Ever since Eastman Kodak developed the first motion picture film for Thomas Edison’s studio in the late 1800s, photographers have been adapting the moving medium for still camera use. In the exhibition Everything is Still: Photographers Working in Motion Picture Film, curator Stephen Schaub brings together 20 artists from the United States, Singapore and Japan who create still images using motion picture film. The exhibition will be on view at the Southern Vermont Arts Center (SVAC) from June 29-August 11, 2019 and opens with a reception on June 29 from 4-6 p.m.
Allowing for thematic and stylistic diversity, Everything is Still connects artists and images through the process and history of using motion picture film in still photography. Each image in the exhibition reveals the richness that comes from the use of this film. Prior to the introduction of prepackaged 35mm roll film in 1934, cutting and spooling motion picture film was a necessity, and later a cost-saving measure. Now, photographers seek out its specific quality: the luminosity of technically advanced color film, and alternatively, the un-duplicated silver-rich “vintage” feel of black and white film, which has changed very little since the 1950s. As moving film is a sequencing of still images, still photography is using the same medium to distill this temporality to a single image. From abstractions to fashion photographs, each image conveys a cinematic depth.
As an artist with a passion for the technical processes of creating images, Stephen Schaub is uniquely positioned to curate this exhibition. He is known for his expertise and innovation in progressive printing techniques, using many processes of his own invention in the development of his photographic artwork. Schaub has several published bodies of work and has been featured in publications like USA Today, Camera Arts Magazine, Everyday Living, Art New England Magazine, and Camera Arts Magazine. He is represented locally at Helmholz Fine Arts in Manchester, VT, and he has shown internationally at XEdition in Singapore, Espace BERGGER in Paris, at the San Francisco and Palm Springs Art Fairs, and Kolaj Fest in New Orleans.
Everything is Still will also include one gallery continually screening 8 parts of the CineStill Frames documentary series directed by Brendan Leahy of Studio Skylight. Each of these parts focuses on one of the photographers represented in the exhibition, exploring their process and approach. In part one, Ben Parks, an abstract landscape photographer based in L.A., discusses his shift from painting to photography as he discovered, “I could use the world around me as a completely new palette to paint abstractly with.” He tries to “deconstruct a moment in a way that’s open to interpretation that allows the viewer to see the world in a different perspective.” He says, “I just want to create moments that to me are missed by so many people.”
The artists featured in Everything is Still: Photographers Working In Motion Picture Filmcreate and hold still these moments.
Everything is Still Artists:
Gia Canalli
Art Gilman
Adam Goldberg
Brian Kosoff
Season Lao
Don S Martino III
Carol McGorry
Ryan Miurhead
Billy Mork
Ben Parks
Don Ross
Stephen Schaub
Danny Stewart
Edie Sunday
Bob Van Degna
John H.D. Wagner
Susan Weiss
The Brothers Wright
Raymond Wu
Related Panel Discussion & Workshops:
Back From the Dead: Film Photography Today
Stephen Schaub Studio Tour And Demonstration: Intro To Processing Black & White Film
Kodak Camera Club: Intro To 35mm Film Photography & Photo Walk
Media:
Photo 1 (Ben Parks – Main Exhibition Photo)
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4
Photo 5
Photo 6
Photo 7 (Stephen Schaub Studio)
About the Southern Vermont Arts Center:
The Southern Vermont Arts Center (SVAC) is a multidisciplinary arts organization in Manchester, VT with a mission to promote and nurture the arts. SVAC strives to provide opportunities for local and regional artists, to introduce the wider community to artwork and performances of national relevance, and to engage diverse audiences. To do this, SVAC creates a community space for the arts through exhibitions and events at Yester House and the Elizabeth de C. Wilson Museum; concerts and performances in the Louise Arkell Pavilion; adult art workshops and children’s summer camps in the Hay Madeira Education Studios; and trails throughout its 100-acre campus and the Stroup Family Sculpture Park.
Featured Image: Ben Parks, From the Small Hours
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