New England Portfolio Reviews ONLINE
April 5-7, 2024, 9am-6pm, both days
Thank you to our event sponsor, Digital Silver Imaging
For full event information click HERE.
NEPR April 2024 Reviewers:
Elizabeth Avedon, Designer, Curator & Writer, New York, NY
Elizabeth Avedon is an independent curator, and photography book and exhibition designer. She has a rich history collaborating with museums, publishing houses, advertising agencies, galleries and artists, and is a sought after consultant for established and emerging photographers; editing, sequencing, and advising towards their exhibition, book, and portfolio projects.
Erin Carey, Independent Curator, New England
Erin Carey is an independent curator, artist and educator based in New England; she earned her B.A. in Art History and Criticism from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.F.A. in Studio Arts from Tufts University. Prior to its closure in 2020, Erin served as the Academic Director and Gallery Di-rector at NESOP, curating more than 100 exhibits featuring works by artists from around the U.S and Europe. Her recent curatorial projects include “Ripening Towards the Knife” (2020) and “Let America” (2021) for the Photographic Resource Center. Erin’s photographic work explores the nuances of the American landscape and its vernacular. Her ongoing project, A Spring that Love Remembered, debuted in the summer of 2020 and addresses the landscape of loss and the ex-perience of ecstatic time. Erin works in graduate admissions for the MFA program at Tufts Uni-versity and is a part-time preparator/ art handler at the Addison Gallery of American Art in An-dover. She currently serves on the Board of Directors at the Griffin Museum of Photography
Cathy Cone, Creative Director, Cone Editions East Topsham, VT
Cathy Cone is a photographer, painter. and printmaker. Her surrealist approach to photography began in the late 1970’s with the introduction of the “Diana” camera. This led to investigation of experimental techniques towards a multidisciplinary approach to her poetic image making. Cathy received her training at Ohio University, Vermont Studio Center. She received her MFA at the Maine Media College. Some of her exhibitions include Weisman Art Museum, University of Alabama, DeCordova Museum, Griffin Museum of Photography, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center and the Vermont Center for Photography. Her works are in the collection of IBM, Hallmark Fine Art Collections, American Express, Beekman a Thompson Hotel, New York and private collections. Cathy with her husband, master printer Jon Cone, founded Cone Editions Press in 1980 in Port Chester, NY as a collaborative printmaking workshop. Cone Editions Press is now located in East Topsham, Vermont where Cathy is director of the Workshops and Studio.
Alyssa Coppleman, Independent Photo Editor & Photobook Consultant, Austin, TX
Alyssa Ortega Coppelman is an independent photo editor and photobook consultant based in Austin, Texas. For two decades, she served as half of the art department at Harper’s Magazine, most recently as Deputy Art Director. Currently, she is Art Editor at the Oxford American, which won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2016 and has been nominated twice since in that category. She is also the Archival Producer for the Emmy-nominated, PBS NewsHour series, Brief But Spectacular, for which she sources creative visual accompaniment for short interviews with a wide variety of guests. Several artists she has pitched have been selected as guests on the show. Working directly with photographers, Alyssa provides oversight in editing, sequencing, design, and editorial aspects of photobook projects and portfolios. Alyssa serves as guest lecturer to undergraduate and graduate photography students, and enjoys the intensity of teaching day-long photo editing workshops.
Mia Dalglish, Co-Curator, Pictura Gallery, Bloomington, IN
Mia Dalglish has spent her career in both the performing and visual arts worlds. Since 2010, Dalglish has served as Photographic Curator for Pictura, a renowned fine art gallery that specializes in contemporary photography. She is a portfolio reviewer for national and international photography conferences and serves as a judge for international photography competitions. Mia is also the Executive Director for the Fernanda Ghi Dance Company and an Instructor at the Fernanda Ghi Dance Academy. Mia was a manager and instructor at the Argentine tango school, Artango for 7 years. Mia’s unusual combination of movement and visual arts expertise result in unique offering of skills and perspectives.
David DeMelim, Founder and Managing Director, RI Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI
David DeMelim is the founder and managing director of the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts in Providence, RI. David also pursues parallel explorations in printmaking and photography. He earned a BFA from the University of Rhode Island, studying with Bart Parker and Chris Cordes, and has been involved in advancing computer driven printing technology. With a focus on the built landscape and its human connections, DeMelim considers form, weight and proximity in his compositions. He is not interested in capturing a “Kodak moment, but rather a syncopated succession of moments that combine to recall or define an event.” Much of his work explores an image’s ability to fix a memory through the use of multiple layers and paired images.
Steven Duede, Curator, Aspect Initiative, Belmont, MA
An artist, transitioning from painting and mixed media to working almost exclusively in photography. Steven’s work has been exhibited regularly in the Boston area, New England, and across the nation. He has been recognized and supported as a fellowship finalist by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and he founded and works as principal and curator of Aspect Initiative, an online gallery showcasing Fine Art Photography. Steven served as a reviewer in the New England Portfolio reviews sponsored by the Griffin Museum of Photography and the Photographic Resource Center/Boston. RISD portfolio reviews and has served as a juror for United Photo Industries The FENCE. Steven provided portfolio reviews in the Palm Springs Portfolio reviews at the Photo Plus Expo in NYC as well as the 14th annual PSPF in sunny Palm Springs CA. Steven has served with the board of directors at the Griffin Museum of Photography and the Cambridge Art Association. Currently he is a member of the programming committee with the Photographic Resource Center/Boston and is a founding member of the public charity, Watertown Community Fridge.
Gail Fletcher, Photography Editor, The Guardian, New York, NY
Gail Fletcher is a Photo Editor at The Guardian, where she develops and produces visual stories. She is on faculty at the International Center of Photography and was previously an Associate Photo Editor at National Geographic. She is originally from South Florida and holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University.
Donna Garcia, Contributing Editor, Lenscratch, Atlanta, GA
Donna Garcia (She/Her/Hers) is a lens-based artist, curator, educator, podcaster, and arts advocate. Best known for her conceptual self-portraiture and uncanny noir style. Her work explores the performative potential of the medium of photography, as well as the idea of how we exist within liminal space. She is currently the Director of Education and Programs for the Griffin Museum of Photography, and was formerly the Executive Director for the Atlanta Photography Group and Gallery in Atlanta. Prior to that time, she was the Director and Co-Owner of the Garcia/Wilburn Gallery, and a creative director at Ogilvy, NYC where she initiated strategic and creative development programs around high-profile events, including James Bond’s Skyfall, Coachella, Art Basel, Ultra Miami, World Cup, South Beach Food and Wine Festival, The Latin Grammys, and the Oscars. She is a contributing editor for LENSCRATCH, co-host/co-founder of the Modern Art and Culture Podcast, and she teaches workshops nationally. Garcia holds a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from Savannah College of Art and Design, and a Master of Science in Communications from Kennesaw State University.
Daniel George, Submissions Editor & Contributing Writer, LENSCRATCH, Los Angeles, CA
Daniel serves as the Submissions Editor for Lenscratch, an online platform dedicated to supporting and celebrating the photographic arts and photographic artists through exposure, discussion, community collaboration, and education. Daniel George is a photographic artist whose work explores the ways in which cultural forces shaped by religious, political, and social ideologies effect the identity of place, community, and resident individuals. Through his images, he highlights the idiosyncrasies of human activity as a mode of inquiry—attempting to understand how defining characteristics of place are informed by history, belief systems, customs, and traditions. Daniel uses his camera as a mechanism to decode these attributes, often focusing on the quotidian as a shared, common language.
Muema Lombe, Former Board Member, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA
Muema Lombe is an art collector, startup founder, angel investor, and formerly served as Vice President of the Board of Trustees at the Center for Photographic Art (CPA) in Carmel, California. This role provided him with a unique perspective on the universal language of imagery and its power to connect people across different walks of life.
Arlette Kayafas, Gallery Kayafas, Boston, MA
Arlette Kayafas opened Gallery Kayafas in 2003 in Boston’s then new gallery district in the South End. The gallery exhibited photographs from renowned photographers often pairing them with new emerging artists. Kayafas and her husband, Gus, have been collecting photography for more than five decades and the gallery only shows work that she would consider adding to the collection. In 2012, the gallery expanded its programming to include contemporary paintings, installation, works on paper, sculpture, and video while maintaining its focus on photography. Kayafas believes that the work shown in the gallery must engage perceptually while having a rigorous underlying message – the artist’s voice. Arlette selects artists who have strong insights and are committed to articulating them through their work. One of the gallery’s missions is to offer a platform for the artist to be heard and visitors to have an experience which brings about thoughtful attention.
Michael Kirchoff, Analog Forever Magazine, Los Angeles, CA
Michael Kirchoff is a photographic artist, Editor in Chief at Analog Forever Magazine, Founding Editor at Catalyst: Interviews, and Contributing Editor for the column, Traverse, at One Twelve Publishing. Based in Los Angeles, Michael conducts artist interviews, presents features, and curates fine art photography bodies of work from emerging and mid-career photographic artists worldwide for all entities. Previously, Michael also served for over four years as Editor at BLUR Magazine from 2014-2018. In addition, Michael is an independent curator and juror for a number of organizations, as well as a frequent portfolio reviewer. His consulting, training, and overall support of his fellow photographic artist continues with assistance in constructing ones vision to finding exhibition and publishing opportunities. Michael seeks portfolios that demonstrate a cohesive and thoughtfully edited body of work with an emphasis on the creative, either stylistically or thematically. Film-based and analog process work are of particular interest for fine art and documentary photography.
Gregory Koslov, Koslov Larsen, Houston, TX
Geoffrey Koslov co-founded Koslov Larsen, a fine art gallery located in the museum district of Houston, Texas, for contemporary photography-based art. He is interested in the creative use of media, light and new ways of seeing our diverse world through many different genres of expression. He had served for many years on the Photography Acquisitions Subcommittee for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), and the Board of Directors for the Houston Center for Photography (HCP). He has participated with Fotofest, the Center for Fine Art Photography (CFAP), the Colorado Photographic Arts Center (CPAC), The Medium Festival of Photography, PhotoLucida, Critical Mass, PhotoVisa (Russia), ASmith Gallery, and others. In addition to life now as a Gallerist, and a lifelong passion for creative expression, Geoffrey has more than 40 years of business experience he brings to the arts. With this experience, he helps photographers with project development, talking and writing about their work. He also consults and advises artists on strategy and approaches to the art market. Koslov Larsen looks for artists that uniquely incorporate photography into different mediums and modes of expression that expand the definition of what is considered photographic and has a new voice of expression.
Bree Lamb, Managing Editor, Fraction Magazine, Albuquerque, NM
Bree Lamb is an artist, educator and editor based in New Mexico. She is Assistant Professor of Photography at New Mexico State University, and holds an MFA from the University of New Mexico. For the last five years, Lamb has been the Managing Editor for Fraction Magazine, an online venue dedicated to fine art, contemporary photography, that brings together diverse bodies of work by established and emerging artists from around the globe. Lamb has served as a portfolio reviewer or juror for Review Santa Fe, Medium Festival of Photography, Mt. Rokko Photography Festival, Denver’s Month of Photography, Photolucida’s Critical Mass and the Society for Photographic Education’s National Conference.
Lia J. Latty, Founder, Black Is Magazine, Baltimore, MD
Lia Latty is the founder of Black Is Magazine. Black Is publishes the stories and the work of Black photographers from around the world, because one experience does not speak for all. Latty is also a photographer born in Miami, FL, and now resides in Baltimore, MD. She received her BFA in Photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Latty invites participants from marginalized communities to empower themselves in front of the camera through intimate studio sessions. Through authenticity and personal experiences, she communicates with her participants in order to share their voices as a collective and initiate dialogue about issues relating to identity and race. Her work has been exhibited in Baltimore, New York, and at MICA. She is a member of Black Women Photographers and an UpNext member of Diversify Photo.
Sarah Leen, Visual Thinking Collective, International
In 2013 Sarah Leen became the first female Director of Photography at National Geographic Magazine and Partners. In 2020 she co-founded the Visual Thinking Collective, a community for independent women dedicated to supporting visual storytelling. She worked as a contributing photographer to the National Geographic magazine for 20 years before joining the staff and becoming a senior photo editor in 2004. Leen currently works with individual photographers and publishers editing visual projects. She has edited numerous projects and books including the 2020 FotoEvidence and World Press Photo Book Award winner HABIBI by Antonio Faccilongo, Anders Wo by Petra Barth, Like a Bird by Johanna-Maria Fritz, The Phoenician Collapse by Diego Ibarra Sanchez which won the 2022 Lucie Book Award for Independent Book, We Cry in Silence by Smita Sharma a 2023 POY Book Award Finalist and A Troubled Home by Anush Babajanyan. She is also the photo editor of Ukraine: A War Crime by FotoEvidence which was shortlisted for the 2023 Arles Historical Book Award and winner of the IPA Book Photographer of the Year and nominated for the Lucie Awards for Book Publisher of the Year and Photo Editor of the Year. Leen believes in sharing her knowledge through mentoring and teaching photography and photo editing workshops with the Missouri Photo Workshops, the Maine Media Workshops, the Santa Fe Photo Workshops, the Eddie Adams Workshop. Leen is on the Board of Directors of the International League of Conservation Photographers and an inductee into the Missouri Journalism Hall of Fame.
Shana Lopes, Assistant Curator of Photography, SFMoMA, San Francisco, CA
Shana Lopes, PhD, is an Assistant Curator of Photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She has organized exhibitions on cyanotypes, the 1906 earthquake, Atget, Wright Morris, and Eikoh Hosoe. She is the co-curator of Constellations: Photographs in Dialogue, which pairs recent acquisitions with existing work from the collection, and A Living for Us All: Artists and the WPA. Most recently, she organized Sightlines: Photographs from the Collection, on view now. Over the past fifteen years, she has gained curatorial experience at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Caleb Cain Marcus, Design Director, Luminosity Lab, Brooklyn, NY
Caleb Cain Marcus is a Roving Acquisitions Editor for Damiani and runs one of the world’s smallest book design and print studios, Luminosity Lab. Caleb has had six books of his photographs published and is in many museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, the High Museum of Art, Norton Museum of Art, and Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
Ben McBride is Curatorial Assistant in the photography department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where he contributes to all aspects of the department’s exhibition projects. He received his MA in art history from the University of Kansas, and he previously served in the works on paper department at the Spencer Museum of Art. Ben is not looking for materials for exhibition or acquisition, he but looks forward to reviewing diverse photographic projects at any stage of development.
Carol McCusker, Curator of Photography, Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida
Carol McCusker is the Curator of Photography at the Harn Museum of Art. For nine years, she was the Curator of Photography at the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, where she curated more than thirty-five exhibitions. She was also an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Diego and the University of California San Diego. McCusker received her B.F.A. in studio art and art history at Massachusetts College of Art, Boston. She then received an M.A. and Ph.D. in art history with an emphasis on the history of photography at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. She was 2010 Juror for the International Center of Photography Infinity Award/New York, and McCusker has received the Beaumont Newhall Award, the Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship Award, and two National Endowment for the Arts Awards. Between 2009 and 2011, McCusker was staff writer for Color and Bl & Wh magazines. Writing and curating from photography’s complete history, from William Henry Fox Talbot’s first calotypes to cellphone videos, defines McCusker’s enthusiasm for the medium’s inspiring range and relevancy.
C. Meier, Exhibitions Manager at Blue Sky, the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Portland, OR
C. Meier (they/them/theirs) is the Exhibitions Manager at Blue Sky, the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Portland, OR, a non-profit gallery dedicated to exhibiting photographic work from emerging, mid-career, and established artists from the US and abroad. They earned their MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago (2017) and BFA in Studio Art from Pacific Lutheran University (2004). Their art practice explores materiality, reveling in the hybridization of processes including drawing, painting, and photographic methods. Meier has exhibited nationally including Hyde Park Art Center, Mana Contemporary (Chicago), Filter Space, among others. Meier has been heavily influenced by their past roles including Collections Manager/Registrar at the Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) and Studio Assistant for photographic artist Barbara Kasten. Professional highlights include co-curating the MoCP’s 2017 exhibition re:collection. As a reviewer, C. Meier seeks projects that range in style and content including conceptual, documentary, and process-based work. Meier’s goal is to widen the scope of what Blue Sky has traditionally exhibited in order to support new and exciting approaches to the medium.
Andrew Mroczek, Director of Exhibitions, Lesley University College of Art and Design, Cambridge, MA
Artist and curator Andrew Mroczek received his BFA in photography from The Art Institute of Boston and an MFA in Visual Arts from the Lesley University College of Art and Design. Mroczek maintains a solo interdisciplinary studio practice focusing on themes of power structures and dynamics, sex, and sexuality. Additionally, his collaboration with artist Juan Jose Barboza-Gubo (Barboza-Gubo & Mroczek) focuses on themes of masculinity, sexuality, gender, gender-identity, and the effects of patriarchy as a social system. Mroczek’s work has been exhibited widely including solo exhibitions at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Lima, Peru (Museum of Contemporary Art); the Museum of Sex, New York; Lugar de la Memoria, Lima, Peru (Museum of Remembrance); Centro Cultural de España, Lima, Peru (Cultural Center of Spain); Chicago’s Schneider Gallery; and Houston’s McClain Gallery; as well as group exhibitions in the US, Cuba, Bolivia, India, and Venice, Italy. His work has been featured in numerous online and print publications including Artnet, the Huffington Post, Musée, Paper Magazine, VICE/Broadly, New York Magazine, the Advocate, Lenscratch, The Houston Press, El Comercio Peru, Artsy, and PRI’s The World. Permanent collections include the RISD Museum, RI; Lugar de la Memoria, Lima, Peru; The Bill Arning Gay Art Collection, Houston, TX; FOTOMUSEO, Museo Nacional de la Fotografía de Colombia, Bogota; and the book collections at Harvard University, Stamford University, Princeton University, and MoMA, New York. Andrew Mroczek is currently the Director of Exhibitions at Lesley University College of Art and Design, and adjunct faculty at Northeastern University and the Massachusetts College of Art & Design (MassArt).
Michael Pannier, Founder & Director, SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
As Founder and Executive Director of the SE Center for Photography in Greenville, SC, Michael Pannier is a frequent speaker on the business of fine art photography, exhibition curator and juror, and portfolio reviewer. The fine art images of photographer Michael Pannier, whether landscapes of the desert southwest, studio figurative work or conceptual pieces, are sought after and included in collections throughout the United States and Canada, Europe, Japan, and India. Working from his Greenville, SC studio, conveniently located between the Charlotte and Atlanta metro areas, he frequently travels to Los Angeles and New York maintaining studio relationships in both locations. Working on personal projects, Michael may be found wandering the streets of major cities or the desolation of the desert southwest. Michael hosts and conducts fine art photography workshops in his studio and on location in Death Valley, the Alabama Hills, and the Owens Valley, and Joshua Tree.
Vivian Poey, Educator, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
Vivian Poey is a Professor of Photography and Integrated Studies at Lesley University. As an artist and educator Vivian’s work reflects a deep engagement with personal narratives and societal issues, especially those dealing with cultural identities, memory and displacement. Vivian’s work has been exhibited widely in both group and solo exhibitions and has been featured in publications such as Fraction Magazine. In addition to her art practice, she has served as a juror and curator for several exhibitions, including “Crossing Borders: personal narratives of immigration” at the Sandra and Phillip Gordon Gallery at and the Parker Gallery at Lesley University. Vivian has also worked extensively at the intersection of arts and education, has co-authored and co-edited books including the most recent Art as a Way of Listening: Centering Student and Community Voices in Language Learning and Cultural Revitalization. She is the recipient of the 2017 Massachusetts Art Education Association Higher-Educator of the Year Award.
Carolyn Russo, Curator, Smithsonian Museum, Air & Space, Washington DC
Carolyn Russo has worked at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum since 1988 in the roles of photographer, museum specialist, and curator. She is the curator of the art collection and the lead curator for the transformation and renovation of the museum’s Flight and the Arts Center to open in 2026. Russo has curated several art exhibitions and authored four books: Art of the Airport Tower (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books 2015), In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight (New York: powerHouse Books, 2007), Artifacts of Flight (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003), and Women and Flight: Portraits of Contemporary Women Pilots (Boston, New York, London; Bulfinch Press, 1997). She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in photography from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and a Master of Arts degree in American art history from American University in Washington, D.C.
Laura Sackett, Art Director, Lensculture, Berkeley, CA
Laura Sackett is partner and Creative Director in LensCulture, the leading website committed to discovering and promoting the best in contemporary photography. She has lead all aspects of design including brand, website, print, communications, screenings and exhibitions that has help transform LensCulture into a world-class platform for the global photography community. Besides leading the creative direction for LensCulture, she also curates the online galleries, co-curates the LensCulture exhibitions, and is a frequent reviewer at Photo Festival Portfolio Reviews. Laura is also a photographer. Her recent photowork includes camera-less digital portraits and experiments with iPhonography. She is a founding Board Member of PhotoAlliance, and earned an MFA in photography from the California College of the Arts. She currently lives in Berkeley, CA.
J. Sybylla Smith, Independent Curator, Educator and Consultant, Concept Aware, Boston, MA
Designer, stylist, art director, and curator J. Sybylla Smith is driven by the beauty of fashion and photography. A graduate of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, Smith designed a women’s wear collection under the label Syb & Joe. Represented by Ennis, Inc. to work on international advertising and editorials campaigns for a decade, she went on to freelance, focusing solely on fashion photography. Smithʼs work has been published in venues as diverse as W, Rolling Stone, and People. Whether as Creative Director for a global luxury hotelʼs marketing campaign, Art Director for a classic retailerʼs extreme sportswear catalog, or as Wardrobe Stylist shooting an IBM campaign with Kodakʼs Icon Photographer Dan Winters, Smith creates a dynamic visual language. As curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography @ Digital Silver Imaging gallery, she has exhibited the work of 65 photographers in fifteen shows over three years, dedicating a fashion-related show to open during Boston’s Fashion Week. Smith approaches portfolio reviews with equal interest in composition, content, and concept. Curious about the photographer’s intent and process, she distills the images that are the strongest statement of that photographer’s unique style and voice. A former adjunct professor at Hofstra University, Smith is a current guest lecturer at Harvard University, Wellesley College, Bay State College, and Mass Art.
Susan Spiritus, Susan Spiritus Gallery, Irvine, CA
Susan Spiritus has been a leader in the field of fine art photography for 42 years, opening the doors to her Southern California gallery in 1976 so that she could share her passion for photography with others. Today, the Susan Spiritus Gallery handles works by such photographic luminaries as Ansel Adams, Ruth Bernhard, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Eikoh Hosoe, André Kertész, Paul Caponigro and George Tice. Also represented in the gallery’s collection are many of today’s most popular and award-winning contemporary artists. The gallery works with private collectors, corporations and design professionals providing personalized counsel in order to address each client’s individual needs. Whether a first time buyer or a prolific collector, the gallery has something for everyone. Art ranges in price, style and type including platinum, silver, hand-colored and digital.
Elin Spring, Founder/Editor, What Will You Remember, NewEngland
Elin Spring is the founder, editor, and head writer of the photography blog, “What Will You Remember?” which includes various art exhibition reviews and artist and curator interviews. Elin earned her bachelor’s degree from Brown University and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from University of Pennsylvania. She contributes to many print and online magazines as well as museum catalogs. Her background in exhibition review has led her to become a juror at photography competitions and a reviewer for portfolios. In 2014, her photography writing was recognized with the Scribe FOCUS Award from the Griffin Museum of Photography. Before the creation of her blog, for over two decades she specialized in professional portraiture in and around Boston.
Dana Stirling, Co-founder and Editor, Float Magazine, Queens, NY
Float Photo Magazine was founded in March 2014 with the goal of sharing and celebrating the photographic work of a versatile international roster of contemporary photographers from young and emerging, to established artists. Float features high quality and creative work with the intention to inspire and push forward the photo community. In addition to our growing online and social platform, Float curates themed online magazine issues for emerging and establish artists to share pages creating a unique visual representation of the selected theme. Float offers artists various opportunities and platforms for exposure – Instagram takeovers, book reviews, artist interviews, curated online magazine issues, online and physical exhibitions and more. Float has collaborated with Littlefield Art Space on the group exhibition ‘Space,’ Subjectively Objective creating together photo publication ‘The Vernacular Of Landscape’ along with an exhibition at Usagi NY, a summer group show at Carrie Able gallery in Brooklyn curated by Damien Anger, a collaboration with Casual Science on a printed publication with an enamel pin set and with the first Rust Belt Biennial in September 2019 at the Sordoni Gallery Wilkes University, PA. Float is open to all and any photographic styles and genres. We are always looking to expand our roaster of artists and give as much opportunity for exposure as possible.
Mary Virginia Swanson, Independent Author, Educator, & Advisor, Tucson, AZ
Mary Virginia Swanson is an innovative educator, author, advisor, and entrepreneur who guides and assists artists to find the strengths in their work, identify appropriate audiences, and present their work in a professional informed manner. She counts internationally known artists and respected arts organizations among her consulting clients. Her broad background in our industry encompasses the fine art, editorial, commercial, and licensing arenas, bringing an important range of perspectives on both the making and marketing of art to her students and clients. Swanson holds an MFA in photography from Arizona State University and co-authored with Darius Himes Publish Your Photography Book the 3rd edition published by Radius Books (June 2023); their online course of the same name is produced by La Luz Workshops will run April 29- July 1, 2023 (recordings online through October 1). Selected awards include the: Lifetime Achievement Award, Griffin Museum of Photography (2013); Susan Carr Award for Education, ASMP (2014); SPE Honored Educator (2015).
Lisa Woodward, Co-Curator, Pictura Gallery, Bloomington, IN
Lisa Woodward is Co-Curator (along with Mia Dalglish) at Pictura Gallery, a non-profit contemporary photography gallery in Bloomington, IN. She serves as a portfolio reviewer for international conferences and festivals such as Fotofest, Photolucida, and Les Rencontres d’Arles. Lisa juries photography competitions and serves as a guest critic for university classrooms. She is an alumna of the Rhode Island School of Design’s photography program. Pictura has gained a reputation for its nuanced exhibits as a thoughtful venue for emerging and established artists, focusing on work with strong formal sensibilities and depth of content. Pictura mounts six exhibitions annually with a mix of solo and two-person shows, and typically one group show. After 10 years as a commercial space, Pictura has recently become a nonprofit, joining forces with the new FAR center for the contemporary arts, serving the local community and the Midwest with exhibitions and educational programs. Pictura is pursuing the intersection of photography and other art forms, such as dance, performance, music, and poetry. To that end, Lisa is looking for projects that push past the boundaries of the frame, into time-based forms and broader installations.
Frank D. Yamrus, Board of Trustees/Executive Committee/Programs Committee Chair, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA
Frank Yamrus is a current member of the Board of Trustees, serves on the Executive Committee and is the Programs Committee Chair for the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, California. He has also served on the Board of Directors at SF Camerawork and BlueSky Gallery in the early 2000s. Frank splits his time between Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California, and has recently found his way back to the camera and the photography community after a longer than planned respite. Over the last 30 years, Frank has exhibited extensively across the United States and Europe, and his images can be found in many public and private collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum; Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Kinsey Institute of Indiana University; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; and Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin, Special Collection. He is represented by ClampArt in New York City and Catherine Couturier Gallery in Houston, Texas. His work has been published in numerous books and magazines including: the Victoria & Albert Museum’s upcoming publication, Calling the Shot: A Queer History of Photography; I Feel Lucky (monograph); The Unseen Eye – Photographs from the Unconscious; We Were Here Film (film stills in documentary movie), Feminine Persuasion – Art and Essays on Sexuality; CrEATe – Eating Designs and Future Foods; Hommes pour Hommes; Whitman’s Men – Walt Whitman’s Calamus Poems Celebrated by Contemporary Photographers; Fully Exposed – The Male Nude in Photography; The New Yorker; The Paris Review; Zyzzyva; and many others.
Joanne Junga Yang, Artistic Director, Korea International Photo Festival
Joanne Junga Yang is an artistic director, curator, juror, lecturer, portfolio reviewer and writer in the field of photography, working within a wide range internationally. She is the artistic director of Korea International Photo Festival (KIPF) which has been held at Hangaram Art Museum of Seoul Arts Center in Seoul, South Korea since 2018, and is also the director and curator of Y&G Art Global contemporary project, collaborating with galleries, magazines and private museums on curating and collecting. She has organized and curated a variety of exhibitions on contemporary art and photography, such as Dong Gang International Photography Festival, Seoul Photo Festival and many more. She received The Art and Culture Award for Curating of the Seoul Photo Festival (2011) from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and she was appointed as Director of the International Committee by the Seoul Metropolitan City Government. Joanne is author of many articles on photography, and has interviewed international artists for such diverse magazines as Korea Monthly Photography, PhotoDot, Monthly PhotoArt, Art Now and more. Joanne is most interested in viewing contemporary and developed bodies of work covering diverse issues. She is not interested in reviewing commercial photography.