on play and preschool

I just returned from visiting my granddaughter's preschool. It was an amazing place, filled with "play" stations waiting to be explored... stimulating the mind and imagination. I am reminded of Paul Klee's work and his attempt to return to the child - mind... and of Michael Kenna's portfolio, Monique's Kindergarden. If I lived here it would be great fun to "really" photograph the classroom. Better yet, return to pre school as a student!

the paint and easel were all set up...I was tempted to start painting!











I watched the children at play....with no mind or concern for outcome... all process. An invaluable lesson.

on freedom

PLEASE VOTE!
we do not have the luxury of sitting this election out.
i am deeply concerned about this election and its implications for the future of our country.
please get out and vote tomorrow...

My Halloween Costume

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

"None of us can sit this election out..." The stakes are too high

THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!



Please be sure to vote and get everyone you know out to vote. I shutter to think about the consequences of the Tea Party dominating our country.

From Michelle Obama...
"None of us can sit this election out.

Not when we're just beginning to see the results of the change we've all been working for, and when there's still so much left to do.

Commit to vote this fall.

And with so much at stake, we need to make sure your friends and family get out to vote as well. The best person in the world for that job is you.

That's why OFA is launching its Commit to Vote Challenge. It's a powerful way for you to commit to vote in this election -- and then have fun while inspiring your friends to do the same.

Get started here

Stephen Althouse

Reflecting back on my trip to Berlin I realize that what I responded the most to was work that was streamlined and clearly seen. A friend, Tina Schelhorn from Galerie Lichtblick in Cologne suggested I check out Gallery Ruhnke while visiting the palace in Potsdam. There was an exhibition there titled Concrete Conceptions which was primarily sculptural. Every piece in the show was elegant, each piece streamlined to the clearest and cleanest lines. It was so refreshing and exciting to see the work. It was thru the gallery that I became aware of the photographic work of Stephen Althouse, an American born artist.

Rake I, 2003, pigment print, 42 x 31 inches

Inlay, 2003, pigment print, 42 x 31 inches

Closed Tongs, 2004, pigment print,59.5 x 88 inches

Clamps and Shroud, 2003,pigment print
59.5 x 88 inches

Saw I, 2003, pigment print 42 x 31 inches


The following was written for a show by WENDY M. BLAZIER
Senior Curator, Boca Raton Museum of Art

Tools and Shrouds
Stephen Althouse
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida
SEPTEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 8, 2009

FROM THE EARLIEST DAYS OF PHOTOGRAPHY, the pictorial documentation of the world around us has held infinite fascination as the subject for photographers. And from the beginning, the photographic image was as influential as the printed word. Even today, when we look at a photograph, we tend to “read” the image for its informational content. Stephen Althouse’s images can be read as metaphors for the interconnectedness of secular and spiritual life. His images combine the practical and symbolic, weaving a relationship between tools and
textiles as venerated symbols of work and faith. Like medieval devotional relics and honorific textiles, Althouse’s tools and shrouds become symbols of power and reverence, engaging the viewer in a dialogue about history, humanity, tradition and spirituality.

Born in Washington DC in 1948, Althouse grew up in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he trained as a sculptor. The product of a Quaker education, Althouse received his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, and studied sculpture at Tyler School of Art,
Philadelphia. The sculptural tradition of making and manipulating subject matter is carried over in his photography, and is further explored in these enigmatic and powerful images. For 30 years, Althouse lived in Miami where he was a Professor of Fine Arts at Barry University, before
returning to central Pennsylvania, where he lives and works creatively today.

This exhibition presents Stephen Althouse’s most recent work as well as a series of powerful images which the artist created in 2003 and 2004 while serving as artist-inresidence at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Liège, Belgium, through a Fulbright Research Fellowship.

The Museum is pleased to share this exhibition and publication with a larger audience in both Canada and Germany. We feel it is important to show Stephen Althouse’s recent work and to create a scholarly catalogue that amplifies our understanding of his compelling
images. For their very generous support of this publication, we thank Lawrence D. and Lucienne Lefebvre Glaubinger of The Glaubinger Foundation. We thank Dr. Eugene W. Metcalf, Jr. and Dr. Mark McPhail for their perceptive essay which constitutes a significant contribution to this publication. For their presentation of concurrent exhibitions of Stephen
Althouse’s photography, we thank Jacqueline Hébert Stoneberger of Beaux-arts des Amériques in Montréal, and Werner Ruhnke of Galerie Ruhnke, Potsdam, outside Berlin, Germany. Lastly, we extend our heartfelt thanks to the Museum’s trustees and donors, who have demonstrated their commitment to the Museum in their support of the Museum’s ambitious and internationally-recognized exhibition program.
WENDY M. BLAZIER
Senior Curator, Boca Raton Museum of Art

Art Loop Open in Chicago

“Meet the Artists” event this Thursday, October 21st from 5:30-8pm (I will be at Block 37 from 7-8pm) This will be the final push before the selection is narrowed down to the top ten!

"Life Guards" from Crude Awakening at Block 37 ( 108 State Street).

Obama! A Modern U.S. President (musical spoof)