Molly Ahearn

Jokers Are Welcome at Full Deck Design

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:11:00 +0000

I don't usually talk about my day job on this blog, but today I simply couldn't resist. I've just opened a boutique graphic design firm specializing in web and print media—Full Deck Design. My first job was to create a brand for an open studio tour for a group of artists. The artists love what I designed and are hoping it will attract lots of visitors this labor day. If you'd like to see it, check out a mini view on my newly launched website or check out the Art Studio Views website directly.

Please consider asking me for an estimate the next time you need web or print work. You'll get the full deck if you hire me!

July 4th Parade: A Slice of American Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:22:00 +0000

Insider's Look: Frosted Pumpkin

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:22:00 +0000

My Photo Stories
His father made fun of him for being afraid of the family jack-o-lantern, but Teddie had a plan to get rid of it.
Or…Sick and tired of green goose poop littering his cornfields, his tractor tires and his boots, Farmer O’Leary took to scaring them off with lit jack-o-lanterns.
Or…Ned just missed seeing little Jack Frost powder the corn stalks with the season’s first frost, the breath from his tiny horse forming large clouds of white smoke.
Or…what are your story ideas?

Buy a Frosted Pumpkin Photo
Be the first to buy a Frosted Pumpkin print online and get a 50% discount on the size of your choice. This is my July 2009 home page photo, part of my Truths, Lies and Legends collection.

Bounty Show Big Success

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:25:00 +0000

The weather was dismal, but the G.A.S. gallery was packed. The first group show of the Hudson Valley 7 was a major success. For the first time, I showed work from my Truths, Lies and Legends collection—a combination of my written storytelling and my photography. I was a little nervous about what people might think, but was delighted to hear giggles and words of praise as people read the stories. I even sold one! Thanks to everyone for coming. Thanks to Jen for snapping my picture!

Main Printing Matches ModernPostcard

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:23:00 +0000

In these tough economic times, it’s good to save money when you can. But, it’s even more important to support local businesses. If you can do both at the same time, well, that’s a no-brainer. We chose Main Printing in Poughkeepsie to print the post cards for our upcoming Bounty show. Owner Marla Neville recently bought a high-end digital machine that allows her to offer color output at competitive prices. She matched ModernPostcard’s price for a 5x7 post card. Add to that, her eye for quality, and the card is beautiful. If you need small-run printed pieces, ask her for an estimate. You won’t be sorry.

Loved Lisbon

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:49:00 +0000

Lisbon is a charming city. The old trolley cars from San Francisco run up and down its steep hills. A broad, tree-lined central avenue reminiscent of La Rambla in Barcelona runs to the heart of the city. Much of the old town was completely wiped out by a devastating earthquake/tsunami. Since it was all rebuilt at the same time and under the control of a king, the buildings flow seamlessly into one another. Instead of marble, the Portuguese use an easy-to-carve type of lime that comes in shades of black, white, blue and rose. Tiles of it decorate event the sidewalks. The Monastery of Saint Jerome shows off spectacular carvings in the white lime. We didn’t have nearly enough time in Lisbon. I will definitely return one day.

Gray is the Color Porto

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Porto, like the liquor of the same name, is an acquired taste. The gray skies melt into its gray buildings—broken only occasionally, and as a result, somewhat shockingly—by brilliantly -colored ceramic tile facades. The tiles apparently stand up to the stormy Atlantic weather. A brutal dictator, António de Oliveira Salazar, ruled Portugal from 1932 to 1968. The scars of his torture and pillage remain in the minds of its people. In a small town not far from the border, a statue of a broken chain celebrates their freedom upon his death.

Stone River Archival Rocks!

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:48:00 +0000

Got my prints for the Bounty Hudson Valley 7 show and they look fabulous! I know I’ve mentioned him before, but seriously, if you need quality digital output call Steve Kerner (845.679.6286). He knows more about profiles than you’ll ever dream of learning. And being an artist himself, he knows how to talk to artists about subtleties in color, hue and contrast—over the phone!

BOUNTY: A Show by the Hudson Valley 7

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Sun, 31 May 2009 14:06:00 +0000

About once a month, I get together with 6 other artists to talk about art, motivate each other and enjoy each other's home cooking. We call ourselves the Hudson Valley 7 and we're about to have a group show at the G.A.S. gallery at 196 Main Street in Poughkeepsie. I'm going to be showing work from my new collection, Truth, Lies and Legends. The opening reception is sure to be as lively as the art. Join us June 20 from 6-9 pm.

Jennifer Axinn-Weiss is a mixed media artist who has exhibited for over 25 years. Jennifer creates textured, often figurative works, at times blurring the boundary between painting and collage. She currently employs vintage imagery of Geisha and Victorian women evoking both romance and contemplation.

Susan Hoffman, a pioneering contemporary quilt maker for over 35 years, thinks like a painter. Fabric is her palette and stitches are her pencil. Using traditional piecework and quilting techniques, she is inspired by the environment we share and the warmth quilts generate— both literally and metaphorically.

Joanne Klein creates minimalist color field paintings in which color relationships and linear planes are fundamental to the articulation of emotive content. Her work is both controlled and exuberant.

E. Elizabeth Peters is a multidisciplinary artist whose recent work explores the history of 17th century Dutch still life painting and the continuing impact of global trade and post colonialism in contemporary art and culture.

Helen Suter incorporates diverse, reused materials in her large-scale steel constructions, small objects and works on paper. Her current body of work reflects her opposition to all wars, an idea to use fabric and her confidence in communicating perceptions, feelings and concepts through purely visual means.

Elizabeth Watt is a photographer whose lush 20x24 polaroid Botanical studies are reminiscent of Dutch still life paintings. Elizabeth draws her inspiration from painting, collage, sculpture and nature. Her photographs are characterized by a painterly sensibility, classical composition and exquisite light.

Seaside in San Sebastian and Cathedral-side in Santiago de Compostela

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Sun, 31 May 2009 13:42:00 +0000

One cool thing about traveling with a tour group is the local guide who introduces you to their city and its history. Cristina, our guide to San Sebastian was a chatty, lively woman who shared (perhaps too much) its history. Napoleon conquered the city in 1858. When the Spanish forces came to liberate them from his reign in 1863, they trashed the place and burned it to the ground. As a result, there are very few old buildings.

San Sebastian became a popular seaside resort when Queen Elizabeth visited as part of a cure for a herpes (!) condition. Her treatment included medication and a daily dip in salt water. An oxen-drawn carriage was pulled through the sea enabling the water to rise up through her skirts. At the end of her stay, the herpes was gone, she spoke of its beauty and its cure, and the place has been a hot spot for the rich and famous ever since.

Life in the Mountains of Northern Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:13:00 +0000

Beautiful Barcelona

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:44:00 +0000

Thirty years ago, I went to the University of Barcelona for my junior year of college. A brief four years after Franco’s death, people were trying to rebuild the Catalan heritage that he’d tried hard to extinguish. Forbidden to speak their native language (a completely different tongue than Spanish) throughout his 40+ years in power, scholars were trying to piece together a dictionary from old-timers who could still remember it. Fancy my surprise upon landing to discover that no one wanted to speak the Spanish I’d come to learn!

Cell phones and computers didn’t exist and phone calls were prohibitively expensive so it was the first time I was really all on my own. Perhaps the best year of my life, I met all kinds of new people from all over Europe, ate (and loved) exotic food like octopus and artichokes and paella and ugly-looking mushrooms, learned to conserve water and heat and electricity and gas, and so much more.

A highlight of the year was my family’s trip to visit at Christmas. I was thrilled to show them the splendor of ancient and beautiful Barcelona. My mom was so excited to go to Spain, she’d booked their airline tickets before I’d even been accepted into the program. Thirty years later, she treated me to a three-week visit back to Spain. THANKS MOM!!!

Swimming Fish in Bilbao

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:05:00 +0000

Frank Gehry (nee Goldberg) blasted into international stardom with his design for the Guggenheim in Bilbao. The curved titanium shapes were inspired by memories of fish swimming in his grandmother’s bathtub at Passover. I’d heard that the building was more of an attraction than the art inside, but that was not the case when I visited. The best was a powerful collection of work by Cai Guo-Qiang. A room full of broken statues of workers and exploited Chinese during the of Mao Tse Tung's Reconstruction smacks you in the face. I’ll never forget the look on the mother’s face as she reaches for her baby that’s being taken from her by a soldier. Another piece called The Age of Disbelieving consisted of several wooden sculptures hanging at different heights. Each sculpture depicts a different religion, Christ at the top on his cross, Buddha, angels and other characters I didn’t recognize; all shot through with hundreds of arrows. Check out his work on the Guggenheim site.

Couldn't resist taking a shot of Jeff Koons' pansy-covered puppy.

A Feast for the Eyes

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:37:00 +0000

Miss me? Just back from three weeks touring Spain and Portugal with my Mom. What a treat! Here are some photos from the Boquería in Barcelona, a truly delicious place.

Art Gallery Opens in Rhinebeck

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:49:00 +0000

With its quaint downtown full of shops and restaurants and its reputation as an artists’ haven, Rhinebeck is the ideal spot for an art gallery. Owners Joel and Linda Weisbrod and Executive Director Jeff Romano invite you to the grand opening of Gazen Gallery the weekend of May 1-4. Gazen will feature Hudson Valley artists working in photography, painting, sculpture and mixed media. They’ve got an exclusive to sell some of my best-known photographs from the Dutchess County Fair and Cowgirls collections. Other work for sale includes Elizabeth Watt’s gorgeous b+w photographs of flowers and nudes, Joann Klein’s striking paintings, Jeff Romano’s intriguing constructions and drawings, David Borenstein’s playful ‘paintings,’ Barry Entner’s groovy glass sculptures, Kari Feuer’s oil-painted landscapes and Joel’s photographic giclées on canvas. If you’re interested in showing your artwork in the gallery, contact Jeff.

Centrally located in the Montgomery Row building (around back), make visiting Gazen part of your May Day weekend plans. They’re open from 10am to 7pm. The official address is 6423 Montgomery Street. Phone 876.4ART (4278).

Spring Moments in Central Park

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:10:00 +0000

Strolled through the park on my way to and from aipad a couple of weeks ago. The mild 55-degree weather brought everyone out into the park. Didn’t have time to stop and enjoy it, but shot a few as I walked.

Insider's Look: Sunflower Portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:37:00 +0000

My Photo Stories
Infused with the spirit of her work, Doris brought her class of terminally ill students to a field
of sunflowers.
Or…
Vincent’s obsessions were all born from his fervent belief in God.
Or…
Mothers think the world of their children, but Cassandra took it to a whole new level when it came to her son Chad.
Or…what are your story ideas?

Behind the Photo
Every year I admire this field of sunflowers just outside of New Paltz. I persuaded my son to paint a portrait for this Truth, Lies and Legends image. His then eight-year old eye captured their sunny, happy feel brilliantly. (Proud mama.) He came along when I shot the actual photo and was more interested in playing in the dirt than helping.

Be the first to buy a Sunflower Portrait print and get a 50% discount on the size of your choice. This is my April/May 2009 home page photo, part of my Truths, Lies and Legends collection.

Blog-o-Meter Reading March 27, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:36:00 +0000

Search results for Molly Ahearn:
• Google: #1
• Yahoo: #1
• MSN: #1

Google Page Rank for my site: 2 (out of 10)

Number of page views to this blog: 5887

Number of page views to my site: 5,398

Number of email subscribers: 26

Is Photography Dead?

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:54:00 +0000

To quote Twain, ‘reports of death have been exaggerated.’ Despite the recession’s forced pull back of aspiring and edgy photography, I saw a few jewels and some cool new techniques at this year’s aipad (Association of International Photography Art Dealers). In order to see as much as possible in one visit, I skipped any booth showing vintage work I’ve already seen. (I confess, however, to gazing fondly at Bruce Davidson’s images from Central Park.)

The most inspiring work in my eyes was from Julie Blackmon (Catherine Edelman), Carrie Mae Weems (Charles Guice) and Holly Andres (Robert Mann). Blackmon’s images star family members in intriguing and somewhat disturbing moments of everyday life. A small boy watches a young shirtless girl through the picture window of a suburban ranch house. She shoots multiple images and combines them in spectacular color and clarity. Weems’ images are sometimes playful and sometimes in-your-face disturbing views of cultural and sexual identity. A series of powerful portraits match nursery rhymes to subjects with closed eyes or bodies facing away from the camera. All of them are posed in the exact same scene—looking into a round dresser mirror at the bed opposite. Holly Andres’ images were inspired to be covers for Nancy Drew novels. You don’t need to know that to appreciate their intriguing and lonely girl subjects. A girl bends over to right a bottle of milk spilling down the front stairs on a misty night; a girl sits in a beautiful aqua dress amid dozens of paper doll-like cut outs from magazines.

Photographers using different techniques that drew my attention included Jim Campbell (Bryce Wolkowitz), Abelardo Morell (Bonni Benrubi) and Louviere & Vanessa (A Gallery for Fine Photography). Campbell sets up a still camera alongside a video camera. Using LED technology he is able to insert shadowy images of people moving through a still scene. I suspect this is a hint of what’s to come. Morell’s images are gorgeous. He creates pinhole images by blacking all the windows in a room, pricking a small hole and then exposing the scene for many hours. The image from outside is projected on the wall of the room upside down. Louviere & Vanessa process is almost as exciting as their imagery. They coat aluminum with black gesso and overlay gold or silver leaf squares. The images have a spectacular rich metallic duotone look. An oversized image of a German Sheperd leaping through the air was truly inspiring.

I was thrilled to see the work of local photographer Carolyn Marks Blackwood at Alan Klotz’ booth. She works in abstracts and changes in light that evoke wonder and tranquility. It’s not immediately apparent that these images are close up details of ice chunks and water ripples on the Hudson River.

Take the time to visit some of these galleries. There is a lot of good work to get your creative juices flowing!

All images shown here are property of artist and shown to inspire you to see more of their work.

Attention Graphic Designers: Buy Molly Ahearn Photos Through Alamy

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:29:00 +0000

Signed up with British company Alamy to sell my photos online. As a designer, I find their images fresh and varied and their user interface lightning fast. It’s the first place I go to look for royalty or licensed images. So far, I’ve uploaded a few hundred images. Search my Alamy library by hitting the link above the search box, or type in Recession, Alaska, Hudson Valley or Outer Banks. (Designers, maybe you’d like to bookmark my Alamy page?)

Fellow photographers, Alamy offers a 60/40 split favoring the artist; a heck of an improvement over the 50/50 or 40/60 of other agencies. Take advantage of their extensive keywording opportunities to make sure your photos get the most traffic. I also put a link to my Alamy search page on the home page and the portfolio page of my Web site.

Wanna Know How to Make National and International Calls for Free?

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:42:00 +0000

One of these days the free online stuff will be a thing of the past. For now though, you can do lots of stuff without spending a penny. Skype is an internet phone service. You can set up a free account and dial any other Skype user around the world and talk for free. [Free calls come in handy when you get that show in Buenos Aires, Paris or Sydney!] I’ll admit the audio quality isn’t as good as an old-style Ma Bell phone, but then again, what phone service these days does? If you have a video camera built in or attached to your computer, you can speak face-to-face with your caller. Our son really enjoys video calls with my husband when he’s traveling. If you want to get rid of your hard-wire telephone line altogether, you can buy a Skype phone and set up a paying account at a fraction of what you’re spending now. Of course, who knows how long these internet deals will last.

Great Book Starring Chelsea Gallery Owner

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:01:00 +0000

Sometimes spending a lazy day with a good book is the best medicine. Just read what my mom would call a good beach read—not too challenging intellectually, but a real page turner—The Genius by Jesse Kellerman. The premise of the book is that a young Chelsea Gallery owner discovers the abandoned work of an artist who’s created a single piece of art out of thousands of 8-1/2 x 11 size pages. On the back of each small page is the number of the page that should line up with each edge. Imagine a mind that can recall all those pieces so precisely. Grab a copy and let me know what you think.

Make Fabric from Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:06:00 +0000

Ever wanted to make a shirt or a tablecloth from one of your photos? I found a neat website—spoonflower.com—that creates fabric from photos or drawings. Here's one of the designs from their library. Though I haven’t tried it yet, the process looks pretty simple. Upload a jpg, png, tif, or gif file of your photo or design. Select what size fabric you’d like (swatch 8”x8”, 1 yard, 2 yards, etc.). Then you decide whether you’d like the design to print once in the center or create a repeat pattern that will fill the area of your fabric order. The orders are printed on 100% cotton fabric and cost $18.00 per yard ($5.00 for an 8”x8” swatch). The company is a new one, so orders could take up to 3 weeks. After they get through the beta testing stage, you’ll even be able to sell your fabric on their site if you’d like. What fun. I’ve got to try this.

Insider's Look: New Beginnings

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:12:00 +0000

My Photo Stories
Richard chased Susannah laughing through the field below the orchard; unable to wait, he ripped off her dress.
Or…
She thought of him leaving with that young woman as she angrily threw every object in the house reminding her of their 30-year marriage into the back field.
Or…
After her last daughter chose not to wear the silk wedding gown she’d so lovingly saved, Esther gave it to her granddaughter to wear around the house.Or…what are your story ideas?

Behind the Photo
My friend Nadine Robbins loaned me her wedding dress for this shot. The orchard is very close to my home and I always enjoy the burst of flowering trees early in the spring. They should be blooming soon!

Be the first to buy a New Beginnings print and get a 50% discount on the size of your choice. This is my March 2009 home page photo, part of my Truths, Lies and Legends collection.

Black-and-White Power

noreply@blogger.com (Molly) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:27:00 +0000

Recently, I was looking for a photograph for an old client and stumbled on these portraits I took years ago. It made me think that color isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Maybe I should consider shooting portraits again. Anyone interested?

p.s. Anyone recognize the woman posing alone?