THE HANDMADE TALE- Debra Achen & Diana H. Bloomfield > Honorable Mention: Matt Connors - Rue des Chapeliers, Natalie Obermaier- Pasha, Orin Rutchick - Boys, Teri Figliuzzi - Renew & Nicola-Hackl-Haslinger- The Invitation II
Honorable Mention: Matt Connors - Rue des Chapeliers, Natalie Obermaier- Pasha, Orin Rutchick - Boys, Teri Figliuzzi - Renew & Nicola-Hackl-Haslinger- The Invitation II
Matt Connors/ Rue des Chapeliers
Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Matt Connors says, "I have a need to create. I have no real talent to draw, or paint, or sculpt, or sing, or play an instrument, or write a poem, or write a work of fiction. I can, however, photograph, and through photography satisfy my need to create. I usually photograph the natural world out of a deep appreciation for it, and because I'd rather be outside in beautiful places than in a studio.
I agree with what Robert Adams said in his wonderful essay "Beauty in Photography" - "successful art rediscovers Beauty for us". Perhaps it is not in vogue for art to be about beauty, and certainly there are many worthy and worthwhile art projects that express insight into the human condition or what is going on in our world.
My hat is off to those artists, yet I do not seek to emulate them. I simply seek to rediscover Beauty. I believe there is a place for Beauty in the world, and that if more of us spent more time feeling the wonder, awe, appreciation and humility one feels when one brushes one's fingertips against Beauty, we'd live in a better world."
Matt Connors is an American photographer residing in Carmel, CA. His work explores our relationship to the natural world and celebrates the beauty therein.
Matt’s earlier work is all digital, but since 2019 he has been working almost exclusively with alternative processes, specifically palladium and cyanotype printing.
His work has been displayed in galleries across the US and is in the collection of the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula as well as numerous private collections.
Images for Sale-
Rue des Chapeliers - 5 x 71/2”
Toned Cyanotype
Watercolor Paper
Edition 3/20
Numbered and signed verso
$450 unframed
Pont Valentre - 5 x 7 1/2
Toned Cyanotype
Watercolor Paper
Edition 2/20
Numbered and signed verso
$450 unframed
Puente de Triana
Toned Cyanotype
Watercolor Paper
Edition 2/10
Numbered and signed verso
$450 unframed
Contact: Matt Connors mattconnorsphotography@gmail.com
www.mattconnorsphotography.com
I agree with what Robert Adams said in his wonderful essay "Beauty in Photography" - "successful art rediscovers Beauty for us". Perhaps it is not in vogue for art to be about beauty, and certainly there are many worthy and worthwhile art projects that express insight into the human condition or what is going on in our world.
My hat is off to those artists, yet I do not seek to emulate them. I simply seek to rediscover Beauty. I believe there is a place for Beauty in the world, and that if more of us spent more time feeling the wonder, awe, appreciation and humility one feels when one brushes one's fingertips against Beauty, we'd live in a better world."
Matt Connors is an American photographer residing in Carmel, CA. His work explores our relationship to the natural world and celebrates the beauty therein.
Matt’s earlier work is all digital, but since 2019 he has been working almost exclusively with alternative processes, specifically palladium and cyanotype printing.
His work has been displayed in galleries across the US and is in the collection of the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula as well as numerous private collections.
Images for Sale-
Rue des Chapeliers - 5 x 71/2”
Toned Cyanotype
Watercolor Paper
Edition 3/20
Numbered and signed verso
$450 unframed
Pont Valentre - 5 x 7 1/2
Toned Cyanotype
Watercolor Paper
Edition 2/20
Numbered and signed verso
$450 unframed
Puente de Triana
Toned Cyanotype
Watercolor Paper
Edition 2/10
Numbered and signed verso
$450 unframed
Contact: Matt Connors mattconnorsphotography@gmail.com
www.mattconnorsphotography.com
Natalie Obermaier/Pasha
Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Natalie Obermaier says “‘Coalescing’, is a series of hand-cut collages made in response to the incessant onslaught of mass media and pressures of mainstream beauty standards found within.
Women’s fashion magazines in particular stand at a crossroads of cult, consumerism and the unattainable image. By re-appropriating and deconstructing those glossy pages something truer, hand-made and authentic can be expressed. The resulting juxtapositions seek to remind one of the visual and psychological manipulations abound in advertising while also creating a new dialogue in response.
Coalescing manipulates the manipulated as both rebuttal to the aesthetic pressures of advertising and as reclamation of the human image to speak a deeper truth by reflecting a more personable and representative spirit of self.
Using found images pays homage to both of the original subjects and photographers but also appropriates their likenesses in order to remix the meanings and messages; weaving my own narrative out of many others. These original images often provide a scripted institutional display of inclusion and diversity that ultimately commodifies the Other and their bodies instead of demolishing and addressing the structures that underpin them. I strive to challenge the illusions of glamor and the desires they project and provoke ways of seeing that both duplicate and redirect their associated realities. To question what is considered “normal,” both the visible and invisible boundaries built around us, and refocus our eyes to see beyond the carefully crafted constructs that make up our current experiences.”
After graduating magna cum laude from Philadelphia’s Drexel University with a degree in Photography, L.A. based artist Natalie Obermaier moved to Seattle where she worked alongside acclaimed photographer, Jock Sturges. Working in the darkroom five days a week for three years under his guidance, she mastered the craft of black and white photographic printing, while also acting as his studio manager and model. Following this intensive immersion into large format black and white photography, she traveled extensively, discovering her own voice as an artist.
Her early bodies of work in black and white film are soulful and classic, showing a natural and deep connection with the people she photographs. In addition to her black and white work, in 2012 the artist began taking a photograph every day for 365 days of the year, using multiple formats, from film to iPhone. The results were printed and exhibited at the end of each year for three consecutive years as immersive installations.
When she isn’t lighting sets for Mark Seliger, David La Chapelle and other commercial photographers, she continues to explore her own visual vocabulary and exhibit her work around the country.
www.natalieobermaier.com
http://instagram.com/kobramaier
Women’s fashion magazines in particular stand at a crossroads of cult, consumerism and the unattainable image. By re-appropriating and deconstructing those glossy pages something truer, hand-made and authentic can be expressed. The resulting juxtapositions seek to remind one of the visual and psychological manipulations abound in advertising while also creating a new dialogue in response.
Coalescing manipulates the manipulated as both rebuttal to the aesthetic pressures of advertising and as reclamation of the human image to speak a deeper truth by reflecting a more personable and representative spirit of self.
Using found images pays homage to both of the original subjects and photographers but also appropriates their likenesses in order to remix the meanings and messages; weaving my own narrative out of many others. These original images often provide a scripted institutional display of inclusion and diversity that ultimately commodifies the Other and their bodies instead of demolishing and addressing the structures that underpin them. I strive to challenge the illusions of glamor and the desires they project and provoke ways of seeing that both duplicate and redirect their associated realities. To question what is considered “normal,” both the visible and invisible boundaries built around us, and refocus our eyes to see beyond the carefully crafted constructs that make up our current experiences.”
After graduating magna cum laude from Philadelphia’s Drexel University with a degree in Photography, L.A. based artist Natalie Obermaier moved to Seattle where she worked alongside acclaimed photographer, Jock Sturges. Working in the darkroom five days a week for three years under his guidance, she mastered the craft of black and white photographic printing, while also acting as his studio manager and model. Following this intensive immersion into large format black and white photography, she traveled extensively, discovering her own voice as an artist.
Her early bodies of work in black and white film are soulful and classic, showing a natural and deep connection with the people she photographs. In addition to her black and white work, in 2012 the artist began taking a photograph every day for 365 days of the year, using multiple formats, from film to iPhone. The results were printed and exhibited at the end of each year for three consecutive years as immersive installations.
When she isn’t lighting sets for Mark Seliger, David La Chapelle and other commercial photographers, she continues to explore her own visual vocabulary and exhibit her work around the country.
www.natalieobermaier.com
http://instagram.com/kobramaier
Orin Rutchick/Boys
Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Orin Rutchick says, "Of all the alternative processes, cyanotype is the simplest. The chemicals required are relatively inexpensive and non-toxic, and their ease of use make the process perfect for grade school classes and art fairs. My work expands the horizon of traditional Prussian Blue cyanotypes through the use of multiple exposures and specialized processing techniques to achieve a spectrum of colors, and elevates the standard cyanotype well beyond shades of blue.
In my process, I employ many of the same skills I have learned in analog photography, digital printing and graphic design. It begins with multiple images of the same subject created from film, digital or graphic file sources. I adjust the analog film scans or digital files in Photoshop. I duplicate layers, increase contrast, and reduce densities to produce multiple large format negatives that are registered and printed in multiple sensitized layers with varied exposure times and final processing techniques. The resulting images present a range of colors and tones that transforms the traditional blue cyanotype to something unique."
www.PrussianBlue.Design
http://www.instagram.com/orutchick
------------------------------------------------
TO VIEW ADDITIONAL HONORABLE MENTIONS:
CLICK ON ARROW AT TOP OF PAGE
(IF VIEWING ON COMPUTER)
IF VIEWING ON PHONE SCROLL DOWN.
In my process, I employ many of the same skills I have learned in analog photography, digital printing and graphic design. It begins with multiple images of the same subject created from film, digital or graphic file sources. I adjust the analog film scans or digital files in Photoshop. I duplicate layers, increase contrast, and reduce densities to produce multiple large format negatives that are registered and printed in multiple sensitized layers with varied exposure times and final processing techniques. The resulting images present a range of colors and tones that transforms the traditional blue cyanotype to something unique."
www.PrussianBlue.Design
http://www.instagram.com/orutchick
------------------------------------------------
TO VIEW ADDITIONAL HONORABLE MENTIONS:
CLICK ON ARROW AT TOP OF PAGE
(IF VIEWING ON COMPUTER)
IF VIEWING ON PHONE SCROLL DOWN.
Teri Figliuzzi/ Renew
Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Teri Figliuzzi says, "A compulsive gatherer, I have a fascination and obsession with organic forms.
Fields, gardens, forests, lakes and oceans welcome me and accept me. They feed my soul with tranquility and peace, and give my eyes and mind the gift of color and beauty beyond our human world.
Nature’s growth and rebirth are an ever present reminder to try again and move forward. With my hands, I compose foliage fragments of flowers, petals, leaves, to create phytograms on film using a plant based developer.
This technique and the process of backing with silver and gold leaf is used to elevate, honor and celebrate the beauty of the unnoticed, forgotten, and discarded.
Working with plant materials in this manner preserves the memories of moments surrounded by unmatched beauty and strength.
It has brought me much joy, and a deep appreciation for the perseverance of nature and its healing power. My work brings focus to all stages of life both tangible and ethereal."
Teri Figliuzzi combines her passions for textiles, color, and alternative processes in photography to create cyanotypes, lumen prints, and phytograms producing work that emphasizes a ‘touched by hand’ approach.
Process and technique exploration is central in her work, often combining weaving, stitching, or gold and silver leafing in the finished images.
Using botanicals, seaweed and organic materials as her subject matter, she brings awareness to the fragile, discarded, and unnoticed in life.
Juried group shows include Center for Fine Art Photography “In Context: 30 Over 50” in 2020 and “In Conversation with the Land” 2021, a Lucie Foundation “Notions from Home” 2021 Category Winner, the Curators Choice Award from the Praxis Gallery “The Artist Intervenes” 2021 exhibit, Rfotofolio Open Call Merit Award 2022, All About Photo Magazine #33 Nature 2nd place 2023, Soho Photo Gallery “National Competition 2022 and 2023 ”, Photo Place "Botanical 2023", the Center of Photographic Art "2023 Members’ Juried Exhibition", and The Griffin Museum Members Show in 2024.
She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Textile Design and resides in New York City where she continues her education in the arts.
Images for sale:
Medium:Archival pigment print on vellum, backed with silver and gold leaf
Image size: 12.5”H x 10”W
Sheet size: 18.5”H x 12.5”W
Framed size: 20”H x 16”W
Edition: 10 + 2AP
Price: $750. unframed
Signed: at very bottom of print in pencil
Contact: Teri Figliuzzi terifigliuzzi@gmail.com
www.terifigliuzzi.com
www.instagram.com/terifigliuzzi
Fields, gardens, forests, lakes and oceans welcome me and accept me. They feed my soul with tranquility and peace, and give my eyes and mind the gift of color and beauty beyond our human world.
Nature’s growth and rebirth are an ever present reminder to try again and move forward. With my hands, I compose foliage fragments of flowers, petals, leaves, to create phytograms on film using a plant based developer.
This technique and the process of backing with silver and gold leaf is used to elevate, honor and celebrate the beauty of the unnoticed, forgotten, and discarded.
Working with plant materials in this manner preserves the memories of moments surrounded by unmatched beauty and strength.
It has brought me much joy, and a deep appreciation for the perseverance of nature and its healing power. My work brings focus to all stages of life both tangible and ethereal."
Teri Figliuzzi combines her passions for textiles, color, and alternative processes in photography to create cyanotypes, lumen prints, and phytograms producing work that emphasizes a ‘touched by hand’ approach.
Process and technique exploration is central in her work, often combining weaving, stitching, or gold and silver leafing in the finished images.
Using botanicals, seaweed and organic materials as her subject matter, she brings awareness to the fragile, discarded, and unnoticed in life.
Juried group shows include Center for Fine Art Photography “In Context: 30 Over 50” in 2020 and “In Conversation with the Land” 2021, a Lucie Foundation “Notions from Home” 2021 Category Winner, the Curators Choice Award from the Praxis Gallery “The Artist Intervenes” 2021 exhibit, Rfotofolio Open Call Merit Award 2022, All About Photo Magazine #33 Nature 2nd place 2023, Soho Photo Gallery “National Competition 2022 and 2023 ”, Photo Place "Botanical 2023", the Center of Photographic Art "2023 Members’ Juried Exhibition", and The Griffin Museum Members Show in 2024.
She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Textile Design and resides in New York City where she continues her education in the arts.
Images for sale:
Medium:Archival pigment print on vellum, backed with silver and gold leaf
Image size: 12.5”H x 10”W
Sheet size: 18.5”H x 12.5”W
Framed size: 20”H x 16”W
Edition: 10 + 2AP
Price: $750. unframed
Signed: at very bottom of print in pencil
Contact: Teri Figliuzzi terifigliuzzi@gmail.com
www.terifigliuzzi.com
www.instagram.com/terifigliuzzi
Nicola Hackl-Haslinger/ The Invitation II
Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Nicola Hackl-Haslinger says of ‘The Invitation’, 2024, “Everyday life, constantly enclosing us, holds a wealth of treasures, waiting for being discovered by us, perceived in a moment of silence. In times like these, it might seem quite a challenge to give in to this deeply felt yearning for harmony and see the beauty that surrounds us.
On walking through a landscape, my senses can open up to moments of exactly this beauty, often unheeded and lying in secret, notice them and give them artistic expression. Pressing the camera shutter button, which opens the lens shutter for the moment I choose, is comparable to the symbolic act of opening a portal. It is exactly this act that creates a link between the objectivity of the perceived and my subjective interpretation.
The word portal is derived from the Latin word porta, meaning door, gate and gateway. They all stand for a transition from the outside to the inside world.
As such, they can be regarded as entrances and exits and passages between the unknown to the known. In architecture portals can be found throughout the centuries, be it in palaces, cathedrals, castles etc.
They all are meant as invitation to enter and this inviting gesture is expressed in sculptural design and rich ornamentation, this underscoring the sanctity of the place, the transition from the mundane to the sacred.
Drawing upon this art historic inspiration, I attempt to open up a symbolic door for the beholder by way of sawing out and then three-dimensionally assembling a special picture element. It is brought to the fore by additional gilding in 24 carat - the purest form of this metal, thus creating a frame, a picture in the picture, in short: a portal.
Its intention is to create a thematic connection with the beholder and invite them to search for the translucent poetry in everyday life.”
Nicola Hackl-Haslinger (1974-) is a visual artist who lives and works in her native country of Austria. Her passion for photography started quite early, when at the age of five, she took her first photographs with an Agfamatic camera. She continued to hone her creative skills as a student at a higher vocational school for arts and crafts in Linz where she started taking photographs with a reflex camera.
Engaging in analog photography was a formative influence on the development of her artistic work. During this period, she also discovered a second passion, that of jewelry design, and after graduation, she started an apprenticeship as a goldsmith and silversmith.
She was awarded the Künstlerpunze or Artistic Hallmark in 1999 and worked independently as a jewelry maker until she chose to focus her energies on photography.
Nicola began advanced studies at the Prague School of Photography for Applied and Artistic Photography in Linz/Austria (Prager Fotoschule Österreich) from which she graduated with honors in 2011.
Her love of gold and other precious metals has continued, however, and Nicola often uses and combines different forms of it in the creation of her photographs.
Employing a variety of techniques and presentations, her work is regularly featured in both national and international exhibitions and magazines and is part of permanent collections in Austria and abroad.
In 2016 and 2018 she was nominated for the St. Leopold Peace Award for her photographic achievements. In 2023, she published her first monograph titled Beyond Time.
Series The Invitation, 2024 archival pigment ink transfer on aged aluminium
hand sawn, hand applied 24 carat gold
museum glass, museum board image size 15 x 15 cm, framed size 33 x 33 cm
signed, titled, dated, and editioned on verso
unique variants of 5.
Images are not for sale.
www.nhh.art
www.instagram.com/nicolahacklhaslingerart
-------------------------------------------
THE HANDMADE TALE HOME PAGE
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale
FIRST PLACE
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/first-place-frani-evedon-two-bags-packed-4/1
SECOND PLACE
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/second-place-charlotta-hauksdottir-reclamation-iv/1
HONORABLE MENTIONS
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/honorable-mention-matt-connors-rue-des-chapeliers-natalie-obermaier-pasha-orin-rutchick-boys-teri-figliuzzi-renew-nicola-hackl-haslinger-the-invitation-ii/1
BEST SERIES
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/best-series-linda-plaisted-kintsugi-altarpiece-series/1
EXHIBITION #1
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/exhibition-1/1
EXHIBITION #2
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/exhibition-2/1
EXHIBITION #3
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/exhibition-3/1
EXHIBITION #4
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/exhibition-4/1
EXHIBITION #5
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/exhibition-5/1
On walking through a landscape, my senses can open up to moments of exactly this beauty, often unheeded and lying in secret, notice them and give them artistic expression. Pressing the camera shutter button, which opens the lens shutter for the moment I choose, is comparable to the symbolic act of opening a portal. It is exactly this act that creates a link between the objectivity of the perceived and my subjective interpretation.
The word portal is derived from the Latin word porta, meaning door, gate and gateway. They all stand for a transition from the outside to the inside world.
As such, they can be regarded as entrances and exits and passages between the unknown to the known. In architecture portals can be found throughout the centuries, be it in palaces, cathedrals, castles etc.
They all are meant as invitation to enter and this inviting gesture is expressed in sculptural design and rich ornamentation, this underscoring the sanctity of the place, the transition from the mundane to the sacred.
Drawing upon this art historic inspiration, I attempt to open up a symbolic door for the beholder by way of sawing out and then three-dimensionally assembling a special picture element. It is brought to the fore by additional gilding in 24 carat - the purest form of this metal, thus creating a frame, a picture in the picture, in short: a portal.
Its intention is to create a thematic connection with the beholder and invite them to search for the translucent poetry in everyday life.”
Nicola Hackl-Haslinger (1974-) is a visual artist who lives and works in her native country of Austria. Her passion for photography started quite early, when at the age of five, she took her first photographs with an Agfamatic camera. She continued to hone her creative skills as a student at a higher vocational school for arts and crafts in Linz where she started taking photographs with a reflex camera.
Engaging in analog photography was a formative influence on the development of her artistic work. During this period, she also discovered a second passion, that of jewelry design, and after graduation, she started an apprenticeship as a goldsmith and silversmith.
She was awarded the Künstlerpunze or Artistic Hallmark in 1999 and worked independently as a jewelry maker until she chose to focus her energies on photography.
Nicola began advanced studies at the Prague School of Photography for Applied and Artistic Photography in Linz/Austria (Prager Fotoschule Österreich) from which she graduated with honors in 2011.
Her love of gold and other precious metals has continued, however, and Nicola often uses and combines different forms of it in the creation of her photographs.
Employing a variety of techniques and presentations, her work is regularly featured in both national and international exhibitions and magazines and is part of permanent collections in Austria and abroad.
In 2016 and 2018 she was nominated for the St. Leopold Peace Award for her photographic achievements. In 2023, she published her first monograph titled Beyond Time.
Series The Invitation, 2024 archival pigment ink transfer on aged aluminium
hand sawn, hand applied 24 carat gold
museum glass, museum board image size 15 x 15 cm, framed size 33 x 33 cm
signed, titled, dated, and editioned on verso
unique variants of 5.
Images are not for sale.
www.nhh.art
www.instagram.com/nicolahacklhaslingerart
-------------------------------------------
THE HANDMADE TALE HOME PAGE
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale
FIRST PLACE
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/first-place-frani-evedon-two-bags-packed-4/1
SECOND PLACE
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/second-place-charlotta-hauksdottir-reclamation-iv/1
HONORABLE MENTIONS
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/honorable-mention-matt-connors-rue-des-chapeliers-natalie-obermaier-pasha-orin-rutchick-boys-teri-figliuzzi-renew-nicola-hackl-haslinger-the-invitation-ii/1
BEST SERIES
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/best-series-linda-plaisted-kintsugi-altarpiece-series/1
EXHIBITION #1
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/exhibition-1/1
EXHIBITION #2
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/exhibition-2/1
EXHIBITION #3
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/exhibition-3/1
EXHIBITION #4
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/exhibition-4/1
EXHIBITION #5
https://laphotocurator.com/the-handmade-tale-debra-achen-diana-h-bloomfield/exhibition-5/1
