Dear Photons, WELCOME BACK!
I’m dee miller, Chair of Photography. If we haven’t met yet, please drop by my office on the third floor of Kinney Hall, room 349. You're receiving this email because:
you're a photography major, or
you're a photography minor, or
you're enrolled in a photography course this semester, or
you're a friend of photography (thank you!)
FRIDAY, 8/26, 11:00 AM, ROOM 309: WELCOME BACK TO FILM AND PHOTO PIZZA PARTY
Join us at 11:00 AM for a quick overview of the semester and to meet your colleagues, classmates and instructors for pizza and soda. Have fun making studio portraits with the Photo Collective. Meet us in Kinney Hall on the second floor, in the FILM area lounge space.
CAMPUS JOB OPPORTUNITY
If you're interested in working and getting to know the gear a little better, there may be opportunities to be an Equipment Room Technician or a PhotoBooth Monitor. Please reach out to our Photo/Film Facilities Manager for more information.
GET EYES ON YOUR WORK
Find photo contests and other photography related opportunities such as photography competitions and juried exhibitions in the C4E searchable directory. Use the categories to fine tune your search results. You can sign up as a photographer to receive submission tips and their newsletter.
Check out the calls for entry at LENSCRATCH, an online platform dedicated to supporting and celebrating the photographic arts and photographic artists through exposure, discussion, community collaboration, and education. Through grants, awards, exhibitions, and dedicated features, LENSCRATCH also seeks to uplift emerging and student artists who will be the next generation shaping the power and purpose of our medium.
FOCUS ON PHOTOGRAPHY
This year marks the in-person return of the FotoFocus Biennial. Now in its sixth iteration, the 2022 FotoFocus Biennial encompasses more than 100 projects at Participating Venues across Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Dayton, and Columbus, and features more than 600 artists, curators, and participants—the largest of its kind in America. Tim Rietenbach and I curated an exhibition, “1000 Miles Per Hour,” in CCAD’s Beeler Gallery that is part of the biennial. I’ll be sharing more information about it in the September Newsletter.
SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC EDUCATION, MIDWEST CONFERENCE, October 6 - 9
This year's theme highlights works concerned with the ebb and flow of social, political, and artistic trends and how these tropes and themes can return with differing focus and intensity. This conference and corresponding exhibitions focus on the incoming swell of ideas, explorations, and concerns of artists within the Midwest and how they see, process, and contextualize the recurrence and reemergence of social, political, and artistic tropes and trends in their own practices. In turn, this conference will serve as an artistic interpretation of world events / records from the perspective of artists from across the Midwest. Check out these opportunities:
LAB AND EQUIPMENT ACCESS
Equipment may be checked-out by authorized students starting on Tuesday, September 6. Please review the Studios, Labs and Equipment Guide for 2022-23. Scroll to the end of this email to see the FAQs.
JOIN THE PHOTO COLLECTIVE
Student collectives are clubs run by and for the students that enrich their curricular experiences with co-curricular pre-professional and social opportunities. If you have ideas for events, activities, and other programming, and if you have an interest in shared leadership, please reach out to the current Photo Collective leader for more information.
PACKARD LIBRARY E'TAYN CABRÓN!
CCAD's library, in the "garden-level" of Canzani, is an amazing resource for your creative research. Check out their collection of kits to teach yourself how to make, among other things, one-of-a-kind booklets and zines. And, if you talk to the librarians ahead of time to arrange it, you can view the rare artist's books in the collection.
FREE MUSEUM ADMISSION
Where do successful Art & Design professionals go to get inspiration and refill the creative well? We go to world class museums and galleries. Luckily, we have one in our front yard! Your CCAD ID gets you into the Columbus Museum of Art for free, and the Wexner Center for the Arts no longer charges admission. It's not only a beautiful, relaxing, and fun place to spend some time, but seeing and experiencing art on your own, outside of class, is one of the best ways to hold yourself accountable for your own learning.
PUBLIC HEALTH
Transmission of the novel coronavirus ebbs and flows with the seasons, and CCAD supports the personal decisions you make regarding whether or not to mask when indoors. Please continue washing your hands often, and well. CLICK HERE to read more about how the CDC has updated their recommendations for COVID-19.
Monkeypox is rapidly spreading in queer communities, especially among BIPOC MSM. It is rarely fatal, but can be painful and often results in 3-4 weeks of lost time. Please visit THIS PAGE to learn more about how it spreads, signs and symptoms, and how to mitigate your risk. Vaccine doses have been limited, but if you decide that vaccination may be the right choice for you, then check the COLUMBUS PUBLIC HEALTH WEBSITE to learn when you can reserve a spot in an upcoming vaccine clinic.
CAMPUS SAFETY
Just a reminder that there are NO CIRCUMSTANCES when you may bring a gun into any CCAD building. The CCAD Code of Student Conduct prohibits any student from possessing or using dangerous weapons including firearms and ammunition, as well as from causing harm to others or threats to the community. In order for students to participate in projects that may include a prop weapon(s), the student must follow a 3-week request process, details of which can be obtained from the Dean of Students.
HE / SHE / THEY / ZEE / ZIR …
Recently, some have asked why it is important to use the pronouns that people ask us to use, and others have even begun to meander down a pseudo-rhetorical pathway to make the claim that nonbinary genders are really just a different kind of binary. I think we can cool off the debate a bit by keeping in mind that we use the pronouns people tell us to use because that is how we respect each other. If you don’t get it, don’t worry about getting it. Instead, focus on treating the person in front of you with loving kindness by using the pronoun and name they tell you to use. If you make a mistake and use the wrong pronoun (or even the wrong name), don’t make it a big deal (it’s not about you!), accept being corrected or correct yourself, and move on. If I misgender you please correct me, and I will do the same for you.
WHAT ARE YOUR INPUTS?
When I first started teaching at CCAD, a student came to my office hours and, before she even told me her name, she said this: “I’m graduating soon and I heard I need to have a style to be successful. How do I get a style?” I said: “Well, what do you really care about?” She seemed confused by my response, so I pushed further. “What are the things you spend a lot of time thinking about, besides 'getting a style' to land a job? What issues do you follow? Which movies and TV shows do you watch? What do you read? Who do you spend most of your time with?”
The truth is that making Art & Design isn’t what you do after you have some genius idea. It’s how you develop an inkling into an insight. The ideas often emerge from making. Turning your creative imaginings into images requires lots of attempts (often with many failures along the way) and rigorous research. It sharpens your critical thinking, reasoning, and creative problem solving skills along the way. Whether you envision a career as a fine or commercial artist, taking an iterative approach to creating is your most potent tool for ideation. Thinking AND doing is what will set you apart.
As Jeffrey Saddoris puts it in his July 26 substack post (with a few tweaks to his words by me): “the world doesn’t need another Sally Mann, or whoever you happen to be comparing yourself to. The world needs you, your vision, your interpretations, your life experiences. When asked how to make more interesting photos, Jay Maisel responded, ‘Become a more interesting person.’ So how do you become a more interesting person? I think a lot of it is about input—art, music, movies, books—basically, anything that gets me asking questions. One of the things I’ve done for years is to look at the things that inspire the people who inspire me.” You can read or listen to the whole post, HERE.
DROP IT LIKE A THOTTY
I’ve always been an audiophile, and keeping up with new releases is one of my favorite “inputs.” I created THIS PLAYLIST for all of you, and I would love to learn more about what and who you’re listening to. Feel free to send yours may way. Just be aware that I always include the real (unsanitized) versions of songs – as the artists intended them to be heard – so consider listening on headphones or keep the volume lower in public (porque todos no apreciarán lo que le gusta el conejo malo, jaja!).
“CAUSE THEM KARENS JUST TURNED INTO TERRORISTS”
OK, obviously I’m living for Beyoncé’s newest album (the words above are lyrics from her collab with Beam in the song, “Energy”). But seriously, if you’ve been feeling like the political condition of our state and nation of late feels like a chapter from a Margaret Atwood novel, don’t despair. VOTE! If you’re not registered, the deadline for the November 8th general election is October 12. CLICK HERE to register to vote in Ohio.