Caroline: A Collective Experience is a collaborative art exhibit that explores the 3800 through the 5800 blocks of Caroline Street, located at the edge of Houston's Third Ward, Museum district, Midtown and Montrose sections. Each of the 12 participants of the show has selected one or more blocks along Caroline Street as their focus and has presented the experience of that block through the photographic medium. The result is a location-specific installation depicting multiple visions of one group. Each of these 21 blocks is photographed with Polaroid grid film, and then installed linearly to recreate the street. This line then creates the datum, the foundation, from which other participants install their work -- each on the appropriate side of the street.

mock up

Portfolio Pick-up

I will be at UH on Wednesday at 2 pm until 2:30 pm to return your portfolios. See you then.

Caroline Saturday

If anyone is interested in meeting up and photographing and/or discussing Caroline, I plan to go over tomorrow before noon and shooting a little. Let me know if you would like to join.

Need your feedback asap!

Hey guys,

If we are going to get our invitations ordered, I need feedback from all of you. At present, 2 people have responded, voting to order 1000 invites to split between the group.

Before we can order the invites, we need an image and title.

I am content using Leah's image of the curb that says "Caroline." If you have another suggestion, let me know so as a group we can decide. I will send you an e-mail with the exact amount that it would cost for 500 and 1000 invites, including shipping.

Caroline 4200

After doing some math, I have determined that each block will get a total of 2 feet by 4 feet of gallery wall within which the work will be displayed. If you photographed on the east side of the street, you will display your work above the Polaroid street; if you photographed on the west side of the street, you will display your work below the Polaroid street.

3800 - Correy, Old Armory Building, Center for the Healing of Racism



3900 - Osman(?) Acadian Bakery

4000 - Angelique, Residential, Enviro Tech Chemical Solutions, Property currently for lease



4100 - Osman, Erinn's Heart (early learning academy), residential

4200 - Gabe, Star hair salon - 3.99 haircuts (on Barbee Street - haha), side of Fiesta grocery store



4300 - Correy, Underneath 59, Fiesta parking lot on one side, Warning Camera on opposite side



4400 - Brittney, Attorney's office, MD located on this block, often taco trucks parked here

4500 - AVAILABLE - Happy Jalapeno restaurant and Avela Corporation (sourcing of products and services in China since 2002)

4600 - Osman - Montessori School of Downtown and The Mexican Institute of Greater Houston

4700 - Alejandra, Lots of mid-rise condominiums and one somewhat historic quadplex

4800 - Caroline Collective will represented by a "You Are Here" label

4900 - Yanine - Covenant Church



5000 - Brittney Connelly - Ophthalmic Prosthetics Inc., Butler On-line Meditation Services



5100 - Leah - Weather Museum and empty lot across the street

5200 - Shannon MacGregor (2 residential properties for lease, empty lot, Personal Physician Group located here)

5300 - CJ - Residential, Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research




5400 - Tenshi - Holocaust Museum

5500 - Tenshi - Bank Parking Lot and Structure for Lease

5600 - Shannon - Bodegas Restaurant, MRI Clinic (Park Plaza hospital)

5700 - Alejandra - Parking Garage and Park Plaza Hospital

5800 - Yanine; Museum of Natural Science

Images from the Day

Today I went up to UH to help figure out how to get cyanotypes to adhere to wood. Shannon had prepared her piece of wood with a gelatin solution last Wednesday, and we coated it with the cyanotype solution and allowed it to dry. Instead of putting the wood/transparency into the lightbox in the photo lab, Shannon placed it in the direct sunlight around 1:30 (which is very direct and intense light). The result...exposure in under 5 minutes! She finished up normally with water and hydrogen dioxide. This is the image that resulted - if you are interested in doing this on wood, I can give you details. Also, if you are planning on taking advanced, we can try the process then too!



In addition to cyanotypes, I was curious about what was going on with Caroline Street. I drove down it, and found Angelique out shooting the 4000 block. We chatted for a minute, then I got my camera and photographed 3 blocks with Polaroid. Later, Oz showed up and we discussed his block a little as well. Now I have only 8 more blocks to shoot.

Figuring out the Space at Caroline

I went to Caroline and did some measuring to be sure of our space/images. We can discuss it more tomorrow, but here is what I have:



There will be 24" in which each person will place their work, with 4 inches of space on either side of those 2 feet before the next person. As a result, there will be 24 inches of installed work, and 8 inches between each block. Also, each block will be represented by a total of 8 polaroids on the east, and 8 on the west. 16 Polaroids per block, east side right side up, west side upside down.

Basically, 3800, 3900, and 4000 will be on the first (short wall). 4100-4900 will be on the largest wall. 5000-5700 will be on the third wall, and 5800 will be on its own short short wall.

Brittney's Images

As I understand, these images are of all of the open/closed windows on a particular block of Caroline Street.

Saturday shooting...

15 blocks more to photograph for me. I will be at Caroline shooting around 1.

Thursday Night!

Hi there. When my class is over tonight at HCC, I am going to come up to lab if you want/need feedback before critique on Monday. :)

Caroline Friday, opening at 6 pm!

I plan to be at Caroline Friday shooting Polaroids of the other 17 blocks I need to photograph. It would be nice to see what you guys are up to, if you are there. Let me know if you plan to be there and I can discuss your work with you as we work.

Also, there is an opening at Caroline Collective this Friday at 6 pm. Of rock posters!

What:
Rock Poster Show Opening
When:
Fri Nov 20 6pm – Fri Nov 20 10pm
Created By:
Caroline Collective Events

Gabe's Caroline Panorama (rough)

3800 block, mockup

Correy had an idea to create a large night shot of the old armory building with a Holga - and have the images from the interior that I shot to be displayed with it. This is the mock up - notice that the imagery is below the line of polaroids, because it is on the west side of the street.

Mockup for CJ's idea of photographing a trash installation

Hi all,
Cj has been collecting trash from his block of Caroline, and is thinking of how to install it. I created a mock up, and will continue to create more as you bring me your ideas. Here are 2 ideas - if you have suggestions, please send them on.

Basically, CJ is interested in either displaying the trash or creating an installation on the block and photographing it within its natural and beautiful context. I thought of maybe doing both - here is the result.

I will be photographing on Caroline street today - anyone interested in shooting?

Opening tomorrow! Extra Credit!

Please join me this Friday, November 13, 2009, 6 to 9pm at Art League Houston for Divya Murthy's opening reception of 2 site- specific installations, Natural Recyclers (outdoor patio space) and Wasted Resolve (front gallery); in collaboration with Nicola Parente. Spread the word and let others who might be interested know! Extra credit will be given in exchange for a one-page statement about the show!

Saturday shooting...

Anyone interested in shooting tomorrow?

Mock up of Polaroid idea

Idea for installation

Caroline Street, broken down - make your selections SOON!

3800 - UNAVAILABLE Old Armory Building, Center for the Healing of Racism

3900 - Acadian Bakery

4000 - UNAVAILABLE - Angelique, Residential, Enviro Tech Chemical Solutions, Property currently for lease

4100 - UNAVAILABLE - Os, Erinn's Heart (early learning academy), residential

4200 - UNAVAILABLE - Gabe, Star hair salon - 3.99 haircuts (on Barbee Street - haha), side of Fiesta grocery store

4300 - UNAVAILABLE - Correy, Underneath 59, Fiesta parking lot on one side, Warning Camera on opposite side

4400 - UNAVAILABLE - Brittney, Attorney's office, MD located on this block, often taco trucks parked here

4500 - UNAVAILABLE - Kelly - Happy Jalapeno restaurant and Avela Corporation (sourcing of products and services in China since 2002)

4600 - UNAVAILABLE, Osman - Montessori School of Downtown and The Mexican Institute of Greater Houston

4700 - UNAVAILABLE, Alejandra, Lots of mid-rise condominiums and one somewhat historic 4plex

4800 - UNAVAILABLE, Caroline Collective will represented by a "You Are Here" label

4900 - UNAVAILABLE, Yanine - Covenant Church

5000 - UNAVAILABLE - Brittney Connelly - Ophthalmic Prosthetics Inc., Butler On-line Meditation Services

5100 - UNAVAILABLE, Leah - Weather Museum and empty lot across the street

5200 - UNAVAILABLE - Shannon MacGregor (2 residential properties for lease, empty lot, Personal Physician Group located here)

5300 - UNAVAIALBLE, CJ - Residential, Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research

5400 - UNAVAILABLE - Tenshi - Holocaust Museum

5500 - UNAVAILABLE - Tenshi - Bank Parking Lot and Structure for Lease

5600 - UNAVAIALBLE, Shannon - Bodegas Restaurant, MRI Clinic (Park Plaza hospital)

5700 - UNAVAIALBLE, Alejandra - Parking Garage and Park Plaza Hospital

5800 - UNAVAILABLE - Yanine; Museum of Natural Science

Natural Recyclers/waste resolved

Hi all. A friend of mine is working on installing a show at art league houston. They are making large organic installations out of plant material. Check it out, and feel free to volunteer!



Come on and get your hands dirty!
 
Houston artists Divya Murthy and Nicola Parente need some volunteers to help finish their large scale organic sculpture on the ALH patio.
They will need two helpers a day from 10 am- 4 pm. Volunteers needed on the days below:
 
Tuesday 10/27:              10am–1pm or 1pm–4pm
 
Thursday 10/29:             10am–1pm or 1pm–4pm
Friday 10/30:                 10am–1pm or 1pm–4pm
 
Thursday 11/05:             10am–1pm or 1pm–4pm
Friday 11/06:                 10am–1pm or 1pm–4pm
Saturday 11/07:             10am–1pm or 1pm–4pm
 
Tuesday 11/10:              10am–1pm or 1pm–4pm
Thursday 11/12:             10am–1pm or 1pm–4pm

3800 MEETING CANCELLED

I am sorry to inform you that the weather has impeded on our meeting today - the guys were up there earlier, but are not staying today. I asked for a more organized meeting next Friday. I will keep you posted - in the meantime, please let me know if you decide on a block. Thank you.

Photos from 3800 Caroline

3800 Caroline St.

I went over to Caroline Street again today to check out what was happening. When I arrived at the 3800 block, the door to that abandoned brick building was open! I marched right up the stairs and found 2 men sitting across from one another with a blueprint of the building between them on a folding metal table. I briefly explained my interest in the space and also the collaboration that we will be working on. Apparently, they are going to be moving the Buffalo Soldier museum from its current location to this location. I asked if it would be okay for me to look around,and to my surprise they said sure. I spent some time in there and have a couple of images from my iPhone that I took. ALSO! Friday, they agreed that we could come by and photograph there! So if you are interested in checking the space out and legally getting inside the building, let me know! Enjoy...

Tomorrow! Caroline Street. I will park at the museum at 11 am and be walking the streets to study it and meet with those of you available. Please let me know, via the blog, if you will be there!

CRITIQUE #3 + Lighting - EXTENDED UNTIL 11/2

Subverting the Canon and Lighting will both be due Monday, November 2nd. I hope you enjoy this extension. I was forgetting how much of a delay the projectors not working created for us, and I really want these assignments to be strong. I want more than anything for you to enjoy these assignments and grow as an artist! Please take advantage of this extension, as I will be expecting high quality work, both conceptually and technically. See you tomorrow for a demo on interpositives!

I am also attaching the new schedule. Please notice that this pushes our 4th critique back to just before Thanksgiving, then we have only a week left of school. What that means is that you have Monday class and Tuesday to finish up your Final Portfolio and Technical Folder. At this point you have plenty of time to get it all done, but you MUST plan ahead.

This has been a very fun semester thus far - you are all doing some great work and I cannot wait to see how we finish up!

Reminder:
Final Portfolio will contain your 15-20 strongest prints from the semester
Technical Folder will contain Filters Assignment, Night Photography, Lighting, Interpositive, Cyanotype

Give yourself time to plan out the completion of all assignments.

Views of Caroline Street

I plan to be at Caroline Street Friday. If you are interested in meeting/shooting, let me know via the blog.

HCP! Read below for address.

So, let's meet at HCP at 230 - if you need a ride, I will be in the lab from 2-2:10 to collect you. I only have 3 spaces in my car, but if others can offer a ride, please meet in the lab at 2.

See you MONDAY!

HCP on Monday instead of Wednesday

Hi everyone I talked to Houston Center for Photography and they will let us use their library and critique room on Monday, so we don't have to wait until Wednesday!

The address is 1441 West Alabama, Houston, TX 77006

It's located about a block away from the Menil, next to the Menil parking lot.


See you Monday!
--Leah

From what I’ve come to understand about myself as well as the world around me with the very limited and confined amount of time I’ve been given is that life is what you make it out to be, and how you make it out to be directly depends on your attitude and the way you react to different situations. If you’re pessimistic and anxious, your life becomes hectic and “out of control”, but on the other hand, if you’re laid back and easy going, your life becomes comfortable and stable. Being content with your current situation is critical, learning how to accept the negative as an experience and not just a disaster is recommended, bask in the positive, finding inner peace heavily relies on how well you’re able to let go of worrisome thoughts and emotions. The customs and norms of society will change; so if you can, don’t allow them to control you, rather use them as tools to weave through society. Getting stuck in a loop of routine is highly aggravating…if you find yourself discontent with the repetitiveness, try to explore…open up…see things as objective as possible. Being extremely self-conscious is unhealthy and it would behoove you to avoid it at all costs. Self-hatred extends, bleeds, transforms into a hatred for other people, so love yourself and love others. Expect nothing from anyone or anything, you will find life gives us a consistent and overwhelming amount of surprise. If a situation isn’t going the way you want it to and you find yourself constantly bent out of shape over the entire issue, sit back, breathe, and let it be. Time is the most heavily abused substance this day in age; use it wisely by enjoying every second.

Follow meeeeee

1) Copy this url, not the video.
2) Paste it into your web browser
3) Hit enter (or return, semantics)
4) Learn something
5) Smile
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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000399007547&ref=profile#/profile.php?id=100000399007547&v=info&ref=profile

Miranda July

This is an interesting performance artist, writer, and cinematographer - she is the one who directed Me and You and Everyone We Know. She also had a series called Learning to Love You More in which she gave assignments, and allowed submissions. For example, assignment 1 was to create a child's outfit in an adult size. The second was to go door to door in your neighborhood and create recordings of ppl singing or playing an instrument then submit it. Anyway, just interesting and thought I would share:

http://learningtoloveyoumore.com/

And the artist, Miranda July has a website as well that you could check out - oh, and you have to enter a secret password:

http://mirandajuly.com/

Portland Grid Project

http://www.iinet.com/~portlandgridproject/

This is an interesting project, much like the one that our class will do on Caroline Street. Please check it out!

Friday school day

Hi all,
I will be up at school tomorrow throughout the day. If you would like to meet up about anything, I should be around. :)

Assignment #3 - please excuse the formatting.

This assignment will require you to choose the work of a well-known photographer whose work you are particularly drawn to. Sounds familiar to some of you? Hold up. You will pick from a generous list of photographers I will provide for you. Or, you can find one yourself and propose him or her to me as an alternative. Either way, after you have decided on a particular photographer, create a group of images which parody or subvert that photographer's work.

You will be obligated to learn something about the philosophical/ideological positions of your photographer, both as they pertain to photography (technical approaches and formal aspects) and as they pertain to personal, political and cultural issues.

You may find yourself focusing more on the ideological issues associated with the photographer and his or her work, but don't lose sight of those characteristics which are photographic. The resulting body of work should amount to more than merely a parody of formal characteristics, and I would like for your final results to have more substance than mere mockery for mockery's sake. In simple terms – have a good reason for doing what you’re doing.

Please shoot a minimum of 4 rolls of 35 mm film, so you will give yourself enough choices to have 8-10 solid prints. Take advantage of the relative ease with which you can make exposures with the 35mm camera. Move, bracket and most of all – improvise. If you are interested in another format, speak with me.

As intermediate photographers your print quality should be nearly perfect. You should at least be aware of when it is and when it isn’t. If this is not the case, please ask for more of my help. In addition to the images, I would like you to write a maximum one-page typed statement, explaining why you chose your photographer, what about this person's agenda motivated you to subvert/parody it, and discuss the meaning of your results. Be detailed in your observations.

Hand in all contacts (at least 4) with your final prints (8 -10)

parody : 1. a literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule. 2. Something so bad as to be equivalent to intentional mockery.

subvert : 1. to destroy; to completely ruin. 2. To undermine the character, morals, or allegiances of; to corrupt. 3. to overthrow something established.

DO NOT IMITATE THE PHOTOGRAPHER! LEARN THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S PROCESS!


List of Photographers

Robert Adams Nan Goldin Arnold Newman
Eugene Atget Emmet Gowin Nicholas Nixon
Diane Arbus Jan Groover Bill Owens
John Baldessari Sid Grossman Robert ParkHarrison
Lewis Baltz Ernst Haas Gordon Parks
Tina Barney Robert Heinecken Irving Penn
Ruth Bernhard Eikoh Hosoe John Phahl
Edouard Boubat Graciella Iturbide Chris Ranier
Bill Brandt Andre Kertesz Eugene Richards
Manual Alvarez-Bravo William Klein Jacob Riis
Henri Cartier-Bresson Mark Klett Herb Ritts
Wynn Bullock Joseph Koudelka Alexander Rodchenko
Harry Callahan George Krause Sebastao Salgado
Julia Margaret Cameron Les Krims August Sander
John Coplans Barbara Kruger John Sexton
William Christenberry Dorthea Lange Cindy Sherman
Larry Clark Clarence John Laughlin Laurie Simmons
Linda Conner David Levinthal Lorna Simpson
Barbara Crane Sherrie Levine Neal Slavin
Imogene Cunningham Helen Levitt Frederick Sommer
Judy Dater Lisa Lewenz Mike and Doug Starn
Bruce Davidson Annie Leibovitz Ralph Steiner
Roy DeCarava Danny Lyon Paul Strand
Robert Doiseneau Nathan Lyons Edward Steichen
Elliot Erwitt Sally Mann Josef Sudek
Walker Evans Robert Mapplethorpe Arthur Tress
Wendy Ewald Mary Ellen Mark Bruce Weber
Larry Fink Ralph Eugene Meatyard Weegee
Robert Frank Susan Meiselas Eudora Welty
Lee Friedlander Ray Metzker Henry Wessel
Lewis Hine Pedro Meyer Edward Weston
Flor Garduno Joel Meyerowitz Garry Winogrand
Laura Gilpin Duane Michals Joel Peter Witkin
Frank Gohlke Richard Misrach Andreas Serrano
Lauren Greenfield Tina Modotti

Alternative Processing

So...I just ordered materials so that we can make cyanotypes as well as photo litho prints. It will be in the next couple of weeks. I'm excited!

Class time is not enough!

Hi there. I am really liking a lot of ideas and projects you guys are coming up with this semester. So much, that I decided to create a blog to allow us to share ideas as a group. I also am interested in uploading images and the (mixed media) websites,etc...here to share before critique. I will not require you to participate in the blog, but I would love to see your thoughts shared here. Also, your feedback will positively affect your participation grade. Let's talk about our ideas! Who has something to share about their Photo Genres project? Feel free to ask questions here, too.