James Niven says, "Since having had burnout from my last business a few years ago and needing to sell, I have re evaluated my life and begun what was a necessary slow but steady change.  

Now with a better work/play life balance and renewed energy and passion, I bought a 4WD Landcruiser Vehicle and within the last two years, have taken off on many a long journey through the interior as well as the coastline of Australia photographing Landscapes with Colour and B&W film. In the process I have acquired new gear and a new way of seeing for me which has been the panoramic format, ideal for the wide open spaces I have traveled through. These three images are a selection of my latest work to date."

James Niven is a self-taught film photographer born in Christchurch New Zealand and having lived in Los Angeles USA, Suva Fiji, Melbourne Australia, now calls Sydney home.

With over 45 Countries visited, street photography has become his favored genre of photography which best expresses his own unique personal and emotional response to his many years of observing and capturing subjects in everyday situations around the globe.

To date his work has been exhibited in Milan and Trieste ITALY, Toronto CANADA, Athens GREECE, Berlin GERMANY, Krakow POLAND, Auckland NEW ZEALAND, Essex Junction VT /Minneapolis MN/ Los Angeles CA/Lexington VA, USA , Sydney and Ballarat Australia.

Career Highlights ( including just the last few years)

EXHIBITIONS 
2019
Group
Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, Greece
Black and White Exhibition

2018
Group
NY Photo Curator
“The Figure in the Landscape”

Group
The World Through My Eyes Exhibition, Barcelona, Spain

Group
#Photography#Cities, Milan, Italy

2017
Solo
CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto, Canada
“Enchanted Encounters”

Group
Vermont Center for Photography, Vermont, USA
Open Juried Exhibition 

Group
Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, Greece
“Street Photography"
    .  

AWARDS 
2018
Australian Photography Awards
Portrait Category, Honorable Mention

ipa int’l PhotographyAwards. 
Panoramic Category, Honorable Mention 

2017
Finalist in Charles Dodgson Black and White Award

Finalist in Street category dotART Urban Awards
Image published in book “Urban Unveils the City and It’s Secrets”

Prix De la Photographie Paris (PX3), Honorable Mention

slc_lawncare@hotmail.com

Joan Proudman says, "To me, everything relates to something, is tied to something, and is informed or influenced by something. Relationships form a whole gestalt that we call "Life". These relationships interest me greatly, because they hold so much meaning and therefore give life meaning. When I intuitively combine things---stories unfold-- narratives that begin to reveal the deeper mysteries and the wholeness that is inherent in life. 

Drawing, painting, building things and ColorForms were my youth’s passions, as well as dance. I couldn't get enough of self-expression. 

My dance led to performing with the Boston Ballet, the Portland Ballet, and the Ram Island Dance Company (both of Portland, Maine). 

I’m a BFA graduate of The University of Southern Maine (cum laude) with a concentration in drawing, collage and sculpture. 

For the past ten years I have been exploring photography and perfecting my editing skills with Photoshop. I aim to achieve seamless compositions recalling the fluidity of ballet. 

My work has seen the covers of books and CDs and my prints have been displayed in mostly Maine galleries, but I have also displayed in New York and in Europe.

I am currently represented by Evolve Sanctuary for the Soul and Quench in Belfast, Maine, as well as at Leslie Curtis Designs, in Camden, Maine.  

I am also an assemblage artist and I am still dancing."

Resume

AWARDS/PUBLICATIONS 

2019 Maine Arts Journal Cover and Feature http://maineartsjournal.com/joan-proudman-discovering-dance/ 

2018 Cover Art: Space Heart, A Memoir in Stages, Burrow Press, Florida
2016 Best in Show, Portfolio, Still Point Arts Gallery, Still Point Arts Quarterly Winter Edition
2016 Shadow and Light Magazine (Photography Publication) 

2015 Cover Art, Shantic, Shamanic Trance Music, CD and Book by Tatjana Branoff and Bernd Bechtloff, Austria 

2014  Cover Art , Biodynamics of Osteopathy, Phase Nine by James Jealous D.O., Tames Prepress 

2013  Cover, TimWorld Dhoom CD, Goat River Productions 

Belfast, Maine’s Ninth Poetry Festival Banner image, Bird Brain

2009 hear if you dare, Poetry and Art by Lauren Murray and Joan Proudman, Illuminated Sea Press 

2006 Cover Art, Heart Songs and Other Legacies, Linda Buckmaster, Illuminated Sea Press 

JURIED EXHIBITIONS 

2018 Maine Museum of Photographic Arts Contemporary Portraiture

2015  Waterfall Arts Clifford Gallery, Belfast, ME Fermentation Show 

Betts Gallery, Belfast, ME Spring Show 

Featured artist, InspireFirst Online Journal
2014 Limner Gallery (Slow Art Magazine), Hudson, MA Strange Figurations
Featured artist, Escape Into Life Online Journal 

Betts Gallery, Belfast, ME Holiday Show

2013 Aarhus Gallery, Belfast, ME Heart
2012 Primo Piano Livin Gallery, Lecce Italy Gaia Celestial Fragments 

Featured artist on FocusMaine.com 

Aarhus Gallery, Botany of Desire 

Radius Show 

Statewide Juried Virtual Showcase Artist maineartscene.com Blue Marble Gallery, Waterville, ME 

EDUCATION 

1984 University of Southern Maine, BFA Franconia College, Franconia, NH 

Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA 

WORK HISTORY 

1992-97 Goldsmith, Thomas Michaels Designers, William Richie Designs, Camden, ME 1991-92 Production Staff, Wooden ‘Americana’ Objects, Kevin White Designs, Hope, ME 1980-85 Hand-Painter, Heritage Metal Craft, Windham, ME
1983-85 Pottery Glazer, Andersen Design 

1996 – 2018 Dancer, Stella Dance Theatre and Women’s Works, Belfast, ME
1973 – 1996 Member, Boston Ballet Company, Ram Island Dance Company, Portland Ballet Company (Portland, ME) 

https://www.instagram.com/jproudman.art/

https://www.facebook.com/JoanProudman.art

https://joan-proudman.squarespace.com/ 
 

Kathryn Dunlevie says os 'Syncopated Spaces', "This work has been inspired by ideas from contemporary physics. To illustrate the actual, though visually imperceptible, make-up of matter I have employed the hard edges of collage. Integrating intact images with mosaic-like passages of small shards of photographs has created the impression of surfaces stripped away to reveal a magnified view of what actually exists underneath. 

Merging this technique with the photographic deconstructing and reassembling of contemporary scenes, I have accented interwoven large scale perspectives with glimpses of the infinitesimal - telescoping and reverse telescoping back and forth through time, and inward and outward through space."

Kathryn Dunlevie is a photography-based artist whose work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and internationally.

Cathy Kimball, Executive Director of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, writes of Dunlevie’s work:

"Through brilliant compositional detail and manipulation, she creates disconcerting, surprising, inexplicable spaces and scenarios – swimming pools that have many points of entry, cloisters with multiple arched domes, streetscapes that elude mapmakers, and interior settings that are almost, but not quite, right."

Born on the east coast, Dunlevie lived in six different states by the time she was 12, and in Paraguay when she was 16. She has a B.A. in fine arts from Rice University, and studied art history and film at the University of Paris, painting at California College of the Arts, and photography in Madrid. She lives in Palo Alto.

Dunlevie has received numerous awards and fellowships, including two Arts Council Silicon Valley Artist Laureate Fellowships. Her work has been exhibited at FotoFest International since 2002, at the Pingyao International Photography Festival in China, at Studio Thomas Kellner in Germany, in the US Art in Embassies Program in Moscow and in Saatchi Arts’ Best of 2014.

Her work has been reviewed in Spain’s La Fotografia Actual, Korea’s photo + and Germany’s Profifoto, as well as in The New York Times, Camerawork: A Journal of Photographic Arts, Photo Metro, Artweek, and Artlies.

Highlights of Career:

Eight solo exhibitions at FotoFest International (Houston) (2002 - 2018)

Included in China's PingYao International Photography Festival (2017)

Included in Saatchi Art's "BEST of 2014"

Reviewed in Korea's Photo+ magazine, (2013)

Included in "Parallax Views", San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, California (2013)

 Chosen four times for Germany's  Photographers Network Selection (2006-2013)

Included the US Art in Embassies Program in Moscow (2012) 

Two time Arts Council Silicon Valley Artist Laureate Fellow with cash awards and solo exhibitions at the Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California (2001 and 2005)

Included in "Fresh Work IV: Actualities", Southeast Museum of Photography, Florida (2004)

Included in "Timekeepers", San Francisco Camerawork,  San Francisco, California (2000)

www.kathryndunlevie.com
 

Lyudmila Zotova says, "Living between two cultures (Russia and America), as well as moving up and down the West Coast throughout most of my twenties has influenced what I choose to photograph. Observing anything in its element, whether it's an inanimate object or a living thing often gives me a significant moment of peace and clarity. The variances of subtlety captured in a frame is a driving force for how I shoot images. My photos are shot on film.

I'm a photographer and photo producer currently living and working in Portland, OR and am originally from Petropavlvask-Kamchtaskii, Russia. I graduated from the Art Institute in Orange County in 2012 and after assisting various photographers and shooting mostly food and drink commercially for several years, I switched gears and moved to Portland. The change in scenery, as well as keeping my connection to Southern California, inspired me to shoot more personal work.

Most recently I was featured in Oranbeg Press's What Will Suffice book, curated by Tim Carpenter.

In 2014 and 2015, I shot two travel books on Los Angeles for Emons-Verlag Publishing."

www.lyudmilazotova.com
ig. @lyudmilazotova

Malcolm Squire says, "Immersed in the fine art world from a young age, I have been practicing film photography for over a decade.

My early exposure to art can be largely attributed to my father, an architecture professor and practicing fine artist. In high school, my father gifted me a Lomography Fisheye camera that I promptly began carrying with me everywhere I went.

Later that year, he encouraged me to take a darkroom photography class, offering me the camera he himself had used at my age. I did so and soon became enthralled with the process, eventually pursuing an art minor entirely focused on darkroom photography while attending the University of Minnesota.

Habitually observant, it didn't take long for photography to feel entirely natural to me. I am often remarking on glimpses of everyday oddities, brief moments that stand out from the rest. With film photography, I am able to slow down time and isolate these moments from their contextual surroundings. The result creates an unusual world, one that feels both alien and familiar, distant yet within reach."

Malcolm Squire is a film photographer and multimedia artist based in South San Francisco, California. Malcolm was born and raised in Ames, Iowa, by his loving parents, Martha and Mitchell, and older sister, Alexa. Malcolm attended the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, where he received his Bachelor's degree in Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering while pursuing an Art minor.

After graduating, Malcolm moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he has resided for the past four years. Malcolm has continued practicing film photography in his free time while working full time as a process engineer in fermentation research. Malcolm plans to return to school in the fall of 2019 to pursue a degree in cinema and film production, with aspirations of developing a career as a cinematographer.
 

Marcie Rich says, "I work in San Francisco. I need to escape being one of a million people in a 46 square mile space.

Once a month, I drive away to somewhere else, take my clothes off, and shoot a portrait. Sometimes I'm in a yurt, sometimes I'm hiking in the desert, and sometimes I'm staying somewhere posh. Anywhere but here."

2017/2018 Highlights:

Print and Electronic Exhibition:

2018, Galerie Sehnsucht, Rotterdam, Wunderkammer

2018, Lightbox-Photographic Gallery, Astoria, OR, The Photographic Nude 

2018, ph21 Gallery, Budapest, Staged

2017, L.A. Photo Curator: Boundaries

2017, The Passporte Art Space: Passporte Prize for Surreal Photography

2017, Burn Diary: Week 131

2017, Non-Fiction Gallery, Art Rise Savannah, The Personal is Political

2017, LightBox-Photographic Gallery, Astoria, OR, The Photographic Nude

2017, Square Magazine Special Issue SP7: Instagram

2017, ph21 Gallery, Budapest, Feminine/Masculine

Bound Publication:

2018, Blur Magazine, Issue 60

2018, LoosenArt Conceptual (Italy)

2017, Blur Magazine, Issue 54 (Croatia)

2017, Femme Fotale Volume IV: Leafless (USA
 

Mario Karlovcec says, "Anja is finishing her painting studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. She writes poetry, paints and plays flute. In her world she creates art that shines with calmness. She often uses name Sanja, which in Slovenian means "she is dreaming".

Mario Karlovcec (1987), was born in Croatia. He has PhD in Computer Science and works in a Machine Learning laboratory. In 2017 he enrolled into Photography Department of Higher School for Applied Sciences (VIST) in Ljubljana.

In 2019 he was featured in Analog Magazine https://www.analogmagazine.ch/mario_karlovcec.html
 

My name is Nils Karlson. Sometimes I live in a camper van, but most of the time I live in a house with my wife, a dog and four cats. When I leave the house or the camper van, I like to be by myself with a camera or take along my dog. Though I do not remember the incident, reliable resources confirm I was born 1975 in Düsseldorf / Germany. Now residing in Bochum / Germany, which is awfully far away from the Atlantic Ocean, whose expanse feels like my true soul place.

Recent career highlights include a body of work created during the six weeks of the Listhus Artist Residency program in Iceland, November and December 2018, being represented Thurmanovich Gallery, and having my works exhibited in Germany, Spain, UK and Wales, Hungary, USA, and Mexico. Also, I am excited about being shortlisted for Espy Photo Awards. Making two books so far – Earth Stands Still and Eyes Like Slumber – is on my list when it comes to career highlights, too.

This selection for Lost At Sea is part of an ongoing series titled Earth Stands Still. The concept behind Earth Stands Still is based on the term Bardo, as mentioned in The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Bardo can be translated as an intermediate state, originally describing the transition of existence between two earthly lives: The state after physical death and before rebirth. But isn’t the Bardo is omnipresent?

Aren’t we always in a state of transcendence, an existence without beginning or end? These questions found an answer in my love for the vastness of the ocean: The horizon is in constant motion – no matter how far we sail, we never reach the end. In many cultures, the horizon used to mark the end of the (known) world, a natural border. But…there is no border, no abyss, no end. Maybe a human needs the chance to get lost in such space once in a lifetime to gain some perspective. As we are part of the expanse, and the expanse is part of us – when we find us in the expanse and the expanse in us, we may find equilibrium."

www.nils-karlson.com

www.instagram.com/nils.karlson

Thurmanovich
Gallery: www.thurmanovich.com/nils-karlson
 

Rodrigo Pinheiro says, "Photography came as a rescue. Before the camera is the performance, the self portrait and, paraphrasing a master of the juxtaposition between documentary and fiction, the dual imaginary function of cinema. Abbas Kiarostami wrote that he was after the reality behind the appearent reality. The performance is made while I forget it is a performance. I propose a re-signification of lived events, as if it were possible to fabricate a change of consciousness."

Born and raised in the city of Rio de Janeiro, he graduated in cinema and co-directed two feature documentaries with Raquel Couto. His work comprises experimental shorts, film essays and photography. In April 2018 he self-published the photobook "Tornaras" with a limited edition of 100 copies.

The photobook had a special release in SP-Arte/Foto and won several awards, including "Best Portfolio Award" at the Festival Fotorio Resiste 2018 and was selected as one of the 7 best photobooks by Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS) and ZUM Magazine. Idealized, with Ton Zaranza and Rochelle Guimarães, the independent publishing house “Chorona”, dedicated to photography and literature. Since then they travel to publishing fairs and festivals.

Career Highlights 2019, Invited to exhibit the portfolio in a show during the Foto em Pauta, in Tiradentes, MG

2018, Tornaras's photobook is selected as one of the 7 best photobooks of the year by Revista ZUM and Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS)
2018, “Best Portfolio Award” at the Festival Fotorio Resiste 2018. The prize will be a solo exhibition during the festival next year at Galeria Oriente, RJ

2018, "Best Portfolio Award" at Ateliê da Imagem, 2018. The prize will be a solo exhibition opening on june, 2019
2018, Selected and exhibited at the Helsinki Photo Festival
2018, Group Exhibition “Fotografia Arte Plural” at Galeria Icon, Fábrica Bhering, Rio de Janeiro
2018, photobook Tornaras is published in Feira Plana, São Paulo. It will be part of the SP-ARTE / FOTO with Editora Madalena


http://rdrgpnhr.com/

Rose is 22 years old and from Shanghai and San Francisco. Having
graduated from University of San Francisco for BFA in painting with a focus in anatomy and organic matter, she is now studying at Savannah College of Art and Design for MFA in photography.

Through her work, she aims to showcase her Asian America heritage as well as explore immersive therapy as a means to mental escape and healing.

Samantha Schwann says, "There is no other moment where I feel truly alive, than when I am in the water with sharks. 

 In our daily lives, we spend so much time and effort to assuage vulnerability – which has allowed our species to survive and thrive, of course.  We have many inventions to protect us: Inventions to prevent injury, to prevent isolation, to meet our need for growth and success.I’ve dived with 21 species of shark, all peaceful encounters without a cage – and while there’s no fear, there is healthy respect.  

Being in the water with them is like nothing else, as you have to be 100% in the moment and completely focused.  While they are not mindless eating machines depicted in the movies, they are wary of humans and can range from shy, to curious, to commanding.  However - vulnerability is a gift, it is where the magic happens, and for me as an artist, is an environment I seek out rather than avoid. 

The Mako shark has recently been listed as endangered, and the image was shot off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  Despite their appearance, they are a delight to photograph – extremely inquisitive animals, and very attracted to the electrical impulses given off by the camera.  The Mako is a marvel of physiological achievement – possessing “superhero” senses, capable of bursts of speed up to 18 meters per second, and able to breach 20 feet into the air. 

They are extremely intelligent, developing preferences for researchers who showed kindness. 10-20 million Blue sharks are killed each year, through by-catch, longlining, or direct to support the fin trade.   When you are in the water with them, they are intrigued by their reflections in the camera dome, investigating with all of their senses.   Some are shy, some are a bit more inquisitive, but it seems they like to show off their speed and agility.  Although a respect as they are wild animals, there is no fear, only delight to share a moment with these incredible animals. 

For me these are the moments where I feel most alive and at the essence of who I truly am. I feel human, safe yet alive, in the moment and in my flow.  These images reflect these moments." 

Samantha Schwann is a Canadian photographic artist based out of Oro Valley, Arizona.  Interested in images with a somewhat minimalistic view, her work typically includes elements of imperfection or transience.   She is inspired by photographers who have blended art and conservation, as a thoughtful approach to an increasingly important global conversation.  

Her project “Hope Spots” examines ecologically unique areas of the ocean designated for protection under a global conservation plan, specifically those which serve as important sanctuary for shark.  Her work has been featured online by National Geographic, as well as receiving two international awards in 2018.  She exhibits in the USA and internationally, and is an avid speaker on ocean conservation.

www.samanthaschwann.com
 

Curator Michael Behlen's review: 
"I selected Lost as Sea as the title for this exhibition because the sea has had a great effect on me over the years and its imagery is easily applicable to all sorts of situations and dilemmas. The dilemma I have been pondering the most recently has been our constant bombardment by all things electronic and how that affects us on a personal, emotional, and spiritual level. It is my personal belief that our relationship to electronic conveniences and relationships have left us marooned on an island made up of likes, shares, website metrics. One of the ways we, as photographers, escape from being stranded on the internet is through our art. Photography allows us to see past the feelings of digital isolation into the calm seas of self-expression and community. 

In my original prompt, I asked photographers to show us images that represent the places, people, activities, and things that help you escape from the daily hustle and allow you to live peacefully on your own personal island.

The winning image, The Blue Locker by Sarah Manriquez, did exactly the opposite of this. Her image shows us the panic we should all be feeling in today’s world where it is easy to feel a drowning sensation with the overwhelming flow of social media being inhaled in with our every breath. With her powerful submission, she broke the rules of what we were asking photographers to submit as all artists should, and I think it’s a great example to live by. So go breathe in a new mentality by breaking societies current rules of our digital prison by logging off, signing out, and tuning out all the things that are creating your digital isolation."

Behlen says to Sarah Manriquez,
"Your image is POWERFUL. Considering you submitted it to the Lost At Sea exhibition, can you tell us more about what this image means and represents to you?"

Sarah Manriquez says, "“The Blue Locker” is a part of a series of images from a dream sequence that accompanies a screenplay called “Fear Me” written by a colleague of mine, Kelsey Charlie. The dream world is one of mystery, magic and often chaos; leading us on incredible adventures through the subconscious mind. This psychological thriller discusses the self-fulfilling prophecies we create for ourselves and how they manifest subconsciously through our dreams and come to life.

Our main character, Wayne, who is depicted in the image knows he is falling asleep. He drifts between this unknown place and his bedroom. Every time he drifts to the unknown place he is
overcome with the feeling of terror. Unable to wake himself he sinks deeper into the dream where is submerged underwater and drowning. He gasps for air, thrusting and fighting against the weight of the water above him. He sees a figure looming overhead and an immense pressure around his neck.

He tries to wake himself up again, “This is just a dream.” He grows weaker and weaker, sinking further and further into the blue abyss. His world fades to black.
Wayne skyrockets out of his bed from a dead slumber to panicked frenzy, dripping, gasping for air, yanking the collar of his t-shirt as far from his neck as possible.  “It was just a dream, it was just a dream,” he mutters to himself repeatedly as he catches his breath. Or was it?

He wipes the sweat from his brow, his whole body is soaking wet. As Wayne leans back into bed and relaxes, he lets the weight of his body begin to settle. But, he seems to be laying in a pool of water on his mattress. His whole bed is soaking wet too. The skin on his fingertips pruney and his bedroom smells of rotting plants at the lake."

Behlen says, "We are constantly bombarded by electronic notifications, emails, and social media that seems to choke the life out of us. Can you share with us how you personally escape from these pressures?"

Manriquez says, "I work as a social media manager for several organizations as well as manage my own work too so the pressure is definitely on. Creating and abiding by healthy clear boundaries is crucial for me. Two social media laws I have created for myself are as follows:
1) Always Set a Time Limit: Part of what makes social media such an issue is that it’s a time suck. We scroll through our seemingly endless feeds and after two cute cat videos and several memes, the next thing we know we have been transported an hour into the future when we only initially meant to check a single notification. I set a time limit for myself and have a list of goals that I want to accomplish in that time limit. Staying focused and keeping the task at hand present during my allotted social media time keeps me focused on my goals and not overwhelmed or overburdened my social media.
2) Never aimlessly scroll out of boredom: I never, ever, ever scroll my feeds aimlessly out of boredom or procrastination. I make a great effort not to be a slave to my email or social media platforms. I schedule a time to work through what I need to do and outside of those times, I am free from those burdens."

Behlen says "If you would do a thought-experiment and describe how the photographic world and community would exist today if social media was never invented? How would you envision our community as artists? Would it be for the better or for the worse?"

Manriquez says, "Oof, I love this question but it’s definitely tough. I recently took a History of Photography class at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. One thing that stood out to me most was how connected the photography community was, how fast news traveled from one city to the next and the efforts that were put forth to share the work that was being made even during the mid-1800s to advance the field.

We are so incredibly connected in this day and age. And, photography becomes increasingly competitive with every single day that progress and accessibility to cameras grows. The more connected we become to each other through social media and the internet, I find that many everyday photographers in the local markets are concerned about competition and tend to work in silos in fear their secrets may cause them to lose their competitive edge.

With all the superficial sharing that is often done on social media, I can’t help but wonder if there would be more genuine sharing community. With that said, I have had the absolute pleasure of finding pockets of this type of sharing but it usually is found unexpectedly."

Additional review by curator Steve Zmak:
"The darkness, the panic, the struggle—these emotions come flooding through in this image that illustrates the Lost at Sea theme with power. Anyone who has ever felt the panic and loss of control of drowning will be instantly moved by this piece."
Steve Zmak
SteveZmak.com


 Additional review by curator Ellen Wallenstein:
"Drowning, dancing, dreaming; a clothed figure underwater breathing out what could be their last breath. The deep blue-blackness around the figure envelopes it, despite particles of light that sparkle from the mouth and on the right side of the image. It seems like they are crying out for help, but there is No Exit. I would re-title this Ouze River Blues (referencing Virginia Woolf’s drowning place)."
Ellen Wallenstein
www.ellenwallenstein.com
 

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