SPE 2001 NATIONAL CONFERENCE.

Society for Photographic Education 

38th Annual Conference

Savannah, Georgia 

February 15-18, 2001

This year's national Society for Photographic Education (SPE) conference demonstrated the medium's continuing ability to integrate technological advances into teaching and practice. Although the conference had no specified theme, presentations and portfolios, for example, were bursting with digital productions. Adobe presented a session on their updates to Photoshop 6.0 (where t-shirts were given away, seemingly the most exciting event of the conference from the tittering in the hallways afterward) and Epson was a major sponsor.

The conference, which was hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), whose faculty, students, campus and affiliated galleries were an integral part of the activities, began with a keynote address by photographer Gregory Crewdson. Crewdson spoke of his "irrational need to construct a perfect world and picture," saying, "we all have internal stories we are trying to project onto external reality." In his work there is an emphasis on aesthetic beauty with an underlying tension of something amiss, all executed with an obsessive attention to detail. In his diorama-based work, instead of making the miniature real, he seeks to make the "real fictional," saying that he is not interested in highlighting the artifice of his work, but rather considers himself a realist. His recent work, made in Leigh, Massachusetts with the assistance of local residents, looks cinematic and his artistic process has indeed become as involved as filmmaking--employing painstaking set construction, the use of a director, cran es and theatrical lighting. Replacing the lush beauty of earlier work is the voyeuristic quality of the "Hover" series, shot from an elevated viewpoint, where the viewer is placed above Crewdson's staged happenings. He admits that he is "comfortable saying they are interventions in a sense." Crewdson's work is replete with dichotomous tensions. As he explains, his work is a place "where possibility and impossibility collide ... where order meets up with mystery." He also showed video clips from the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, by Steven Speilberg), finding a metaphor for artmaking in Richard Dreyfuss's extra-terrestrially inspired mound-building character, saying that artists are compelled to find meaning in the outside world.

The body of the conference was composed of 19 imagemaker presentations, 18 lectures/presentations by individuals, 6 panel presentations, 6 screenings and 10 graduate student presentations. The 59 such events scheduled reflected a nearly 50% increase in the number of presentations from last year's conference. As a result, many were held in small rooms that quickly filled to capacity, forcing many to attend other presentations or to skip sessions entirely. While this was frustrating, it often led to wonderful surprises. Jan Peterson Roddy's "In the Bones" was one of those gems. Roddy was raised in the Ozark Mountains and her images reflect the mystery, oddity and beauty of that locale. Her slide presentation was more of a performance, her words as unsettling and seductive as the images. Roddy's visual and audio recollections possessed a softness of manner despite the harshness of the lives she depicts. Roddy stated that "matters of the spirit" have always been present in her work.

Several other Individual imagemakers held equal appeal. The title alone of Mark Sawrie's presentation--"The Socio-Political-Sexual-Surrealism of an Intellectual Redneck: And All Semen In Between"--not surprisingly drew a crowd that filled the small room half an hour before show time. Sawrie's content and choice of media vary greatly--from semen prints to sculpture commenting on what Americans worship to animal rights collages to his most recent sexually charged digital work--and address his "multiple representations of self." Peter Shreyer works with young Haitians in Florida to document the closing of farms as well as the youths' everyday lives, believing that "documentary photographers have the opportunity to right wrongs from the past." Walter Bodle of Youth in Focus in Seattle informed the audience about the related NewEyes Project, spearheaded by Allan Coleman, that aims to compile information about and create a network for youth photography programs around the country. Elijah Gowin's "Learning from Fol k Artists: Constructing Contemporary Photographs" provided a tour of the work of two of his artistic influences, Southerners Howard Finster and Lonnie Holley, including a six-minute video on the latter in his own voice. Gowin's own theatrical scenes, constructed narratives and self-portraits are reminiscent of those of his contemporary Robert ParkeHarrison. Matthew Swarts presented his startlingly intimate black and white photographs taken at Camp Hill, a facility for the developmentally disabled. Swarts exposes the residents to the camera and vice versa, expressing humanity from within a stereotyped world.

Roger Sayre's slide show of the traveling exhibition he curated, "This is Not a Photograph: Photography's Other History and its Progeny," was thoroughly engaging. The mostly cameraless work of such artists as Susan Derges, Adam Fuss, Duncan Klein, Amanda Means and James Welling had an enthusiastic overflow crowd oohing and ahhing and asking for the spellings of names. A particularly unique presentation was found in "Replication of the Invention of Photography in the Inventor's Restored House," a step-by-step documentation of the excavation of Nicephore Niepce's home and workspace. Two French researchers used analytical tools such as dendrochronology to determine precisely where Niepce took the first photograph as well as to reenact the exact chemical and mechanical processes used to create it. Their dedication and scientific method, as well as their tactile display of the results of their experiments with different early photographic processes, provided a stunning presentation. Kathleen Campbell's "Surrealis m, Sadism and Censorship," attracted a young crowd apparently eager to bolster their art historical foundations. Campbell provided a solid chronological history of visual sadism beginning with Michelangelo, ultimately connecting Robert Mapplethorpe to the trend as a deconstructionist turning the female as object-victim scenario into one of male victim.

The panel "More Than One: The Display of Images in Time and Space" addressed the issues of sequencing and display of multiple images. Gary Metz and David Freund shared thoughtful strategies they use in instructing students. Barbara Jo Reville spoke of accumulation and images as evidence of a process. She presented a barrage of images in dizzying succession, demonstrating the obsessive use of images in her process and work. Nathan Lyons offered his theories on teaching issues of sequencing, which include not maintaining an emphasis merely on product. "Dream Works: From Lava Lamps to Megabytes--Now What?" and "Delicate Balances: Creative Intersections in Art, Science and Technology" were panels devoted to discussions of digital concerns. The first was a show and tell of enviable facilities at Columbia College, University of Arizona, University of Missouri at Kansas City and Sedona Center for Arts and Technology. Panelists also addressed critical issues of the computer literate/conceptually challenged high scho ol students entering universities, the need for universities to pool resources between departments for shared facilities and funding, and emerging new genre programs. Judy Natal and Margaret Wagner, in "Delicate Balances," addressed the more conceptual challenges of working in the digital realm. Wagner spoke of her process of collaboration with a number of other artists, including her recent co-founding of the New England Research Ensemble, whose project "Imaging New England" utilizes interactive virtual reality and video to examine issues of space and personal location within it. "From Theory to Practice: An Exploration of Teaching Strategies That Merge Theory with Art Making" included pedagogical strategies such as those elaborated on by Clare Cornell, who uses carefully selected and increasingly more complex texts to introduce students to theory. Joann Brennan suggested that educators teach critical ideas, not just critical theory. Cornell concluded by explaining that the "text" often has too much agency a nd is considered the authority. We must remember that what is within the text is what is actually being taught, he said.

Perhaps the most thought-provoking panel was "Rethinking a Curriculum of the New Millennium: What Are We Teaching Now?," a continuation of last year's panel "A Curriculum for the New Millennium" and discussions at the Reunion of American Photography Institute National Graduate Seminar in June 2000. Stacey McCarroll addressed the collapsing boundaries of photography with new media and the critical need for more interdisciplinary approaches. Even the terms "photography" and "photographic education" are problematic In their exclusivity, suggesting a term more inclusive of new media be explored. Maxine Payne Caulfield shared her experiences teaching in an area that is not as open to new technologies and teaching strategies. She provided an important counterpoint of how to work with limitations in both facilities and communities. Stephanie Dinkins posed questions regarding students of photography: What do students need to know? What do they need physically? What do they know already? Just as important, she stress ed the need to make educator jobs more manageable (i.e., current conditions of full teaching load plus darkroom and digital lab maintenance is unreasonable). She also suggested that SPE should draft a document with guidelines for media-based instruction, similar to the guidelines available through the College Art Association, but more specific to the discipline. Flagan presented a new resource for educators, www.syllabus.ws/, an on-line directory of syllabi for the visual arts.

The Honored Educators at this year's conference were Betty Hahn and Thomas Barrow. Both have spent many years at the University of New Mexico and spent early years of their careers in Rochester, NY--Hahn teaching at Rochester Institute for Technology and Barrow working at the George Eastman House. Hahn's career has been distinguished by her experimentation with the photographic medium, including printmaking techniques, sewing and collage on photographs and the use of her toy camera. Her talk reflected the hard work and good sense of humor that has sustained her colorful career. Barrow presented a retrospective of his career as artist and teacher, beginning with his undergraduate work at the Kansas City Art Institute and culminating in his most recent work incorporating color Polaroids in jewel boxes mounted on sheet metal. Barrow, who is retiring, said he will miss teaching but has a "a lot of work to do."

Along with a general trend toward the inclusion of more digital work, there was a noted increase in the exhibition of moving images. Margaret Stratton had a featured--and well attended--screening of her new 25-minute film Except a Miracle (2000), a hilarious chronicle of sightings of the Virgin Mary around the world. The video Evon Streetman, produced by the College of Charleston to coincide with a retrospective of Streeman's work, was also screened. Mark Alice Durant presented and spoke about a series of works by Maya Deren. The Women's Caucus sponsored Blink by Elizabeth Thompson, an experimental documentary about a former white supremacist leader, as well as three short films by Zeinabu Irene Davis. Davis was also the closing night's featured speaker, presenting her feature film Compensation (1999). Although this complex film exploring issues of love, race, history and other-abledness was well received, it became impossible to hold a Q&A session concerning the film's complex issues over the volume of the wedding band in the ballroom next door.

If the lectures, special events, gallery openings and distractingly mild weather weren't enough to keep conference-goers busy, there were portfolio reviews for both students and "non-students," the lines forming with the sunrise to get these prized 20-minute sessions. For those not willing to spend the morning in line, there were portfolios opened round-the-clock on any and every flat surface throughout the building--especially in the natural light-fed atrium, where flaneurs had to watch their step. It was exciting to see such a volume of work by both students and professionals. Printing tips, ink jet printer suggestions and cards were exchanged freely.

Both technology and students seem to be more comfortable in the SPE conference structure than in previous years. The increased appearance of both enlivened the conference and promises an exciting future for the organization. While the discussion at the Open Meeting on Sunday often centered around publicity and expansion of current conference offerings, the notion of balance was recognized as crucial to any discussion of the future of the organization. One fundamental question rises to the surface: can it still be called the Society for Photographic Education? No doubt the debate over the history and future of photographic process, in and out of the educational realm, will rage on through the next year and under the blazing sun and neon lights of the 2002 conference in Las Vegas.

KITTY HUBBARD is a photographic/digital artist and Assistant Professor at SUNY Brockport. KAREN VANMEENEN is Editor of Afterimage.