Satch Exhibits New Work From The Series "Below Here Lies Nothing" At Henry's On East Coffee Bistro

My wife, Satch, has a new exhibit.

Opening March 1 at Henry's On East Coffee Bistro in the Mass Ave District in downtown Indianapolis, artist Satch presents new work from her series, “Below Here Lies Nothing.” Featuring thirteen paintings and seven assemblages, the exhibit runs through March 31.

Fresh from the 2009 group exhibit Postcards from Dystopia at Nolia's Gallery in London England, Satch has been busy creating paintings by "re-purposing" canvasses and constructing assemblages that recycle vintage ephemera and discovered objects.

"I am excited to be exhibiting at Henry's. This is a terrific chance for a great many people to experience my work," Satch said. "The work from my new series, "Below Here Lies Nothing," a pun that refers to repurposing canvasses, examines human relationships - how we feel about, speak of and live with each other."

An opening reception will be from 6 to 10 p.m. on First Friday, March 5, where Satch will be available to discuss her new work.

For additional information call Ron Kern at (317) 507-7888 or visit http://satch-artist.com

Henry's On East Coffee Bistro

627 North East Street

Indianapolis, IN 46202

(317) 951-0335

Monday through Thursday 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Friday 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Saturday 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Sunday 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.

(Image - "I Am Available," Mixed Media, 2'x3' ©Satch 2010)

Sign, Saugatuck, Michigan

I have been photographing this sign for many years. This Holga triptych is the best one yet. This sign has been well maintained for all of the years that we have been visiting Saugatuck, so somebody is very committed to getting this message across to all of those that pass by.

Click on the photograph to enlarge. (I'm starting to think may I should have named the blog "Click to Enlarge.")

A Departure

Here's a departure from the plastic camera images. Satch found some forgotten digital files.

Over the course of last year I made several digital photographs as an exercise in minimalism. I liked this one. As always, click to enlarge.

New Work

Starting on a new project. More information will be coming in the future. Here's a work photo from the project.

Satch IMA Portrait No. 2

Another recent portrait from IMA. No alteration or additions from photoshop on this one. Again, click to enlarge.

Portrait of Satch

Here's a portrait of Satch with the Holga at one of IMA's European galleries. I had some fun with photoshop and made the environment surreal. The holes in the bottom of the boots are real. Click on photo to enlarge.

Noblesville, Indiana

Here's a new photograph that is part of a new piece on which I'm working.

Carmel Artist Satch featured in London Group Exhibition

I am thrilled that Satch was chosen to produce a work for this exhibit:

Opening with a private reception on December 3 Nolias Gallery in London England presents "Postcards from Dystopia," an international exhibition of thirty artists presenting visions of a menacing universe with a collection of postcard sized works. This group exhibit is in conjunction with a showcase of larger paintings of ominous dystopian territories by Tutte Newall and Andrew Hladky. The exhibition runs through December 21.

In May Carmel artist Satch was selected to produce a work for the exhibit. Her work entitled, "Unknown Pleasure" depicts the long lost pleasure of conceiving and bearing a child into the world. Re-population has been replaced with a surgical procedure and all women eventually become barren. It is an assemblage including a vintage wood box, nails, assorted paper and a commercial hair trimming attachment.

Dystopia is a futuristic or imagined territory where a universal menace prevails. Our present culture holds a fascination with the concept of our own ordered civilization's collapse into chaos. Curated by Tutte Newall, 'Postcards from Dystopia" explores this idea by delving into the realms of the imaginary and issuing visions from a dystopian and desolate environment.

Located in Bankside at 60 Great Suffolk Street, London SE1 0BL, Nolias Gallery is just five minutes from Tate Modern.

For additional information contact Satch via email, Satch@indy.net and visit her website, http://satch-artist.com where the work, "Unknown Pleasure" can be viewed.

New Work

This photograph was made on a recent trip to Bloomington, Indiana where Satch and I took in an amazing Bob Dylan show.

New Work

This photograph was made in Noblesville, Indiana using the shape and form of silos along with an afternoon of incredible light.

More New Work

Greater Faith House of Prayer, Central Avenue, Indianapolis. I had been looking to make this photograph for at least the last year. On this sunny afternoon, everything was just right.

New Work

Taken in the rain looking into the sun which was veiled with cloud cover - an elevated gasoline advertising sign from an abandoned truck stop on a Michigan highway.

I feel like a portion of my work is starting to take on an undertone of the recessionary, yet still consumer driven, times in which we live.

A couple of reminders

Two Reminders:

Singular Images at Midland Arts and Antiques Market Downtown and The Spirit of Place: Northern New Mexico at Midland Arts Carmel, run through November 30th.

and

"A Petite Format Exhibit" at Zionsville's Kellar Mahaney Gallery opens at Noon this Saturday. Click here for an article about the exhibit from the Indianapolis Star.

A Petite Format Exhibit

I am providing four photographs for the following exhibit:

"A Petite Format Exhibit"
Small Art Works for the Gift-Giving Season

Selected Local and Regional Artists

November 7, 2009 through January 16, 2010

Kellar Mahaney Gallery

270 South Main Street in Zionsville, Indiana



The Kellar Mahaney Gallery is a premier gallery of contemporary fine art in Zionsville. If you have never been to the gallery, I invite you to make the drive to Zionsville to visit. The space is great, there is an excellent variety of work and the staff is warm and friendly.

Boo!

Artist Reception Oct. 11, 1 to 4 p.m.

Thunderstorm and Moonrise over Angel Fire, NM
(Click on photograph to enlarge)

This Sunday, October 11, from 1 to 4 p.m., Julie and I are hosting a reception at Midland Arts Carmel for the exhibit, The Spirit of Place: Northern New Mexico. Please join us for refreshments and I will be discussing and answering questions about the exhibition's photographs. Scroll down the blog for directions to Midland Arts Carmel. We look forward to seeing you.

Singular Images - Opens October 2, 2009

(Click on card to enlarge)

Artist Statement

The photographs in the exhibit are singular images. They were made in reaction to a place (physical or mental), an environment, or an opportunity. They were not made as a part of a body of work.

Some images were made in a moment’s notice, even out of the car window. Some images were thought out as an expression of what I was feeling or thinking about. Some images were made when an opportunity presented itself to record a frozen instant of time. Some images were made when I wanted to look beyond the obvious characteristics and form of a subject.

The graffiti photographs were made several ago years on a beautiful sunny day at an abandoned water tank in rural New Mexico. While going through my archive, these images made an impression on my wife, Julie, and me. She felt that there was a concept waiting to be harvested. In the past, we have both made images of graffiti. Typically we use a smaller detail out of a larger scene for the subject. This same concept was applied to the two photographs of graffiti - the larger scene is broken down into smaller singular images.

The installation concept of the exhibit was created, designed and implemented by Julie Kern of Satch Art Studio.

The graffiti photographs were made with a 4”x5” Crown Graphic. All other photographs were made with a Diana+ or a Holga, both plastic cameras. The photographs are archivally printed on Museo Silver Rag paper.

Enormous thanks to Robert Lebow, M.D., Steve, Shannon, Greg, Michael and everybody at Midland for making this exhibit possible. Special thanks to Johnathan for placing exhibit postcards all over downtown Indianapolis.

Ron Kern

September 2009

The Spirit of Place: Northern New Mexico Opens Tonight

Here's a reminder that there is an artist reception this evening from 5 to 8 PM at Midland Arts, 488 Gradle Drive in Carmel. Please join us this evening, bring a friend or two, have a glass of wine and enjoy the exhibit. Remember, the Carmel International Arts Festival is this weekend. Stopping by Midland Arts to relax after attending the festival would be a perfect way to unwind.

The early reviews of the work are very positive. I look forward to sharing the photographs and answering any questions about the work.

The Exhibit: Photographs presenting the spirit of the culture and landscape of Northern New Mexico.

Opening Saturday, September 26, 2009 in conjunction with the Carmel International Arts Festival

Opening Reception Hosted by Midland Arts: Saturday, September 26, 5 - 8 PM

Artist Reception: Sunday, October 11, 1 - 4 PM (Satch and I will be hosting this one)

Exhibit Ends: November 30, 2009

Northern New Mexico can simply mean the northern part of New Mexico, but in cultural terms it typically means the area of heavy Spanish settlement and the eight northern Indian pueblos located in the north central portion of the state.

The Spanish and Native American cultures, many times intertwined, meld with the landscape, sky and ever-changing light making Northern New Mexico an intoxicating and inspiring place.

The Spanish and Native American cultures meld with the landscape, sky and ever-changing light, making Northern New Mexico an inspiring place.

The arts are an inescapable and important element in the culture. Pueblo potters and jewelers, and Spanish carvers and weavers, are all a large part of the fabric of life. Over the years, artists from all parts of the world have made their way to Northern New Mexico. Many exceptional artists, such as Sharp, Blumenschein, Higgins, Fechin and O’Keefe made Northern New Mexico their home and not only left their indelible mark on the art world, but also helped shape the way we view, and think about, Northern New Mexico.

Religion is an important part of day to day life in New Mexico and is the basis for the rich history of the southwestern United States and especially Northern New Mexico. The eventual conquest of the Native Americans by the Spanish resulted in Catholicism being the predominant religion of the region. But, the Catholic religion does not have a straightforward existence. The pueblo culture intertwines Catholicism with ancient Indian religious rites. One will find both Catholic churches and kivas in pueblo villages. The Penitente Brotherhood has a long history in Northern New Mexico and is still active. Morada’s dot the landscape where the Brotherhood meets to serve its community.

Northern New Mexico is rich in its cultural significance, spirituality and landscape - the oldest church in the United States is in Santa Fe, Native Americans continue to sell their wares at the Palace of the Governors, deep red light envelopes the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) mountains at sunset, evidence of miracles abound at Santuario de Chimayo, Spanish villages are tucked into the mountains on the High Road to Taos, Taos Pueblo, and on and on. Experiencing the sacred spirit found in all that embodies and forms Northern New Mexico’s history and existence will change one’s perspective on life.

Over the course of many, many years of visiting and experiencing Northern New Mexico, I made numerous photographs, some of which are in this exhibit of fine photography that presents the spirit of this captivating and fascinating place.

Ron Kern
September 2009

As previously mentioned, I have quite a bit of work from the last year to go through.

Here are a couple of photographs from Fountain Square in Indianapolis. Yep, color photographs.

I need to get back down there and make more pictures.

Lake Michigan Sequence

Here's a sequence of Lake Michigan on which I've been working - from our last trip up in July. Mike, I know you will want me to explain what I am trying to express, but I'll wait until we again meet to discuss this with you and Karen. My guess is that Karen will see it immediately, but her focus is so much better than mine.

Click on the sequence to enlarge.

Portrait & House

Here's more new work. These photographs were made in Nashville and Beanblossom, Indiana a couple of weeks ago.

Don't forget to click on the photographs to enlarge.

New Photograph

Since I have been so focused on editing the Clowes exhibit I haven't delved back into work that I've done over the last year. So, when time allows I'll post some work from the recent past.

That being said, from the past couple of weeks I have a little new work. Here is a photograph from just northeast of downtown Indianapolis. As per popular request, I am titling this photograph "2-B."

As always, click on the photograph to enlarge.

Dan Grossman, art writer and critic of Nuvo, has written a review of the Clowes Hall Grand Lobby exhibit, "New Work: Photographs by Ron Kern.

Here's an excerpt: ...you see a statue with trees and the sky in the background. But the sky itself seems to bleed into the foreground statue. This photograph seems to have an unexpected quality of depth -- beyond the mere surface of things. Check out the rest of Dan's review here. Click here to view the entire exhibit online.


It sure great to see so many photography exhibits in Indianapolis. Heart be still, now through March 21, 2010, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, in the Golden Gallery, has an exhibition of photography - "Paired Photographs." IMA has an excellent collection of photography and it's about time that it is starting to see the light of day. There have been many changes since Maxwell Anderson took the reins at IMA. He has some critics but all of the changes I've seen are positive. Since his arrival, we are already seeing the second significant exhibition of photography. The first was the amazing set of prints from Robert Frank's "The Americans" in conjunction with Kerouak's "On the Road" manuscript. Maxwell and his staff have been sensitive to the needs of the musem going public by revising the food service. I'm starting to go way off on a tangent here. On another day, maybe I'll post more about IMA.

It's been a while since I've made a post here so I thought I'd put up and photograph that I really like - the "skyline" of Indianapolis taken out of an upstairs window of a building east of downtown - made with the Holga.

I'll be making a post or two about our reception, the invasion of the relatives and the Neko Case concert as I get a little more time. The exhibition at Clowes is going very well. James Cramer has made everything incredible and has handled our consternations (is that a word?) in the nicest possible manner.

Photography Archive

I have started a blog that I am going to use to present my archive. Going through old negatives I realized that I should digitize many of my old photographs. There are many negatives that were never printed and this is a chance to play catch up. From time to time I will lump a group into an online gallery. All photographs are from prior to 2000

As always, I welcome comments and discussion about the pictures.

Ron Kern Photography Archive

Clowes Hall Grand Lobby Portfolio

I have posted an online gallery of the Clowes Hall Grand Lobby exhibit. More about that and an announcement later.

Happy Fourth of July.

First Friday, July 3, 2009

We attended the First Friday opening of "Black and White" at the Dean Johnson gallery last evening. The gallery was filled with photography, black and white photography, of course. Two of the exhibitors are good friends of ours, Dale Bernstein of McCordsville and Andrew Johnston of Greenwood. In the past, I've written about Dale here on the blog. Dale is exhibiting three pieces from his wet plate work - work that always blows me away. Andrew is an excellent young photographer that is working very hard and is succeeding in developing his art and craft. Andrew is exhibiting four pieces, one of which I witnessed at the click of the shutter. Congratulations to them both. Their work, IMHO, is the class of the exhibit.

We also attended the final First Friday opening at the Ruschman Gallery. Mark Ruschman, one of the most respected gallery owners, and a leader of the arts community, in Indianapolis will be closing his gallery at the end of July. Here's an article from Nuvo where Mark gives an "exit interview." And, you can view the Farewell Exhibition here.

We ended the evening with a wonderful dinner at Amici's. Accompanied by our friends Robert, Steve, Naomi and Linda, we enjoyed the best Italian food and wine in Indianapolis. Special thanks to our host Robert.

Personal Influences - Part 2C

Bizarro World

Reach Through the fog that fools us all.

Reality is not man-made. The literal world that we see and
know every day is deceptive and fast disappearing.

Walk carefully the path of solid ground: discipline,
friendships, faith, and love of self and others are
your only hope.

From Poems: Solitary View

Karen Bruner Stroup

The photograph to the left is "Tryke" by Mike Stroup. (click on the photograph to enlarge)

This is the last post about my personal influences.


Mike and Karen Stroup are long-time friends. Mike is an excellent photographer (get busy Mike, we are waiting to see new work!) and Karen is a very talented writer.

Mike and I go back to the middle 1980s as members of Photo Venture. We hung several shows and worked on projects such as "A Day in the Life of Broad Ripple" together. Mike was also a charter member of Invision. To this day, he is a member of that organization and only because of him does Invision continue to exist.

A couple of years ago Mike shared a book with me that he had made of his photographs. He encouraged me to do the same. This started me back on the track of making photographs. I had stopped photographing because of reasons that I don't need to go into here. But, I had bought a digital camera and had been amassing plenty of digital files with which I had done nothing. So, thanks to Mike, Satch and I decided to do a book together with a selection of her current work and an edited selection of pictures that I had made over the past five years.

On a trip to Michigan I photographed at the Sunset Junque Shoppe (SSJS). Feeling a sense of renewal that day I decided to again make photographs. Again, later in the year, I made more pictures at the SSJS. I felt very good about the work and sensed a turning point in my photography. I decided to do a book. I asked Karen if she would write something for the book if I sent her the images to view. She asked what I wanted and I replied that she could write whatever she cared to write. Karen wrote six beautiful poems that got at the essence of what I was trying to convey in my photographs. The collaboration turned out wonderfully. I hope that we can do something with the book in the future. Time will tell.

The bottom line is that Mike and Karen provided me with a creative kick in the pants and a lot of what my work is about today is owed to them.

My wife Satch bought a Diana+ (a plastic camera) for me as a Christmas present. I had been struggling with what I wanted to convey in my photographs. I used Adobe Photoshop to work on the pictures from the Sunset Junque Shop to gain the feeling that I wanted but felt that was not going to work for the long haul. Digital photography was great, but it fell short with what I wanted in my photographs. Satch didn't want to see me go back to straight photography, She felt the technical side held me back, and she was correct. So, she thought a toy camera that had very few adjustments and a plastic lens was just the ticket and would free up the creative aspect of my picture making. I haven't turned back since. As I mentioned in an earlier post, David Michael Kennedy suggested using a Holga. So now the Diana+ and the Holga are the only cameras that I use creatively. These were the tools for which I had always been searching.

Ted Orland came to Indianapolis via the Eiteljorg Museum to give a couple of lectures and a workshop. Ted was an assistant to Ansel Adams for many years and knew all of the players in what I term the golden age of photography. Ted is an excellent photographer and an exceptional writer. Having the chance to speak with Ted about many of the great photographers that I have looked up to and get the real story was both interesting and inspiring. He gave a short workshop on Photoshop which opened my eyes to some available techniques that fit right in with the work I was doing. And, his book "Art and Fear" is necessary reading for anybody that wants to produce creative work. Ted got my juices flowing and opened my eyes to many possibilities.

That wraps up the posts about my personal influences. Whew.

Postscript: Earlier today while I was putting this post together, I thought about a fellow photographer that has since passed, David Lee Miller. David's photography was both poetic and lyrical. I miss David.

Clowes Hall Grand Lobby Portfolio Book

I've just completed the finishing touches for the book containing all of the photographs from the Clowes Hall Grand Lobby Exhibit.

The first edition is a softback book printed on premium paper and is limited to 25 signed copies. Copies will be available for purchase at the gallery talk/reception on June 28, 2009 from 1 - 5 PM. Anybody that cannot make the gallery talk/reception and is interested in purchasing a copy can also contact me via email at ronkernphoto@gmail.com.

I've taken a little time off posting here as I've had some catching up to do. We took a quick trip to Michigan right after we finished hanging the exhibit at Clowes Hall. I really didn't make many photographs as the time was more about R&R.

But, I did revisit a subject that I had photographed on our last trip. I liked the photograph that I posted here on May 6th, but wasn't completely pleased with it. So I approached the subject in a different way with a different attitude.

This is a much more realized image and conveys more of what I was visualizing and feeling about the subject matter. It is a triple exposure made with the Holga. (I haven't spent the time to fix the dust spots, so please bear with me.)

I will return soon and finish up, as promised, the post about my influences.