this makes me smile even when i'm down

This is a very short and very sweet video of grandson Henry TALKING! Eddie and I watch it over and over and over and over... well, you get the picture. Ab-BEE is, of course, my lovely daughter and the videographer.

my dad (and me)

I took this picture of my father while in Lexington earlier this week. We had just gone for a walk up to the corner and back. He is standing in front of our house and the huge linden tree that has overtaken one side of the yard. He and my mom planted it as a sapling when they built the house in 1959.

He told me they had no idea it would grow so large.

Maybe they had no idea one of them would still be in the house 53 years later?

top performing ctt students

The first school term in Uganda has ended, and grades have been issued. CTT takes this part seriously. We have become strict with the academic standards to which our kids must measure up.

I am very happy to recognize the top performers from this term:

Claire Faith

Francis

Rebecca

Issy

Skovia

Evelyn

Caleb 

BRIAN!!

I'd like to point out some important facts regarding these children:

Claire Faith and Francis were the two we featured in our documentary film last year.

Five of these top performers are girls.

A majority of these children are full orphans.

Brian sustained a head injury in December, had to miss the beginning of the term and has to work 110% to retain the information he takes in.

All of these students have individual CTT sponsors. That means that a specific person or family has committed to pay their school fees and encourage them with letters and words of support.

The personal attention being given to these children is truly paying off. This is great news, don't you think?

If you can figure out a way to set aside and then donate $1200 to CTT, yet another deserving child can be granted this same opportunity.

Congratulations to these shining stars! If we had an awards day, they'd be walking off the stage carrying trophies. I couldn't be more proud of them.

more airplane pictures

six more weeks!

In a little more than six weeks, the 5th Annual CTT Friendraiser/Fundraiser will be upon us. It's hard to believe!

There is a cracker jack crew of volunteers putting things carefully and lovingly into place. People like CTT friend Gail, who is working on the design of the invitation, Dawn (Team 5) who is in charge of PR and Lynne (board member and Team 1, 2 and 5 member) who is busy editing the new documentary film (with the able assistance of CTT friends Kim and Jennifer). Jennifer and Jeff (Team 4) are assembling items for our silent auction. The twenty-two accomplished artists who make up the "Doll Project" this year are completing their pieces. The childrens' paintings are at the framer.

And before you know it, we'll all be gathered once again at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center in Kansas City to celebrate - and work on behalf of - the children we have all come to know and love.

The paintings this year are especially exciting! The young artists represented will include some names you'll recognize: Willy, Brian, Oscar, Isabella and Nicky. There is also a crop of younger, "emerging" artists, like Beatrice, Oliva, Evalyn and Mark.

Doll artists include many who have participated in the project before: Marcus Cain, Tom Corbin, Archie Scott Gobber, Marie Mason and Amy Meya, to name a few. There are some exciting additions to the roster this year: Jason Pollen, Miki Baird, Aryn Roth and Anne Austin Pearce, for example.

We have a special surprise in store for you this time around. You really won't want to miss this year's event!

Please tell your friends and family to put June 29th, 7 - 10 PM on their calendars. As always, the CTT Friendraiser/Fundraiser is free and open to the public. We want to see you there!!

haley house

I've spent the past two days making photos for Haley House. My son, Max, is one of five live-in residents here. He helps run the soup kitchen. He also helps with the clothing room and the food pantry. He works on the website. He even teaches a cooking class to at-risk high school kids. He's forging wonderful relationships with like minded good souls - people who have so much to learn from him and so much yet to teach him.

This is the philosophy of Haley House:


A revolution of the heart.

We believe in addressing problems at their very root. Using food as a vehicle we help alleviate suffering, build new skills and bring communities together. When people eat, work, and share stories, the barriers built by economic and educational disparities are broken down. Through these heart-connections we hope to create a genuinely peaceful society.

We believe in the possibility of transformation through personal relationships; where the advantaged and the most disadvantaged will be valued equally - while we honor the intrinsic goodness at the heart of every person.

We are open. We support spiritual exploration and do not discriminate against different practices. It is the power of various practices that transform people's lives and in the end, our world.

We are transparent. We listen deeply and collaborate before making decisions. This brings forth the best thinking from diverse points of view and experience.

This documentary, made in 2008 by Alexandra Pinschmidt, will give you a good idea as to the scope of what Haley House believes and the tremendous amount of good that Haley House accomplishes.





Here are some of my photos of guests who come to Haley House.

I made these photographs in the apartments of some of those guests who are now living in affordable housing thanks to Haley House.

Here are the residents: Mary Ashton, Albert, Tomas, John and Max (taken when they were on a retreat in New Hampshire several months ago).

And finally, here are Max and me standing in front of the soup kitchen.

eat the damn cake

As I mentioned in an earlier post, "Eat the Damn Cake" blogger Kate Fridkis came to my opening at the Mayson Gallery (along with her very adorable mother). Please read her most recent blog post:

http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2012/05/10/black-women-and-fat-and-a-photo-of-a-girl-wearing-someone-elses-face/

boston

I've now made my way to Boston to visit Mad Max and to shoot for Haley House, the soup kitchen where he lives and works. It's in the south end.

I took these iPhone pics downtown.

mayson gallery: may 8th 2012

My good friend and fellow CTT board member Carol, who has traveled to Uganda several times now, was the person responsible for getting me the exhibition/fundraiser in New York. I owe her a huge debt of gratitude. It was an amazing opportunity for this Kentucky/Kansas City girl.

The Mayson Gallery is on the lower east side in an area where galleries are starting to pop up all over the place. The space is small, but they managed to install over thirty-four photographs on the top floor. 

On the basement level, there were several paintings by the kids from the orphanage, as well as two large prints of mine. The kids’ pieces were sold in a small, but fiercely competitive silent auction. There was also a small version of the Kajjansi Marketplace, where Ugandan crafts and my books were sold.

The opening was from 6 – 8 PM. Over the course of the evening, there was a steady stream of people coming to see the show. Most of these folks I did not know, but a highlight of my evening was seeing some of my photo pals (some of whom I had not seen in years) and meeting someone with whom I’ve corresponded but never laid eyes on before!

Monika Merva (who I first met at an Andrea Modica workshop in Santa Fe) was there. So was Brian Riesinger (we met at Thatcher Cook’s workshop in Uganda) and Susan Tannenbaum (Mary Ellen Mark’s workshop in Oaxaca was where we first met). Fellow University of Wisconsin photo student Cynthia Bittenfield came by, as well. Then there was Kate Fridkis, the wonderful young blogger for whom I did the “women eating cake” photos. (She writes two blogs, one of which explores womens’ body image issues and is called “Eat the Damn Cake.” She and I are now plotting another collaboration!)

Some awesome cousins, some non-photo (but very dear) pals, some friends of friends, a couple of past CTT team members and lots of new acquaintances helped round out what was a spectacular night for me in my journey as a photographer/non-profit director.

Thanks to all of you who stopped by to see the exhibit. Your friendship and support of my work mean the world to me. Thanks to gallery owner and director Susan and Ronni. And most especially, thank you to Carol Joseph, someone who has believed in me as a photographer and humanitarian from the very beginning.

The exhibit will remain at the Mayson Gallery, 254 Broome Street, for approximately two more weeks. Hopefully there will be lots of sales, because this is a fundraiser for Change the Truth.

I took the installation shots. The photos from the opening were taken by Susan Rae Tannenbaum. Enjoy!

the cloisters

Walking around the grounds at the Cloisters, I saw a guy photographing a pigeon very up close.

What a beautiful place The Cloisters is! It is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art located on the northern tip of Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River. The building was pieced together with features from five French cloistered abbeys that had been taken apart brick by brick before being shipped to New York. (The pieces were reassembled between 1934 and 1938.) It is used to house art and architecture from Medieval Europe.

The grounds are landscaped with gardens planted according to horticultural information obtained from Medieval writings and artifacts. It's a surprising and peaceful get-away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Carol and I were utterly smitten with it.

(Thanks, Jason, for recommending we go there.)

love moon man and eat your veggies

just wandering around new york.

arbus

Yesterday afternoon I attended an Arbus "slide show" at MoMA. This is how the event was billed:

"How might a photographer’s precise use of language illuminate and expand the perception of her pictures and the singular nature of the mind behind them? Join MoMA for a presentation of 'A Slide Show and Talk by Diane Arbus', an original recording of a 1970 slide presentation, in which the artist speaks about photography, using her own work and other photographs, snapshots, and clippings from her collection. The film, a recreation using the original soundtrack, first screened at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2005, has been shown publically fewer than a dozen times.

Following the screening, Francine Prose, Michael Cunningham, and Doon Arbus will read from the recently released book, Diane Arbus: A Chronology, a biography of the photographer primarily composed of excerpts from her letters, notebooks, writings, and journals. They will converse about the nature of observation, metaphor, and imagery as it appears in all aspects of her work. Come celebrate the life of Diane Arbus, one of the 20th century’s most influential artists."


I was like a kid in the candy store, a groupie at a rock concert.


I'd never heard Diane Arbus' voice before. I was mesmerized, entertained, moved, thrilled and inspired. She was funny! She had a lilting voice and giggled often. She was at once brilliant and silly, wise and childlike.


Here is a quote from Arbus that I had not heard before and that I love very much. It is from a 1971 letter to Davis Pratt at the Fogg Museum in response to a request for a brief statement about photographs.


"They are proof that something was there and no longer is. Like a stain. And the stillness of them is boggling. You can turn away, but when you come back they'll still be there looking at you."

mayson gallery/change the truth fundraiser

The installation of my show at the Mayson Gallery took place today! I was there for a couple hours and took these photos of gallery manager Ronni laying out and hanging the photographs.

The gallery is on two levels. My new color work from Uganda (36 pieces) will be in the top floor; the downstairs gallery will feature paintings by several of the children from the orphanage, including Okecha brothers Oscar and Willy. 

Money raised from all sales will go to Change the Truth.

The opening reception is Tuesday night from 6 - 8 p.m. If you're in New York, please stop by and say hello! The gallery is located on the lower east side at 254 Broome St.

airplane pictures

new york or bust

I'm sitting at the airport waiting for my flight which will wing me to the Big Apple for the beginning of my two week adventure away from Kansas City.

The stormy skies are clearing just in time.

Stay tuned for posts about the installation of my very first New York solo exhibition (and CTT fundraiser), the Arbus film and panel discussion at MoMA, the Cindy Sherman show, my opening at the Mayson Gallery, shooting for Haley House in Boston (and hanging out with with sonny boy Max) and then a visit to Kentucky.

portrait of a good friend

I made this portrait of my very dear friend, Gail, in the studio with my Hasselblad. Anyone who knows her is aware of what a beautiful person she is inside and out. She's an accomplished and highly respected businesswoman. She's amazingly smart and creative. She's as genuine as they come. She's slightly whacky, always up for fun and always game for an adventure. Best of all, she's a loyal, generous, caring and loving friend. I'm lucky to have her in my life.

Happy Birthday, Gail!