Dennis DeHart: Fine Art Photography

QUIET

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 17:03:00 +0000

Over the last year I have been working on re-designing my website and blog. You can now find posts on my website.
www.dennisdehart.com

Revised Website, Taking a Break

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 20:15:00 +0000

I recently updated my website and have decided to include selected blog posts on the homepage. From time to time I will still post on this blog, though my primary blog is now at www.dennisdehart.com

Uncertain Futures Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 17:28:00 +0000

http://cargocollective.com/uncertainfutures

Gallery of Photography, Ireland’s centre for contemporary photography

Dennis DeHart Interviewed by Maeve O'Neill

Can you tell us a little bit about the work; how did it come together and what are its' main concerns?

When and where a project begins is an interesting concept in itself. With that, I was born and raised next to the Columbia River near Portland, Oregon, USA. The river, its multiple histories, peoples, and stories are issues I grew up around as a child. It was not until after a 20 plus-year hiatus from the region, that I became consciously engaged through photography. My main concern is in expressing how interconnected everything is; that what we do in our own back yard, has a broader affect on the larger world we live in. The rivers are an apt metaphor, as it is a quantitative thing that illustrates the concept literally. For example, when salmon can no longer travel to their spawning grounds because of damning, it affects the entire ecology of the region in measurable ways.

Confluences is an interesting word; it means the point where bodies of water meet - and rivers and dams are crucial to this area - but it also means a flow between different things and the coming together of people. The ways in which different social histories fuse in the landscape are obviously important to you. Can you expand on this?

In engaging with landscapes with significant social histories, I am often struck by the presence in the absence. For example, this winter my two sons and I travelled to Doug Bar in Hell’s Canyon between Oregon and Idaho. The site we visited was quite remote-some 40 miles from the nearest town. It was a place in which the United States Calvary drove the Nez Perce Native American’s across the Snake River and out of their homeland. The layers of history imbued in sometimes seemingly banal spaces, emotionally move me.

Politicians in the US are hesitant to publicly accept the seriousness of climate change; how do you feel this impacts on the issue at a grass-roots level?
US politics have became increasingly polarized, much to the detriment of seemingly common sense solutions. On the grass-roots level, these solutions are often “radicalized”, which can then be used to degrade common sense solutions to the point of ineffectiveness.

The American landscape - rural and urban - holds a symbolic / iconic quality... it's been channeled into the world via cinema and photography. Do you feel influenced by this?

Indeed, I do feel influenced by the “Myth of the West.” Growing up in the Pacific Northwest of the US, it is nearly impossible not to have been influenced on some level by these narratives. I also went to Graduate school in New Mexico, where the faculty worked to both challenge and inspire us to consider these narratives in a critical and engaged manner. While I am critical in some respects of the concept of the “west”, as an American, I also cannot help but to feel a certain inkling to these stories, problems and all.

And finally; given that digital and Internet technology have changed the medium forever, what do you see in store for photography?

Photography is a little bit like water these days; we depend on it, yet we take it for granted most of the time. I feel there will always be a desire to make art and tell stories, which photography is well suited to do.

Featured on New Landscape Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 21:48:00 +0000

Thanks Wilson for featuring my work!

Confluences, Royal City & Othello, Grant County, Washington State

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 18:35:00 +0000

Hone, 30x40 Pigment Print, © Dennis DeHart, 2013

Motel, 30x40 Pigment Print, © Dennis DeHart, 2013

Thinking Local

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 31 May 2013 23:29:00 +0000

Our Art Walk 2013 lineup is jaw dropping with talent:

Martha McIver- paintings

Derek Sullivan- art prints

Moscow Wood Turners- wood

Morse Clary- wood

Dennis DeHart- photography

Rachel Jerome Ferraro- photography

Elizabeth Fleming- photography

Ian Van Coller- photography

With live music provided by the BookPeople Banjo Bonanza!!!

Palouse Project (Notes)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:24:00 +0000

Bioregional Imagination
The Localization Reader, MIT
Lure of the Local, Lucy Lippard
Education: Engagement, human element, experiential
Rob Thayer, UC Davis/
Nature culture courses-bioregion.ucdavis.edu

Everything is in a state of change

Root of Camas Lily. Photographed at Nez Perce National Historical Park, Spalding, Idaho

Question: What is a natural state?

"Stories are affected by landscape shifts."

Dustin Aherin, 5th Generation Lewiston resident

Photographed at the Snake, Clearwater Confluence

Entropy

Children of the Pleistocene
footprintnetwork.org
Moogs/Distance learning
Place Based Education
CEREO
Office of Undergrad Education
Center for Civic Engagement

Portland State/Harold Fletcher-Art and Social Practice

Lumber

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:51:00 +0000

Lumber strewn about from train derailment, from Confluences, ©Dennis DeHart, 2013

Becoming at WSU

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 May 2013 19:01:00 +0000

https://news.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=36265&TypeID=2

Hi: I saw the news story on the “Becoming” exhibit—our early childhood faculty are meeting this afternoon and wanted to end with a visit to the gallery—how late is it open? Thanks and congratulations, looks like a wonderful collection of work.

Brenda Boyd, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Human Development

Washington State University

Becoming:Installation Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 May 2013 01:19:00 +0000

Installation from the group show Becoming. The exhibition includes Dennis DeHart, Ian van Coller,

Elizabeth Fleming, and Rachel Jerome Ferraro.

Photograph As Object

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 04:22:00 +0000

Preparing for the "Becoming" exhibition this week, I came across two empty display cases in the hall (Thanks Kevin Haas) Letting my impulsive side take over, I decided to go through my archives of cards and catalogs from the last decade. After a bit of digging, I found a multitude of catalogs and cards from when I was a graduate student at the University of New Mexico. Included among the catalogs was "Photo Objects", an exhibition and catalog curated by Geoffrey Batchen at the UNM Art Museum.

Display cabinets with cards and catalogs referencing photo as object from UNM, 1999-2002. Includes a catalog by Geoffrey Batchen, for the exhibit, "Photo Objects", from the UNM Art Museum. Background, Gallery 3 and video projects outside Gallery 3.

Detail of the photo above, "The Photograph as object", with catalog by Geoffrey Batchen.Other cards and catalogs include Myra Greene, Kathleen Robbins, John Mann, Patrick Manning, Chris Colville, Ian van Coller, Professor Jim Stone, Professor and Adrienne Salinger.

The "Photograph As Object" is period of history and snap shot in time. It also refers to the dialogue and culture being produced at UNM during this period including specifically by Critical Theorist Geoffrey Batchen, and Photography Professors Thomas Barrow and Patrick Nagatani. The catalogs and cards function on two levels, with one being documents of photographers predominately focused on working with the photograph as a physical media, for example. On the other level, the catalogs and cards are actual objects, which, with the rise of the internet and social media, are a document of a diminishing form of media as objects in their own right.

Installation in process for the show, "Becoming", Gallery 3, Washington State University.

Unpacking and visualizing the installation of framed prints for "Becoming", in the physical space of the gallery, has been surprisingly satisfying. As much as I value the broad reach of the internet and social media as a way to disseminate photographs to broad audiences, there is still nothing quite like working with, and experiencing photographs as objects in physical space.

Confluences Featured on Places: Design Observer

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:32:00 +0000

I am both excited and honored that my project Confluences is featured on Design Observer: Places today.

http://places.designobserver.com

Photographer Dennis DeHart has been following the rivers as his guide to the Inland Pacific Northwest. His photos examine the incredible contradictions of this region, shaped by engineered river systems, New Deal irrigation projects, nuclear production facilities, junkyards and hydroplane races, and ten thousand years of Native American fishing and land use.

http://places.designobserver.com/feature/confluences-photographs-of-the-inland-northwest/37820/

Becoming Exhibition, Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:15:00 +0000

BECOMING

Four artists contemplate childhood through contemporary fine art photography

Dennis DeHart www.dennisdehart.com

Rachel Jerome Ferrao www.racheljeromeferraro.com

Elizabeth Fleming www.elizabethfleming.com

Ian van Coller www.ianvancoller.com

Inaugural exhibitions:

Washington State University, Department of Fine Arts, Pullman, Washington.

Gallery 3, Fine Arts Building (Adjacent to the WSU Art Museum)

May 1-25, 2013

Becoming is a fine art, traveling exhibition focused on childhood through the lens of contemporary photography. Initially an exhibition idea spearheaded by native South African photographer Ian van Coller, Becoming examines childhood through poignant moments of family, humor, intrigue, and drama.

Ian van Coller, a Professor of Photography at Montana State University, will exhibit prints from his series and book “Growing Up in Montana,” which focuses on childhood innocence. Citing the ability to study life through photographs as her primary drive to make pictures, New York-based commercial and art photographer Rachel Jerome Ferraro will be showcasing her personal fine art work in “Family.” Drawing largely from her interest in memory, longing and mystery in the everyday, New Jersey-based photographer Elizabeth Fleming will be presenting work from her project “Life is a Series of Small Moments.” Embracing a philosophical point of view of early childhood education and play, Washington State Fine Art faculty member Dennis DeHart will exhibit photographs from his series “At Play.”

Becoming is a celebratory and thoughtful exhibition that draws from the vernacular of the family. Focusing on such basic human qualities as innocence, play, inquiry, and memory, Becoming innately celebrates the temporal nature of childhood en route to becoming.

Cowboy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 05:10:00 +0000

Cowboy, From the Confluences Project, Asotin, Washington.© Dennis DeHart, 2013

Detail, Cowboy, From the Confluences Project, Asotin, Washington.© Dennis DeHart, 2013

Help Support Youth in Focus' Double Exposure 2013 Fundraising Event

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 22:21:00 +0000

Youth in Focus’s mission is to empower urban youth, through photography, to experience their world in new ways and to make positive choices for their lives. We put cameras in the hands of low income, at-risk youth and place them in a challenging environment surrounded by high quality talented teachers, nurturing adult volunteer mentors, and create a strong community of support. Through photography our students find their voice, identity, creativity, and gain new confidence in their worth and abilities. http://youthinfocus.org

Below is a pieces I donated for the auction. Help support Youth in Focus. Buy art!

Title: When I See You, I Will Show You Our Road

Pigment Print on 17x22 Hahneumuhle Paper, From Edition of 10, 2007

Original 4x5 Film Image, Found Stereo Card, Postcard from Family Archive

Estimated Value: $500.00

The Best Camera is the One Thats With You???

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:50:00 +0000

Recently I caught my self using the catchphrase "the best Camera is the one you have with you." Doing a quick google search, I noted that this quote comes from Chase Jarvis has been around for a couple of years. The phrase appears to be partly a marketing slogan for Instagram/I-Phones and an ode to the DIY hipster spirit coupled with the basic human desire to make snapshots. In almost every outlet for photography including "serious" art and journalism, you can't help but notice the ubiquitous and stylized "square" photograph, which is generally made with an I-phone and edited with Instagram.

A couple of examples include Rock Hushka, an artist himself and curator with the Tacoma Art Museum, who in his recent lecture at WSU, discussed a contemporary photographer he likes (the name alludes me) who publishes Instagram photos of flowers. Rock discussed these photos, without irony, in the same lecture/context that he discussed works by David Wojnarowicz, Michael Kenna, and Edward Curtis. Another example is the recent NY times publication of an a I-phone/Instagram photo of Alex Rodriguez, by sports photographer Nick Laham, on the front of its March 24, 2013 Sunday times. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/01/ny-times-instagram-photo-front-page_n_2991746.html.

Rolling Hills Derby Dames, ©Dennis DeHart

Rolling Hills Derby Dames, ©Dennis DeHart

The stylized aesthetic that comes with an unobtrusive, low profile camera, is appealing. For example, I snapped the two photographs above, during a women's roller derby tournament. My I-phone/Pod allowed me a low fi confidence in which I made thoughtfully composed snapshots, with a pre prepared aesthetic package. I personally think the two photographs are fun and encapsulates a bit of the energy and the spirit of the event. Right now- I don't want to think to much about the impact this kind of photography is and will continue to have on "serious" photography. In this instance, the best camera we had with us was between my wife's old school cell phones or my i-pod. It worked out fine for what it is. In writing this post, the great Andy Warhol comes to mind. I am going to finish the post by including few quotes by him.

“Art is what you can get away with.”-Andy Warhol

“A picture means I know where I was every minute. That's why I take pictures. It's a visual diary.” -Andy Warhol

“I believe in low lights and trick mirrors.” -Andy Warhol

“Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?”-Andy Warhol

“You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.”-Andy Warhol

At Play 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 18:47:00 +0000

From the Series At Play, April 2013. © Dennis DeHart

Bessie

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 04:46:00 +0000

Bessie, Digital Capture, Archival Pigment Print, © Dennis DeHart, 2013

Arid Lands

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 04:26:00 +0000

http://www.sidelongfilms.com/

Then.Now.Here.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 05:33:00 +0000

Six of my photographs will be included Then. Now. Here., which is a photography exhibition curated by guest juror Motoya Nakamura. The projected/slideshow exhibition is part of Portland Photo Month and will be included in the following venues.

PORTLAND PHOTO MONTH OPENING RECEPTION

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 3^rd 8pm-9:30pm

Location: Oregon Historical Society (1200 SW Park Avenue)

Details: Help us kick off Portland Photo Month in style. The evening will include the first screening of "Then. Now. Here." with live music by Portland jazz/swing trio Boy and Bean. Light snacks and drinks will be served and Photolucida's photography monographs will also be for sale. Join us for a festive evening.

FIRST FRIDAY SCREENING

Date/Time: Friday, April 5^th 6-9pm

Location: Newspace Center for Photography (1632 SE 10th Avenue)

FIRST THURSDAY SCREENING

Date/Time: Thursday, April 4^th 8pm-9pm

Location: Regional Arts & Culture Council building facade (411 NW Park Avenue)

UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE (Roseburg, Oregon)

Date/Time: Thursday, April 25th

Location: Auditorium (1140 Umpqua College Rd, Roseburg, OR)

PHOTOLUCIDA'S PORTFOLIO WALK

Date/Time: Thursday, April 18^th 6-9pm

Location: Castaway (1900 NW 18th Ave.)

PEARL DISTRICT GALLERY WALK

Date/Time: Saturday, April 20^th 8-9pm

Location: DeSoto Building facade (122 NW 8th Avenue)

BLUE SKY GALLERY

Date/Time A continuous slideshow will also run throughout the month of April in the window.
Location: Blue Sky Gallery (122 NW 8th Avenue)

Backlight Artist Residency

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:48:00 +0000

I am very honored to be included in the Backlight Photo Festival's artist residency this summer in Finland. The line up includes:

Zoé Beausire, Switzerland

Nathalie Belayche, France

Dennis DeHart, USA

Clare Gallagher, UK/Northern Ireland

Thanks Tuula and Backlight! Looking forward to meeting everyone soon.

Two Recent Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Open Range

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 02:07:00 +0000

Wallula

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:45:00 +0000

Near the site of the original Fort Nez Perce and home of the Walla Wallas tribe,

Lower Granite Dam

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 06:20:00 +0000