Cassilhaus

Durham Academy

Our efforts to get more students involved here at Cassilhaus are starting to pay off.  My friend and wonderful photographer Harrison Haynes, a recent Bard MFA, has started teaching at Durham Academy and brought three sections of his intro photo classes to see Lisa McCarty's MFA thesis show (more on that in another post when the stars align) and some of the permanent collection here. It was fascinating to see them try to wrap their brains around her handmade analog film cameras and more conceptual work when their photo world to date has pretty much revolved around their iPhones.

Fortunately Lisa was on hand to explain her work to the students

Frank had to pinch hit for one class.

 

THANKS HARRISON!

 

Deborah Luster Wins Guggenheim for Photography

HUGE congratulations to New Orleans based photographer and Cassilhaus Artist-in-Residence alum Deborah Luster for being awarded a Guggenheim fellowship for her stunning and singular photographic work.

Debbie is best known for her long-term documentary series, One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana (1998–2003, with poet C. D. Wright), a photographic archive of portraits of prisoners from three Louisiana prisons, including the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola; and Tooth for an Eye: a Chorography of Violence in Orleans Parish (2008–2011), a photographic archive of cityscapes documenting locations in New Orleans where homicides have been committed. Twin Palms Publishing has issued monographs of both collections.

Luster’s awards include the Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize for Documentary Photography from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University (with C. D. Wright), an Anonymous Was a Woman Award, the John Guttman Award, the Bucksbaum Family Award for American Photography, and a Peter S. Reed Foundation Award.

Her work is included in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Smithsonian American Art Museum; New Orleans Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Pier 24, San Francisco; the Margulies Collection, Miami; and other notable public and private collections.

WAY TO GO DEBBIE!

fRIPp (1999-2013)

We had to say goodbye to our dear friend Fripp today after 15 years together. I take the liberty of putting this tribute on the Cassilhaus blog because he was so much a part of the life here. He was an amazingly friendly and social cat and always had to be where the action was.  At every opening and every event he was somewhere underfoot or on someone's lap.

Fripp was particularly helpful during installation of artwork.

Hanging out with his sister Siberry

He was an exceptionally good napper.

Fripp was an extraordinary being.  Because I work at home we were pretty inseperable. He was a great friend to me and always knew when I needed support and never left my side when I was sick. I can't really imagine life around here without him. Please raise a glass to Fripp when you read this and thank him for a life extraordinarily lived. If you or someone you know would like to adopt a cat or kitten in honor of Fripp there are many that need new homes or you can support the important work of Independant Animal Rescue, Goathouse Refuge or your local animal shelter.

My brother John told me that when it rains really hard it is the world saying goodbye.  It has poured all day today.  Goodbye and thank you Fripper.

“What greater gift than the love of a cat.”
― Charles Dickens

 

 

 

DUKE FOREST SWIRLS

It's been a while since I picked up a camera to do non documentary work. One of my New Year's resolutions was to shoot more for myself.  I was walking in Duke Forest near Cassilhaus a few weeks ago and I remembered reading in David Pogue's iPhone book that the shutter release on an iPhone camera happens when you release the button rather than when you press it--the theory being  you will have less camera movement.  It was getting close to dusk and I started playing with holding the button and releasing while wildly moving my arm in various directions.  I got totally absorbed and was loving what I was getting and before I knew it my battery was dead and it was almost completely dark and I was a good 10 minutes from civilization. I managed to stumble my way to the trailhead and downloaded these when I got home.

“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”

― Kahil Gibran, Sand and Foam