Ocho Foto!

 New Work by Advanced Photography Studentsat the University of South Carolina    

Date:	Thursday, March 27, 2008
Time:	6:00pm – 8:00pm
Location:	City Art Gallery
Street:	1224 Lincoln St
City/Town:	Columbia, SC

 

 City Art Gallery will host Ocho Foto: New Work by USC Photography Students March 27-April 12, 2008. The opening reception will be held Thursday, March 27 from 6:00-8:00pm at the gallery.

This exhibition is organized as part of the Advanced Photography II course requirement in the McMaster College of Art at USC. For the class each student is required to produce a series of images to be included in a group exhibition. The exhibition gives students the opportunity to showcase their work, while providing experience in planning and curating an exhibition. In addition to the completion of new work, students are responsible for securing a local venue, all curatorial decisions, and working to involve the community in the event. 

Featured artists include: Marshall Hodge, Tricia Hatfield, Anna Broadwell, Miguel de Leon, Amanda Heiney, Maggie Edmonds, Heather Thomas, and Liz Craft. The exhibition will also include the work of Mike Bryant. Mike is a photography student who was unable to continue work with his classmates after becoming ill with Hodgkins Lymphoma.

 

Iron Portraits

There is a slight chill in the air, but the afternoon sun lazily reaches out, taunting me with promises of great adventure and hidden treasure.  A maze of sleeping iron beasts stretches in every direction, and my heart races with excitement.  The smell of warm rubber and rust guides me around stacks of old tires.  Here and there is a glimmer, where the chrome still proudly clings to fenders long ago wrenched from their rightful place and thrown callously into the grass.  I stop and start many times, unsure where to begin as my excitement pulls me here and there. 

            The cars greet me like old friends.  I cannot help but wonder what they have seen, or where they have been. Each one seems to look at me with a face as plain as yours or mine, longing for the days when every innovation was exciting and full of potential.  They long to race for glory and pride, long to cruise down main-street showing off, long to be a chariot of young love.  I long to see it happen again. 

            I have a love affair with every car in my series.  It is love at first sight, though I confess to knowing little more than a name for many.  I photograph them as I would a lover or friend, concentrating on their “faces” and the “expressions” I most enjoy.  When I am with them this world fades, leaving me with my daydreams and iron portraits. 

 

Here are 6 of 8 Photos that will be part of the Ocho Foto Advanced Photography Student Show at CityArt Gallery in Columbia, SC.  The show will open Thursday, March 27 from 6-8pm and will be up through April 12.