Celebrating Photography and Place
2004 National Conference Review

Photography and Place:
Home-Neighborhood-Nation-World
41st National Conference – March 25-28, 2004
Newport, Rhode Island at Hyatt Regency Goat Island

The Society for Photographic Education (SPE) held its 41st national conference in the historic city of Newport, RI on the weekend of March 25-28. The conference site was the Hyatt Regency Goat Island situated in the harbor off Narragansett Bay. Over 1,050 people assembled for an exciting four days of lectures, panel discussions, imagemaker presentations, exhibitor displays and the popular portfolio review sessions.

Artists, educators and scholars alike gathered to engage in a dialog about place and the various ways photography presents, preserves, constructs, critiques and remembers the places in our lives. The conference featured a total of 87 speakers selected through a peer review process. This body reviewed a record 158 proposals. Conference chair Sandy Sorlien was busy organizing and attending to the many details of the weekend. Participants experienced a smooth running conference with many professional benefits realized including exposure to new ideas and imagery, networking, portfolio advice, job contacts and the experience of the place itself. The weather was not always perfect (after all, this is New England) but it did manage to be sunny and beautiful on Friday, the day David Graham made a very large group photograph of the SPE crowd gathered around the lighthouse on Goat Island!

The conference kicked off early with a Wednesday evening reception and three exhibitions at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, coordinated by Conference Committee member and URI professor Annu Matthew. More attendees than usual arrived early and stayed at the Hyatt Wednesday night.

The conference had three featured evening presentations beginning on Thurs-day with Keynote Speaker Frank Gohlke, sponsored by Fuji. Mr. Gohlke lectured about Herbert Gleason and his little known early 20th century photographs of Walden Pond, which were inspired by Henry Thoreau’s writings. Mr. Gohlke’s presentation, unfortunately hampered by some technical problems and a late start, drew some interesting connections between landscape and place, the comparison between literary and visual imaginations of place and how these have entered his own consciousness in thinking about self and site.

On Friday evening Featured Speaker Mark Sealy, sponsored by Kodak, and SPE’s 2004 Honored Educator Jerome Liebling, sponsored by Calumet, gave excellent presentations. Mr. Sealy, from London, England is director of Autograph: The Association of Black Photographers. His lecture addressed the issues Autograph encounters in its role as a place in relation to the current state of photography in Britain. He spoke about the changing climate of funding sources and a shift away from independent art councils to major museums and their support for ‘blockbuster’ exhibitions of well-known artists. He stated that at one time risk and innovation where key criteria for artistic support whereas, now, attendance figures, press coverage and celebrity are emphasized. From the perspective of Mark Sealy, these changes are leading to the destruction of independent photography production in Britain.

Following Mark Sealy, Jerome Liebling, a founding member of SPE and professor emeritus of Hampshire College, spoke about his years of being a photographer and an educator. His wit and humor was ever-present as he gave a chronology of his work from 1947 to today. Mr. Liebling was movingly introduced by his former student from the 1970s; famed documentary photographer Ken Burns. All three presentations were held in the historic Newport Congregational Church, about a 20-minute walk from the hotel.

Conference staff arrived on the preceding Monday to begin preparing for the week’s activities. The exceptional work of Executive Director Jennifer Yamashiro, Onsite Conference Coordinator Ashley Peel, Membership & Conference Registrar Hannah Frieser, Corporate Sponsor Coordinator Jeannie Pearce, Advertising Coordinator Mary Brown, Administrative Assistant Kelly O’Malley, and 150 student volunteers contributed to a well-organized weekend of programming and events.

Conference programming began on Thursday. There was an all day trip to visit Providence galleries and tour the Rhode Island School of Design, including the RISD Museum, which featured an exhibition of work by Aaron Siskind and a group exhibit on Place. Curator Jan Howard also hosted a lovely reception for us. The valuable Student Seminar, sponsored by Hasselblad and Oriental, was conducted by Susan kae Grant, Mary Virginia Swanson and Keith Johnson. They offered advice and strategies to students interested in building a career in photography. Ilford and Adobe offered workshops on inkjet printing technology and teaching Photoshop. There was even a two-hour seal watch boat tour on Narragansett Bay. The boat captain counted 101 seals!

The Mentoring Program, organized by Elizabeth Lee and Rebekah Modrak, is in its third year and was well received by all participants. This program pairs senior faculty with junior faculty or MFAs looking for advice to advance their careers. Lawrence McFarland and Tom Fischer coordinated the Job Room and position listings this year. Portfolio Reviews also began on Thursday and ran through Saturday afternoon, with 81 portfolio reviewers looking at work. There were 141 professionals and 222 students seeking reviews of their artwork. Many people commented on the review process, most positive, others not. There were the usual problems and growing pains associated with such a popular offering. One of the coordinators, Robin Assner, was unable to attend and co-coordinator Nate Larson had to handle the event alone. Nate did a fantastic job given the scale of the project. Many thanks to both Nate and Robin for their efforts. Thanks to all of you who commented. SPE will continue to improve the process.

Our annual “Breakfast with the Sponsors” was held Friday at 8 am featuring a continental breakfast in the Exhibits Fair for all participants, generously provided by Beaver Hollow Design. The fair was open and displayed a wide variety of photographic equipment, supplies, books and information about photographic organizations. This year there were a total of 84 exhibitors (booths and tables), more than 20 of which were new to SPE. Many thanks to the eleven corporate sponsors who generously supported the 2004 conference. They are Adobe Systems Inc., Beaver Hollow Design, Calumet Photographic, Eastman Kodak Company, Epson America, Inc., Fuji Photo Film USA, Inc., Hasselblad USA, Mamiya America Corporation, Meridian Printing, Oriental Photo USA and Polaroid Corporation. Presentations began at 9 am with a rich and diverse range of topics about place. A few of the highlights follow.

Janice Levy’s presentation titled “Out of Place” showed some of her earlier work with many funny stories and jokes, leading up to work shot in six extended visits to Madagascar. The first period, ending 1996, was black and white, and the new work, starting in 2001, was straight color work. She stated “the Madagascar I returned to in 2001 was a country besieged by an aesthetic sensibility heavily influenced by a newly emerging global economy.”

Andy Grundberg moderated an excellent panel titled “Place Located Within Self and Culture,” featuring Brady Johnson, Jennifer Dorsey, Dean Kessmann and Muriel Hasbun. These four imagemakers showed their recent projects and discussed their artwork in relation to identity, site, place and nation. The work explored installation, digital imaging and traditional photographic forms. The discussion that followed debated the many ways we come to understand place within ourselves, physically, metaphorically and historically. No programming was scheduled 11:00 - 11:45 am to allow members of the eight regional SPE organizations to meet and discuss regional business. From accounts received, these meetings were well attended by all with lots of positive energy and ideas for the coming year.

The afternoon sessions continued Friday with many interesting imagemaker and panel presentations. George Thompson, Joyce Tenneson and Darius Himes gave a panel presentation titled “Adventures in Photographic Book Publishing.” Darius Himes, editor of photo-eye booklist, gave a talk explaining the role of photo-eye in book publishing. George Thompson, president and publisher for the Center for American Places, gave an eloquent plea for books about place and photographic books in general, and mentioned some of the center’s recent projects. Joyce Tenneson talked about her work and book projects.

Liz Wells lectured on “Contemporary Landscape Photography from Baltic Areas,” which introduced artists and their work from a new exhibition she has organized, entitled Facing East. The images included startling and dreamlike landscapes from Finland, Estonia and Norway. Imagemaker Joan Klatchko presented her recent photographs of suburban Levittown. Her project brought back memories of yard sales, neighborhood barbecues and a simpler, safer life. Vincent Feldman presented “Philadelphia: City Abandoned,” a succession of his toned B&W large-format images of dilapidated architecture. He has been cataloguing the sites before they are gone or changed irrevocably. Other imagemakers included Joan Lyons, Ann Fessler, Anthony Thompson, Francois Deschamps, Stephen Marc and Meridel Rubenstein.

Friday evening between the Mark Sealy and Jerome Liebling lectures SPE acknowledged ten student scholarship winners for 2004, along with this year’s winner of the Crystal Apple Award, Travis Southworth from the University of Arizona, presented by Freestyle Photographic Supplies. Carol Flax, Travis’ primary photography teacher, also received recognition from Freestyle, for her important contributions to this student’s success. Following the lectures Friday night people made their way to the various pubs and restaurants in Newport or back to the Hyatt where there was a screening of “Two Photographers,” a 1973 film about Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind during their days at RISD. Inspired SPE’ers sharing their portfolios were found throughout the hotel into the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday programming featured many excellent presentations. Therese Mulligan gave a terrific lecture titled “The Colorama: Envisioning a National Identity in the Postwar Era,” about the famed Kodak Colorama, an 18 x 60 foot transparency mounted in New York’s Grand Central Station from 1950 to 1990. Billed as the “world’s largest photograph,” it promoted the ideals of American life alongside Kodak products. It was somewhat of a “guidebook to American living, ” informing larger cultural attitudes and values in the United States. Imagemaker Gary Metz presented his project “Quaking Aspen,” a three-decade series of observations (photographs) made about transformations of a place both by design and accident. Liz Lee, Marni Shindelman, Gary Kolb, Ken White and Michael Ensdorf discussed “Experiences in Academic Survival,” a panel exploring the various ways we as educators become defined and valued in the academy from rank to research activities. Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison, sponsored by Salve Regina University, gave a presentation on their work and their years of working together as artists, to a packed audience. They discussed the development of their images over the past thirteen years including inspirations for the narratives in the work, a bit about how they create their photographs and the dynamic of their collaborative efforts. Dan Burden gave a PowerPoint presentation titled “Images of Change: Documenting the Move to a New American Nation.” He is a New Urbanist and an expert in remaking neighborhoods and helping communities envision change. He hopes to encourage photographers to become advocates for their communities.

Graduate student imagemaker presentations were also held on Saturday morning. Five students presented a range of ideas from an examination of the private lives of Central Park street performers to a representation of the family album as a multi-media installation.
The 2004 SPE Video Festival sponsored by the Woman’s Caucus began Saturday morning with screenings both Saturday and Sunday. Seven films were shown over two days. Tulu Bayar introduced her film, Water Rituals, on Saturday. The film engages some ideological differences between Jews and Muslims centering the debate around water use and water rights in the Middle East. The Women’s Caucus had two meetings during the weekend and they were well attended. The Multicultural Caucus held its annual meeting on Saturday, also well attended.

Appropriately for a conference on the subject of place, several tours provided the opportunity for attendees to get out and explore the New England landscape. Beavertail Run and Shoot was an early morning excursion to Beavertail State Park where runners and photographers alike could greet the day. The Beavertail Lighthouse folks graciously invited us inside to enjoy their photographic displays and a breakfast donated by East Ferry Deli of Jamestown. Rose Island and Harbor Tour was a mid-day boat ride to Rose Island where photography, bird watching and sightseeing were experienced. Saturday afternoon participants could sign up for the Primitive Landscape Workshop with pinhole photographer Walter Crump. The workshop was conducted at the Salve Regina University campus and the nearby Cliff Walk. There were also two free architectural walking tours guided by James Yarnall. Dr. Yarnall, a historian at Salve Regina, also presented a lecture as part of regular programming titled “It’s Just Paradise,” highlighting a picturesque section of coastline three miles east on Newport known for centuries as Paradise. His writing was very good and the images were fascinating. He showed various paintings and photographs by different artists of the same views in Paradise, such as Hanging Rock, Purgatory Chasm (including the old postcard image on the Program Guide cover) and Second Beach, projected side-by-side in pairs. It was an interesting historic and artistic examination of a particular place. The conference overall had more tours and workshops this year than ever before; most were sold out with waiting lists.

Additional Saturday presentations included imagemaker Dan Schlapbach’s stereoscopic pictures inspired by the biblical story of Job in the land of Uz; 2004 Guggenheim fellow Paola Ferrario’s project titled “Borders of Labor,” which examines contemporary immigration to Italy; a panel discussion by Amy Holmes George, Lawrence McFarland, Kenda North and Anna Tomczak on how faculty can organize a study abroad program in art, including how to partner with foreign institutions to develop these programs; and Gretchen Garner’s lecture “The Sixties, A Turning Point in American Photography,” which discussed the post-Robert Frank paradigm shifts that occurred in photography, moving away from public subjects towards the private and the post-modern.

As the conference programming began to wind down late Saturday, attendees crowded into the Exhibits Fair to cast final bids for the silent auction items and to await the results of the print raffle. SPE Board Members David Taylor and Steve Bliss managed the silent auction. Thanks to Jeannie Pearce and Mary Brown for their incredible efforts at securing the many items for bid. Board member Michelle Van Parys secured prints from a number of artists and organized the print raffle including images from Linda Connor, Carl Chiarenza, Jim Stone, Anna Tomczack, Stephen Marc, Susan kae Grant, Arno Minkkinen, Alida Fish, Jerome Liebling and others. The money raised from both these events helps fund the SPE student scholarship awards each year, which support student attendance at the national conference.

The annual membership meeting with the Board of Directors was held at 5 pm on Saturday this year instead of the usual Sunday morning. The meeting was very well attended thanks to the scheduling. Many members voiced their opinions on a variety of subjects including issues regarding regional financing, the need for more presentations on teaching and pedagogical strategies, the annual budget of the organization and the possibility of attracting new presenters from related areas in the humanities. It was a positive and productive meeting for both the board and the membership.

Saturday evening featured the Gallery Hop from 6-9 pm then out to dinner in Newport. Yes, there were the infamous buses, but this year by all accounts, they ran extremely well and on time! Salve Regina University was our gracious host institution for the conference and faculty member Barbara Shamblin from Salve Regina was the local coordinator for many events. There were nine exhibitions of photographs located in various galleries and venues in Newport. Salve Regina University hosted a faculty/student exhibition and reception for SPE at Ochre Court, one of the famed and fabulous Cliff Walk mansions of Newport given to the university in the late 1940s. University Gallery exhibited Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison’s recent work. Many thanks to Barbara and Salve Regina for their help and support.

After the Gallery Hop and dinner, people made it back to the Hyatt for the annual SPE Dance Party and photo fest! Mamiya, Leaf and Polaroid supplied the support for the party and SPE supplied the energy. The photos were wild and the music was hot. Our Newport DJ Butch Taylor cranked up the tunes and proclaimed our party, in his words, “the jamminest dance floor” he has ever seen! On Sunday morning, photographers spread out their work in the Rose Island Ballroom for a relaxing open portfolio sharing session. It was the perfect way to wind down after the intensity of the previous three days.

This year’s conference was very successful and featured a wide variety of programming, exhibits and artworks. Photographers, educators, students, critics and historians alike exchanged ideas and shared images in the relaxing and friendly atmosphere of Newport, Rhode Island. Next year, Passage is the theme for the 2005 conference in Portland, Oregon, and everyone is looking forward to another exciting and engaging SPE event. See you there!

Richard Gray
SPE National Board Member

2004 conference merchandise
General 2004 conference informantion

The lighthouse photograph was taken by David Graham. For a digital copy of the photograph, please contact David at grahamvan@comcast.net.