First Annual Juried Spotlight Members’ Exhibition
Featuring work from Members: Sharon Bibeault, Angela Brown, Rick Catallozzi, John Femino, Marc Jaffe, Donald Johnson, Marky Kauffmann, Scott Lapham, Ralph Mercer, CE Morse, Paul Murray, Diana Cheren Nygren and Joe Rattie.
About the Exhibition: A different kind of juried member exhibition
This exhibition brings together a selection of work from our members to provide a more in-depth look at the photographers featured than a typical member show or call for entry generally allows. This exhibition is a result of the positive response from visitors to last year’s Second Annual Juried Member’s Exhibition.
This exhibition was conceived as a way to take a closer look at our members, either by exhibiting a larger selection of images from the included photographers or by providing the opportunity to present ideas that carry across a group of images. As a viewer I hope you enjoy this expanded look at the members featured and the different ways they assembled a selection of images to present an idea in a series. Consider how the series of images alters your perception of the single image…
I’m happy to have the opportunity to present the work of our members and celebrate their ability, commitment and the time invested to realize these ongoing projects. Sequence, editing and storytelling across a series of images are all elements beyond the capture process that I encourage you all to explore and constantly re-examine.
Local restrictions and health concerns related to COVID-19 prevented the planned opening of this as a traditional gallery exhibition in May. We were optimistic the situation would improve but have made the decision to present our First Annual Juried Spotlight Members’ Exhibition online and will be following up with a series of member profiles. I would like to take the time to thank all the members who submitted their work for consideration and for their patience with the delayed presentation while the situation evolved.
– David DeMelim, Managing Director, RI Center for Photographic Arts
Juror’s Statement: Jesse Burke
The very idea of judging photography is fraught with complication; it seems to acknowledge that some images and ideas are superior. Artists willingly put a lot at stake when deciding to embark on a life journey where your ideas are on constant trial. As an artist I know this concept all too well.
We are in moment of change. It is visible everywhere. We are constantly striving to understand the world around us and the people who inhabit these spaces, whether they be strangers or family. What rules the day is partisan politics, racial divides, environmental schisms, pro or con, right or wrong… I feel this, we all feel this. It’s exhausting. While looking over the various bodies of work submitted I kept coming back to a common theme: trying to put order to chaos. I felt relief, I felt hopeful. The works often spoke a similar language of sensitivity and compassion; as guiding forces to explain, understand and often come to terms with the disorder of the world. The portfolios were full of emotion and intimacy, concern and compassion. Henri Cartier-Bresson said, “It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart, and head.” I have deep admiration for Cartier-Bresson for many reasons, but this statement is at the top of my list. It is this very thinking that will allow us to mend the wounds that exist in the world. To love one another, the differences and similarities, to love the Earth, to be hopeful. This is a powerful guiding force from which to create art.
Thank you to RIPAC for trusting in my vision and allowing me to make a mark in the future of our medium. Thank you to all of the artists who submitted a part of their hearts and minds; we are truly brothers and sisters in arms in the battle to understand the complicated world we inhabit. – Jesse Burke
About Jesse Burke https://www.jesseburke.com/, Jesse Burke is a New England native and currently lives in Rhode Island with his wife and their three girls—Clover, Poppy, and Honey. Burke was the recent recipient of a RI State Council On The Arts Grant in May 2020. He received his MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in the US and abroad and is held in many private and public collections including the MoCP: Chicago, MFA: Boston, MFA: Houston, the North Carolina Museum of Art, and the RISD Museum. Jesse was named by Time Magazine as a top 50 US photographer to follow on Instagram and by T: The NYT Style Magazine as a top 5 to follow on Instagram. He is currently exhibiting as part of the Networks Rhode Island: Photography Exhibition 2020 at the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts.
First Annual Juried Spotlight Members’ Exhibition
Presenting work from Members: Sharon Bibeault, Angela Brown, Rick Catallozzi, John Femino, Marc Jaffe, Donald Johnson, Marky Kauffmann, Scott Lapham, Ralph Mercer, CE Morse, Paul Murray, Diana Cheren Nygren and Joe Rattie.
Exhibition: Presented Online – Summer 2020
Sharon Bibeault
I have never really considered myself to have a photojournalist approach to my work. I have always shied away from taking pictures of people because I never wanted the end result to look like it was staged or posed. I have photographed mostly landscapes, architecture and most recently mannequins. However, my life was changed at the end of 2019, my husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The day his battle began, of him having his port inserted into his chest and starting his chemo, I decided to document him.
My husband had no clue I was photographing him, but our boys did. The only photograph he knew I took was the one of the two of us laying down in bed together. I showed it to him a few days before his sudden and unexpected passing. This is my husband’s legacy, the last three months of his story. – Sharon Bibeault
Sharon M Thomas Bibeault Bio/ Resume
FaceBook: SM Thomas Bibeault Designs
Instagram: SM Thomas Bibeault Designs
Angela Brown
Artist Statement :
Generally speaking, I make photos of scenes or moments that excite me, or simply put … “make me feel”. They can be simple or they can be complex, but I’m looking for the feeling… I enjoy photographs that transport me from daily corporate life to a more tranquil and evocative place. That’s the feeling and experience I want people to have when they see my work. To be drawn in to another experience. – Angela C. Brown
Angela Brown Bio/Resume
Website: www.acbphotogallery.com www.acbrownphotography.com
Instagram: acbweb
Rick Catallozzi
My favorite place in Rhode Island to surf is Point Judith. It is a gentle wave that seems to roll on forever. The week Hurricane Dorian was off shore was like playing in the Super Bowl. I surfed perfect waves while onlookers of all ages watched with amazement. After getting out of the water, I decided to documented this event. It was great to see how exhilarating this day was for all involved. – Rick Catallozzi
Rick Catallozzi Bio/ Resume
Website: www.incognitoprints.com
Facebook: Incognitoprints
Instagram: rickcatphotography
John Femino
Artist Statement :
I don’t have a predetermined photographic vision that I seek to fulfill. I live on a farm and take photos during daily chores and walks. I don’t seek to take pretty pastoral scenes, and do not document routine farm activities. I’m sort of a documentary photographer of quiet inter-seasonal and intergenerational visual statements of being. Nothing spectacular – the trees, pond, beaver dam and stream are there all the time and it’s my job to pay attention when they become special.
I am attracted to and look forward to the possibility that today’s chores would yield something beyond ordinary. I seek to capture the farm’s song. I can feel it invade my body, come through my eyes and generate excitement that makes me want to do more. -John Femino
Website: Feminophoto.com
Marc Jaffe
Artist Statement:
In my travels as a street photographer, I often come across interesting personalities. At times, the situations and the subjects lend themselves more toward street portraits than candids — these five images represent a sample of that collection.
– Marc A. Jaffe
Marc Jaffe Bio/ Resume
Website: www.photojaffe.com
Facebook: @photojaffe
Donald Johnson
Artist Statement:
I have always been enamored with photographing trees. The enduring nature, striving upwards towards the heavens is an inspiration. There is an implied stoicism conveyed with just being there.
Clouds are a different matter. Rather than being enduring, they are transient, quickly changing second to second and minute to minute. Clouds can be ominous, whimsical, ethereal and everything in between. Revisit a tree, it will likely still be there; a cloud will be gone in a moment.
Combine the two, and you get at the heart of what I photograph: some form of juxtaposition. In these images I have tried to capture a moment of interplay between clouds and trees. – Donald P. Johnson
Donald P. Johnson Bio/ Resume
Website: www.dpj.photography
Marky Kauffmann
Why do I make landscapes? The answer is twofold. In part, I make landscapes because the outside world always seemed less dangerous than the inside world of my childhood. If I ever felt safe, it was outside. And partially, it’s because my grandmother created “landscapes” of a sort – beautiful flower arrangements – that captured my young imagination.
So I, too, make landscapes of a sort. These images begin as silver prints that I bleach with potassium ferricyanide, utilizing various tools such as brushes and funnels. The bleach allows me to create a unique world. Within these landscapes, I find peace, and great comfort. – Marky Kauffmann
Full Artist Statement: Landscapes and Prayers
Website: markykauffmannphotography.com
Facebook: MarkyKauffmann
Scott Lapham
“These digital images are made from landscape and traffic signal images I have taken during solo walks through a Providence. Rhode Island has pretty much emptied out each morning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our current reality is so surreal that the signals (traffic, news, facts) that I have traditionally used to ground my reality are not doing the job. I have needed to reinterpret these signals to find my own emotional relevance. — Scott Lapham
Scott Lapham is also part of RICPA’s ongoing presentation of photographers from the Networks Rhode Island project. You can find his feature in Scott Lapham: The NetWorksRI Photography Exhibition 2020
In October 2018 we ran the One Gun Gone: Thoughts & Prayers are Not Enough call for entries to raise awareness and funding for about Scott’s ongoing youth projects addressing gun violence.
Website: scottlaphamprojects.format.com
Ralph Mercer
Trained as an artist, BFA RISD, MFA Umass Dartmouth, I have practiced photography as a commercial photo-illustrator throughout my long career. Recently, I have devoted myself fully to fine art photography.
The primary subject of my work is the human body. The work juxtaposes the human figure with imagery captured in nature or created in the studio. Looking beyond the body’s visible exterior my photography is both literal and symbolic striving for evocative formal elegance. I explore the female body and its implied connections to the natural world and evolutionary imperatives. It is a metaphysical meditation that ponders the powerful, creative, and archetypal character of womanhood.
– Ralph Mercer
Website: www.ralphmercer.com
Facebook: @ralph.mercer
C E Morse
Years ago while a photo major @ RISD I used to frequent a classic car boneyard in Central Falls, RI. while looking through a series of shots I had taken I found I was always drawn to a certain shot that included the number 17. The number 17 had been stenciled on the side of a truck, then had been spray painted over, but over time the 17 had leached though the overpaint. I liked the way it looked texturally & compositionally, but realized it was the number itself that drew me to the image. I concluded that subliminally the number had significance.
Numbers are everywhere; they play an important part of our life: phone numbers, addresses, lucky numbers, dates, etc.. Everything, it seems, can be explained mathematically; numbers are our life. So I started to collect images of numbers …
– C E Morse
CE Morse Bio/ Resume
Website: www.cemorsephoto.com
Facebook: @cemorse
Paul Murray
As a travel photographer, I have spent many years in all parts of Cuba and have gotten to know many Cubans well. My selection of these five images represents my sampling of Cubans across generations who have experienced La Revolucion. Given their ages, all of them have lived their lives during one or more phases of this epic experiment in what may be called communism or socialism depending on your leanings and the times. – Paul Murray
As a travel, nature, and event photographer, Paul Murray ventures often well beyond the pathways of others in his journeys. His work reflects the reality and character of what intrigues him emphasizing color, light, and gesture. Influenced by a blend of his lifelong interests in art, nature, technology, aviation, urban life, and societal change, his images communicate challenges, dreams, achievements, sorrows, and mystery.
Paul Murray Bio/ Resume
Website: www.harmonicthreads.com
Facebook: pmmurray
Diana Cheren Nygren
Surroundings play a dominant role in shaping experience. I treasure the city and try to make space for quiet contemplation within it. Born out of three ongoing series, this series imagines city dwellers searching for moments of relief in a world shaped by climate change, and the struggle to find a balance between an environment in crisis and manmade structures.
The question of the struggle between nature and the built environment is ever more central in urban life. In these images, relaxed beachgoers find themselves amidst carefully composed urban settings in front of dramatic skies. They search without seeming to find what they are looking for. The beach becomes rising tides, threatening the very foundation of the city. The clash of nature and city results in an absurd profusion of visual noise and little relief. The resulting images lay bare challenges to both my urban fantasy and to city planners, and the problematic nature of the future that lies ahead for humanity and the planet. – Diana Cheren Nygren
Diana Cheren Nygren Bio/Resume
Website: www.dianacherennygren.com
Facebook: @dianacherennygrenphotography
Instagram: @dianacherennygrenphotography
Joe Rattie
Abstract photography is the closest way I’ve found to enable me to share my language of vision.
I started shooting this series at the same time the Corona virus hit Rhode Island. Often walking the streets of downtown Providence my only company was the homeless or construction workers, all the shops, restaurants and bars were closed, each with a note taped to their doors “Due to the Corona virus…”
Color photography is my medium of choice however I chose to produce this work in B&W to convey the nakedness of a city stripped of people by the virus. – Joe Rattie
Joe Ratti Fine Art CV
Website: Outastate.viewbook.com
The RI Center for Photographic Arts, RICPA 118 N. Main St. Providence, RI 02903
Located in the heart of Providence, RICPA was founded to inspire creative development and provide opportunities to engage with the community through exhibitions, education, publication, and mutual support.
RICPA exists to create a diverse and supportive community for individuals interested in learning or working in the Photographic Arts. We strive to provide an environment conducive to the free exchange of ideas in an open and cooperative space. Members should share a passion for creating, appreciating, or learning about all forms of photo-based media. We work to provide a platform for artistic expression, that fosters dialogue and drives innovation in the photographic arts.
We are member supported, the first step to membership is registration – https://www.riphotocenter.org/registration Details on membership options can be found at https://www.riphotocenter.org/membership-info
The Gallery at the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts is a member of Gallery Night Providence https://www.gallerynight.org
Questions: Contact gallery@riphotocenter.org To learn about other RICPA exhibits and programs, visit https://www.riphotocenter.org
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