summit conference in Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico in 1976, greeted by Governor Hernandez Colon.

Here is Hernandez Colon talking about the museum to my husband and the Director of the Archive and Museum, Jorge Figueroa Irizzary:

After touring the museum, we screened the two half-hour documentaries I produced in 1972 and 1976 for RHC’s gubernatorial campaigns.  It was the first time my husband had seen them!

During those exciting years I traveled all over the island, made many good friends and learned to love Puerto Rico and its people.

Heartening Reviews for Love & War!

Although I edited my book, Love & War:  The World War II Letters of Arthur Smook primarily for my family, the story is really interesting, so I sent a press release to a number of people and publications.  I am thrilled to share two reviews with you:

The first appeared in the August 10, 2015 edition of the Register-Star Newspaper, written by Katie Kocijanski;  and the second in the on line publication of the New York Book Society, written by Catherine Kirkpatrick.  Both are really thoughtful discussions of the book and I am grateful for the care taken by the writers.

Here are a few more of the photographs in the book:

My dad in postwar France

 My mom in her Red Cross Women’s Motor Corps Uniform

January 8, 1945

iPhone in the Snow

We have had a snowy winter here in NYC.  It was messy underfoot on Monday, but beautiful above, so I took out my iPhone and began to capture what I saw:

Broadway and 95th Street

On the way to the subway.

Subway entrance on Broadway and 96th Street.

View from The Ground Floor Pilates studio.

Later, outside of CVS at 96th and Amsterdam Ave.

Photo Album: Post #5 Jacmel 2013

A picture is worth a thousand words.  Here are a few that might fill in the blanks left by my reporting:

The fact that Art Creation Foundation for Children offers three meals a day to its youth is very very important.  Here is where money for food goes:

Sorting beans for lunch

Enjoying lunch

Dining area

And here are more photographs of what the children are learning and accomplishing:

Mosaics are used to create vases out of bottles.

Another shot of the photography group.

Students doing homework after school.

Group working on papier mache projects.

The work is painted.

Paper can be glued to a mask base.

A fabulous mask

A colorful vase.

The showroom in our new building.

A mosaic design begins with a sketch.

The mosaic pieces are cut and glued to mesh.

The tiles are cemented to the wall.

Grout is added when the wall is complete.

You can see how the children’s imagination and skills have evolved in these images.  And they are so proud of their work!

ACFFC will celebrate its tenth anniversary as a 501c3 corporation later this year.  This milestone is the perfect time for us to reflect on the amazing achievements of the past decade and move ahead on plans for the future.  A future that looks very promising for the Art Creation Foundation for Children youth!

Mosaics Everywhere: Post #4, Jacmel, Haiti 2013

The Art Creation Foundation for Children began to work in mosaics after the 2010 earthquake when Laurel True arrived from Global Mosaic Projects to work with the group.  Together they created the Tree of Life as a memorial to lives lost and to hopes for the future.  Here is a link to last year’s post.

The wall was a great success and immediately became a source of great pride and a gathering place in the city of Jacmel.  And the children loved making the mosaics.  Over the past year, panel by panel, they completed the wall along Congo Plage (beach).

A grant from ARCADES propelled their abilities to a new level.  Under this grant, wonderful walls and benches have been created all over the city.

Bruno, as head of the design team (here is last year’s blog about Bruno) created a mosaic version of the image of Catherine Flon, La Belle Kreyol,

 

and another of the flag of Haiti

at a main crossroad:

 

 

 

 

There is a beautiful wall depicting the history of coffee at a building that was once a coffee warehouse:

 

Because of the impact that these beautiful projects had on the various neighborhoods, ACFFC was given commissions by the Tourism Office in Jacmel, and by individuals and businesses as well.

 

 

Here is bench next to the barber shop:

The Khawly family commissioned two walls – one based on transportation at the Texaco station:

And another featuring Jacmel’s famous race car drivers:

Here is a beautiful wall and bench in a neighborhood where some of the ACFFC children live:

On this trip, I ended working with the kids on a large mosaic commission at Raymond Les Bains, a beautiful beach just outside the city.  This work was requested by the Department of Tourism in Jacmel and the Ministry of Tourism of the government of Haiti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I love most are the whimsical details that the kids have created – their own interpretations of how, in this case, the sea creatures should appear:

 

Some of the funds received through these grants and commissions pay for materials and contribute to keeping ACFFC operating.  But a portion of the funds are deposited in individual bank accounts for the youth 16 and older.  These teens receive a stipend for participation and are learning to manage their money.  Financial literacy is a goal of the foundation.  Each child can give some of his/her money to his/her family, can use some for immediate personal needs, and must save some for the future.  As well, a portion is allocated to families who the youth feel have significant need, whether or not a part of ACFFC.  The younger children, who are beginning to learn skills in mosaics, as in papier mache, are helpers.  Some funds are set aside for their future.

In this way, an ongoing public art project that is so creative, also contributes to personal growth, financial competency, plans and goals for the future for these ACFFC youth, just as it contributes to aesthetics and pride in Jacmel among resident.  Amazing achievement.

The Challenges Facing Women in Haiti: Post #2 Jacmel, Haiti 2013

Haiti is a male-dominated Society.  Ergo, during my 2013 trip to the Art Creation Foundation for Children in Jacmel, Judy asked me to host a dinner for three of the teenage girls that have shown leadership ability.  Nynedia and Sheldine, sisters, were working with me in the photography workshop.

Michou, who is a leader of the mosaic product team also  joined us.  We didn’t take photos in the restaurant, but here is a link to a beautiful short film about her prior work in photography made by Kuba, a colleague of Jen and Guy Pantaleon of Zanmi Lakay.

Ironically, also joining us were Georges and Vladimir, the two male directors of the Foundation in Haiti, who were needed to translate.  To their credit, they were not intimidated!

The story I shared:  I resolved upon graduating from college, and opting not to continue to graduate school, to find an interesting job that did not involve typing for others.  This, for a woman in 1968, was easier said than done.  I was a polite person, so I ended up taking a lot of typing tests for a lot of jobs that I would never take.  Finally, I ended up as a researcher at WNET, the public television station in New York.  That led to a job with a film company as a production assistant, then production manager and finally, producer.  I had a lot of challenges and adventures along the way.  There were very very few women doing those jobs at that time.  I had to fight for recognition, for assignments and for equal salary.  I recounted some of these situations and how I managed to achieve my objectives.  The girls were fascinated.

I even told them stories of my grandmother’s childhood in the early 1900’s and how she managed, as an immigrant child in New York, to learn English with no accent, and then how her father forced her to quit school in 8th grade.  She took, and then after a few days quit, a menial job in a garment factory, put her hair up to look older, and through a neighbor got a job in an office.  She realized that bookkeeping would not be very difficult for her, and used her first paycheck to enroll in a bookkeeping class.  Her father almost threw her out for not bringing him the money.  Within a year she made more money than he did.  Later, she and my grandfather built a business of their own.  She was a 50% partner, which also involved a struggle.  This reminded the girls of life in Haiti.

My grandmother is standing on the right.

 

The point of the discussion:  You can’t be intimidated when you have a goal.  Especially if you are a woman!

The girls had many questions about whether I had boyfriends, when I married, had children, etc.  We all agreed that life is complicated, but that you have to believe in yourself.

These young women are future leaders in Haiti.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if one of them could one day head the Foundation in Haiti and be a role model for the next generation?