Then & Now: VCP’s Coming-of-Age
Exhibition Dates: January 5 – 28, 2018
Opening Reception: Friday, Jan 5th, 5:30 to 8:30pm
Twenty years ago, this spring, VCP found its beginnings when a handful of enthusiastic photographers from the region came together to create a unique community space to celebrate all things photography. This special group exhibition in January 2018 celebrates the work of five of those founding members – Eric Slayton, Christine Triebert, Lynne Weinstein, Robert George, & Kate Cleghorn. Each of the artists will present a selection of work from 1998 as well as work from today – showing a glimpse into their creative evolution over the last two decades.
Eric Slayton
Eric is a multi-media Brooklyn-based artist whose work includes photography, video, furniture, and sculpture. Inspired by the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi-Sabi, Slayton’s approach to both surface and form celebrates the beauty of imperfection. Unrefined surfaces and asymmetrical forms lend to the integrity of the natural processes. Meditation is an omnipresent role in Slayton’s life and carries over to his artistic practice. His monoliths, constructed out of concrete, lead, and steel, are inspired by tall, linear shapes such as towers, pillars, tree trunks, columns and rock spires: forms that reference both industrial and natural landscapes. The rigid discipline to work with this shape gives Slayton a focal point to start from, and just as the finished pieces are conceptual “guideposts”, they are also physical guides for his creativity. He approaches the medium of concrete as his canvas, shaping and treating its surface with gestural, textural strokes. Using the tower as his chosen form, Slayton finds both power and calm in its ability to dictate location, while grounding the viewer to take pause and find respite from our every day, often constant distractions.
Christine Triebert
My photography spans over 3 decades, from traditional black and white darkroom work to digital imaging, mixed media, and alternative printing substrates. Each new body of work fosters custom techniques developed expressly for that series, from camera-less paper negatives exposed in the darkroom, to large scale portraits on aluminum, to still life photographs transferred to painted fabric. My goal in photo-art-making is to create unique, personal and compelling imagery, where the qualities inherent in the process are intrinsic to the concept of the work.
Lynne Weinstein
Lynne Weinstein is a photographer and teacher. She has made imagery for the majority of her 50 some odd years. She has used many formats and techniques from 4 x 5 film cameras to an iPhone. Previous portfolios include Nature’s Bounty, Botanicals and Domestic Pleasures. Her work has been supported by the Vermont Art’s Council and The Vermont Community Foundation Arts Fund. Before teaching at The Putney School, Lynne was a long time volunteer at The In-Sight Photography Project, a photo editor at Life Magazine and freelance editorial photographer.
Robert George
Bob George has been photographing the streets of Brattleboro, Vermont for 30+ years documenting the people, places, events, architecture, & culture of our unique Southern Vermont town – creating a uniquely historic documentation of everyday life in Brattleboro. He is dedicated to the traditional analog film process and continues to utilize his Leica 35mm camera, producing traditional b/w prints in his darkroom.
Kate Cleghorn
Primarily a landscape photographer, Kate Cleghorn uses a variety of historic and alternative print processes to create interesting aesthetic effects on her film and digital stills. Her subject matter ranges from the festivals of Mexico to the landscapes of Scotland, Peru, and the swamps of the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. Kate led a Day of the Dead photography program to Mexico for Great River Arts in 2001 and an Art Appreciation program to Mexico for CCV in 2004. She has taught photography at the Community College of Vermont, Montpelier; Johnson State College, Johnson, Vermont; and the Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro. Past exhibitions include the Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama; Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, Vermont, and elsewhere. She resides in Putney, Vermont.