#*suni albright

[mmonetsims]

this one's for all my mean girls 🎵

[stubobnumbers]

CFB Promotion and Relegation - The Big East

Big East Tier One - The Big East (FBS): Louisville Cincinnati West Virginia Penn State Pittsburgh Syracuse Rutgers Boston College Connecticut

Big East Tier Two - Conference USA (FBS): Marshall Temple Villanova Albany Buffalo Stony Brook Massachusetts Rhode Island New Hampshire Maine

Big East Tier Three - Coastal Athletic Association (FCS): Central Connecticut State Merrimack College Monmouth (NJ.) Long Island University Marist College Wagner College Duquesne University Robert Morris (PA.) St. Francis (PA.) Bryant University

Big East Tier Four - Patriot League (FCS): Georgetown Holy Cross Stonehill College Colgate University Fordham University Bucknell Lafayette College Lehigh University Mercyhurst University

Big East Tier Five - Atlantic Football Association (D2): Sacred Heart University Southern Connecticut State Western Connecticut State University Post University U. of New Haven American International College Assumption University Bentley University Franklin Pierce University Saint Anselm College

Big East Tier Six - Eastern Football Association (D2): Pace University College Of New Jersey Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham Kean University Montclair State Rowan University William Paterson U. Trinity College – Connecticut Wesleyan University

Big East Tier Seven - Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (D2): Slippery Rock University Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania California University of Pennsylvania Clarion University of Pennsylvania East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania Edinboro University Gannon University Indiana University of Pennsylvania Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Lincoln University Pennsylvania

Big East Tier Eight - Keystone Football League (D2): Lock Haven University Millersville University of Pennsylvania Seton Hill University Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania West Chester University of Pennsylvania Allegheny College Carnegie Mellon University Albright College Alvernia University Gettysburg College

Big East Tier Nine - West Virginia Conference (D2): Alderson Broaddus University Bethany College – West Virginia Bluefield State College Concord University Fairmont State University Glenville State University Shepherd University University of Charleston West Liberty University West Virginia State University West Virginia Wesleyan College Wheeling University

Big East Tier Ten - Northeast Football Alliance (D3): Bates College Bowdoin College Colby College Husson University Maine Maritime U. of New England (ME.) Plymouth State Salve Regina University

Big East Tier Eleven - Little East Conference (D3): US Coast Guard Academy US Merchant Marine Academy Vermont State – Castleton Middlebury College Norwich University Massachusetts Maritime SUNY Maritime College Amherst College Anna Maria College Curry College

Big East Tier Twelve - Eastern Football Association (D3): Bridgewater State University Fitchburg State University Framingham State Dean College Endicott College Umass-Dartmouth Springfield College MIT Nichols College Tufts University

Big East Tier Thirteen - Northern Small Colleges Coalition (D3): Western New England U. Westfield State Williams College Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Worcester State Alfred University Alfred State Buffalo State University Hamilton College Hartwick College

Big East Tier Fourteen - Empire Football Alliance (D3): Brockport State Cortland State Hilbert College Hobart College Ithaca College Rensselaer Polytech – RPI St. John Fisher College St. Lawrence University SUNY Morrisville Union College – New York

Big East Tier Fifteen - Northeast Conference (D3): U. of Rochester Utica University ASA College – New York Erie CC Hudson Valley CC Monroe College – New Rochelle Nassau CC Sussex County CC College Of Mount Saint Vincent

Big East Tier Sixteen - Small Pennsylvania Schools Conference (D3): Delaware Valley University Dickinson College Eastern University Franklin & Marshall College Geneva College Grove City College Juniata College Keystone College King's College – Pennsylvania Lebanon Valley College

Big East Tier Seventeen - Pennsylvania Football Alliance (D3): Lycoming College Misericordia University Moravian University Muhlenberg College Saint Vincent College – Pennsylvania Susquehanna University Thiel College Ursinus College Washington & Jefferson College Waynesburg University

Big East Tier Eighteen - Eastern Football Coalition (D3): Westminster College – Pennsylvania Widener University Wilkes University Lackawanna College Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology New England College Williamson College of the Trades

[longlistshort]

For Arts Annual 2022 at Creative Pinellas, Babs Reingold has five large drawings as well as "Hair Doodle"- drawings on strips of paper with the actual hair in zip lock bags under the drawings. They are all part of her 2005-6 series Fallout: Beauty Lost and Found.

From the Creative Pinellas website-

Venezuela-born American artist Babs Reingold creates sculptures, drawings, and installations focusing on the environment and poverty.

Ms. Reingold has an extensive showing history with 15 solo exhibitions and over 75 group exhibitions ranging from museums, universities, alternative spaces, and galleries. Solo exhibits include venues in New York City, Los Angeles CA, Atlanta GA, Savannah GA, St. Petersburg FL, Jersey City Museum, and Buffalo NY. Museum group exhibits include the Newark Museum NJ, Jersey City Museum NJ, Albright-Knox Buffalo NY, the Burchfield Penney Art Gallery Buffalo NY, the Tampa Museum FL, and the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg FL. Additional group exhibits include New York City, Brooklyn, Long Island, Atlanta, Hartford, Birmingham, Savannah, Jersey City, Newark, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Tampa, Philadelphia, Buffalo NY, and the exhibit “Your Documents Please” that traveled internationally to Japan, Bratislava, Berlin, Budapest, and Guadalajara, with a final showing in New York City.

Recent exhibits are: “Elements” at the Tampa International Airport Art Gallery, “Water Over the Bridge: Contemporary Seascapes” at the Morean Art Center, “Planet Ax4+1” at David & Schweitzer Gallery Brooklyn NY, “Skyway: A Contemporary Collaboration” at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts. Her installation, “The Last Tree” a solo exhibit had a six-month run at Burchfield Penney Art Center Buffalo NY. It had debuted earlier at the ISE Cultural Foundation in SOHO NY.

Other recent showings were St Petersburg’s Museum of Fine Arts “Measured Life” and “Marks Made: Prints by American Women Artists”, Tribeca NY solo, Drawing Rooms in Jersey City, and Rutgers’ Feminist Art Project 10-year anniversary.

Reingold has work in the permanent collections of the Newark Museum, Museum of Fine Arts St Petersburg, and countless private collections, including the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Awards include two fellowships grants from Creative Pinellas County, in 2019 and 2016 and an individual Florida state fellowship in 2010. Reingold also received a fully funded residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in 2002. Other awards include A New York Foundation for the Arts Fiscal Sponsorship for “The Last Tree; Guest Editor of New Observations in conjunction with the co-curated exhibition “Voyeur’s Delight” at Franklin Furnace NY and first and second place awards in juried exhibitions from Whitney’s Barbara Haskell. She also received several exhibition awards from Michael Auping and Doug Schultz both previously of the Albright-Knox, Buffalo NY.

Reingold has participated as a panelist in numerous museum and art group forums and served as a mentor to Creative Pinellas selected artists. Additionally, she has served as a juror on selection committees for state and local grants.

Reingold has an MFA from SUNY-Buffalo and a BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art. Her major studio is in St Petersburg FL with viewing space in New York City.

[tripstations]

4th of July vacation: 7 ideas of where to go in the US and beyond

(CNN) — Looking to make a break for it for the 4th of July holiday weekend or another long summer weekend? The options are endless — you just need to decide if it’s a USA road trip you’re after or a hop-skip-jump over the Atlantic. The warm weather travel season officially kicked off Memorial Day weekend, but statistics from AAA indicate that more Americans travel later in the summer: Last year, for example, 41.3 million Americans traveled around Memorial Day, while a projected 46.9 million traveled around Independence Day.

Most Americans opt for a road trip, according to AAA, but ambitious travelers needn’t rule out Canada or even parts of Europe.

CNN rounded up seven possibilities, ranging from a couple of less-trodden international destinations to a few slightly under-the-radar US spots and some in between. All have one thing in common: They’re perfect for a minisummer escape on July 4th weekend or later in the summer.

Big Sur, California

Big Sur enjoys a remoteness that’s not easy to come by these days.

Michael Troutman

Nearly two years after landslides shut down a section of California’s historic Highway 1 and closed off Big Sur to travelers, visitors are back to revel in the awe-inspiring natural beauty of the mystical expanse of California shoreline.

Located between San Francisco and Los Angeles, travelers come here to get away. The area enjoys a remoteness not easy to come by these days: Cell reception is spotty at best, and the nearest big grocery store is at least an hour’s drive away.

While they’re cut off from the rest of the world, visitors can take in the panoramas of the rugged coasts and witness the dramatic, crashing waves of the Pacific from nearly every vantage point. Also worth checking out is Bixby Creek Bridge, a stunning piece of architecture, and the hiking trails and coastal beaches of Garrapata State Park, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and Point Lobos State Natural Preserve.

Big Sur has rustic and luxurious hotels, from the sustainable accommodations at the modest but comfortable Glen Oaks Big Sur to the posh, celebrity-favorite Post Ranch Inn. A treatment in the spa, set in the middle of the forest, is the icing on the cake.

Glen Oaks, 47080 Highway 1, Big Sur, CA 93920, +1 831 667 2105

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo’s Silo City is for art lovers of all kinds.

Drew Brown

As soon as summer hits, this city on the shores of Lake Erie in upstate New York comes alive. Happy to shed its winter coat in favor of blue skies and outdoor seating at many a restaurant and bar along Elmwood Avenue, just north of downtown, Buffalo soars in summer.

Architecture buffs will find no shortage of areas to explore.

From the Tudor mansions around Delaware Park to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Darwin D. Martin House and a little further afoot, Graycliff, overlooking the lake, the city teems with majestic architectural works. Both Lloyd Wright buildings offer tours of the properties’ meticulously restored interiors and expansive grounds. Cap off the Wright tours with a visit to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, where a collection of modern and contemporary art awaits.

Those wanting a dose of art in the form of poetry or outdoor installations (courtesy of students from SUNY Buffalo) should head straight to Silo City, a historic grain elevator complex refashioned as a cultural community, complete with a food and drink venue.

And on that note: Travelers whose primary motivation is eating and drinking are in good hands. While you can’t go far without finding excellent chicken wings (they were birthed here, after all), relative newcomers Black Sheep and Dobutsu deserve attention, too.

Finally, if your long weekend should extend to a Tuesday, you won’t want to miss Larkin Square’s food truck lineup. Nosh on something from Ted’s (footlong with onion rings) or Lloyd (braised beef taco) while you listen to free live music.

For a truly special stay, reserve a room at Hotel Henry, another of the city’s architectural masterpieces.

Delaware Park, 83 Parkside Ave., Buffalo, NY 14214, +1 716 838 1249Graycliff, 6472 Old Lake Shore Road, Derby, NY 14047, +1 716 947 9217 Silo City, 105 Silo City Row, Buffalo, NY 14203Black Sheep, 367 Connecticut St., Buffalo, NY 14213, +1 716 884 1100Dobutsu, 500 Seneca St., Suite 119, Buffalo, NY 14204, +1 716 322 6004Larkin Square, 745 Seneca St., Buffalo, NY 14210, +1 716 362 2665Hotel Henry, 444 Forest Ave., Buffalo, NY 14213, +1 716 882 1970

Champagne, France

A 45-minute train ride from Paris lies Champagne. A stay at the Royal Champagne Hotel can’t be beat.

Courtesy of Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa Terrasse

The birthplace of the bubbly and a UNESCO World Heritage site, France’s Champagne region is just 45 minutes from Paris by train. It has long been popular with day-trippers, but there’s plenty to entice travelers into a multiday stay.

Oenophiles can visit some of the 450 Champagne producers and cooperatives for tastings and tours. From the highly reputable Moet & Chandon and to under-the-radar Henriet-Bazin, there’s something to satisfy every type of sipper.

But it’s not a lost cause for teetotalers; history buffs can visit Reims Cathedral, an imposing medieval Roman Catholic site dating back to the 13th century. Fitness fanatics, meanwhile, can take advantage of the long stretches of uncrowded roads for scenic bike rides and runs. A hot air balloon ride, a boat ride down the Marne River or horseback riding through the valley are also on offer here.

Then there are the restaurants, worth a trip in and of themselves. One of the hottest tables is the three-Michelin starred L’Assiette Champenoise in Reims, which serves creative French cuisine using seasonal produce.

For the spendy set, the new Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa is the “it” place to stay. Built like a contemporary amphitheater with 49 chic rooms, the property boasts a Michelin-starred restaurant Le Royal, a sprawling spa, a bar with more than 200 bottles of Champagne and a fleet of electric bikes for guests.

Moet & Chandon, 20 avenue de Champagne, 51200, Epernay, France, +33 3 26 51 20 20Henriet-Bazin, 9 rue des Mises, 51380 Villers-Marmery, France, +33 03 26 84 07 79

Cotswolds, England

Soho Farmhouse, a 100-acre estate in Oxfordshire, makes for a lovely — if spendy — stay.

Courtesy of Soho House Farmhouse

At close to 800 square miles, the Cotswolds, a less than three-hour drive from London, is sprawling, but visitors can still tackle at least a small part of it on a short getaway. The region’s beauty — think fields of meadows full of blooming daffodils and dozens of quintessential Jane Austen-era villages with stone houses shining underneath the sun — is especially vibrant in summer.

Days can be spent in the region exploring some of the historic houses such as Berkeley Castle and Blenheim Palace, built in the 18th century and designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Outdoor pursuits — long, meandering walks from one village to the next, biking along the country roads, fishing, golfing and horseback riding — add to the area’s allure.

Cheltenham, one of the largest cities in the Cotswolds, is full of diversions, too. The minimetropolis is known for its photograph-worthy Regency era architecture, dating back to the early 19th century and distinguished by elegant looking buildings with white stucco facades. And, it’s home to buzzy restaurants and festivals, including ones for science and literature.

The region’s accommodation scene, which once included mainly stuffy, formal hotels, has gotten hip in recent years. The Wild Rabbit, a modern inn in Chipping Norton with an excellent restaurant to boot, is one example. Bolderfacers, including Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, favor Soho Farmhouse, a 100-acre estate in Oxfordshire.

The Wild Rabbit, Church Street, Kingham, Oxfordshire, OX7 6YA, United Kingdom, +44 01608 658389 Soho Farmhouse, Great Tew, Chipping Norton, OX7 4JS, United Kingdom, +44 01608 691 000

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence’s arts and culinary scene is flourishing, and it’s a lovely long weekend getaway.

Courtesy Providence Tourism

Providence’s flourishing arts and culinary scenes are nearly on par with major urban areas around the world.

Over the past decade, the city’s downtown has been transformed into an open-air museum with murals and sculptures. One example is WaterFire, a multisensory art installation composed of a series of more than 80 bonfires that seem to float in the three rivers flowing through the city. This showpiece will burn bright on July 20 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

Performance art is also a draw: The Providence Fringe Festival, running from July 21 to 28, features performances by emerging and established artists. The lineup includes everything from improv comedy to variety shows with music and drag.

Then there’s the culinary scene. The popular Providence Restaurant Weeks, where diners can enjoy three-course affordable meals at otherwise pricey restaurants, runs from July 7 to 20.

But visitors will eat well no matter when they visit. Waterman Grille, set on the Blackstone River and serving French influenced cuisine with New England produce, is one of the most coveted reservations in town and for good reason: The cocktail list is creative, and the steaks, cooked on a wood-fired grill, are a standout.

WaterFire, 4 N Main St., Providence, RI 02903, +1 401 273 1155

St. Michaels, Maryland

Luxury seekers will enjoy the Inn at Perry Cabin and its fleet of vintage sailboats.

Courtesy Inn at Perry Cabin

Only a 90-minute drive or 45-minute boat ride from the nation’s capital, the historic seaside town of St. Michaels is home to picturesque landscapes, rich heritage and waterside adventures. Known as “the town that fooled the British” during the War of 1812 when it faked a blackout to prevent an attack, it’s an ideal getaway for anyone interested in sailing, golf, history and seafood.

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is among the top attractions. Visitors can learn about the region’s history and culture by exploring its 12 exhibition buildings, checking out the fleet of historical boats and taking a narrated cruise highlighting life on the Eastern Shore.

Exploring the charming downtown filled with antique shops and seafood restaurants such as The Crab Claw, famous for its crab clusters, is another way to while away the afternoon.

The microdistillery Lyon Distilling Co., which produces an impressive range of rums, is also worth checking out.

To stay, there are plenty of family-run bed and breakfasts. For luxury seekers, the winning choice is Inn at Perry Cabin. Home to a prestigious fleet of vintage sailboats, golf course, a spa and a restaurant serving regional cuisine, it’s a retreat in and of itself, and no one will blame you if you choose not to venture far from the property.

The Crab Claw, 304 Burns St., St. Michaels, MD 21663, +1 410 745 2900

Toronto, Canada

Summer, boasting more than 30 festivals in July and August alone, is a prime time to appreciate what Toronto has to offer.

Courtesy of Tourism Toronto

Canada’s largest city is a global entertainment and cultural hub worthy of serious attention. Centrally located between New York City, Chicago and Montreal, the metropolis is a 90-minute flight for much of the US and Canadian population. It’s known for its diversity — more than 50% of the residents were born outside the country — and this shows up in the city’s events, restaurants and shops.

Featuring more than 30 festivals in July and August alone, including ones for jazz, Caribbean culture, beer and local cuisine, summer is a prime time to appreciate what Toronto has to offer.

Outdoor pursuits aren’t usually the first thing people think of when they hear big city, but Toronto’s strong in this category. Visitors can bike or hike in Rouge Park, the country’s only urban national park, and canoe around the Toronto Islands.

Thrill seekers shouldn’t miss the attraction called EdgeWalk, a 30-minute walk outside and 116 stories above the city on a five-foot long ledge atop the iconic CN Tower.

The markets (we recommend Kensington Market, Gerrard India Bazaar and Evergreen Brick Works), selling everything from handmade goods by local artisans and antiques to spices and craft beers on tap, are another draw.

Hotel-wise, the Kimpton Saint George and St. Regis (the brand’s only property in Canada), both downtown, are the newest additions to the lineup of the town’s many luxury properties.

EdgeWalk, CN Tower 290 Bremner Blvd., Toronto, ON M5V 3L9, Canada, +1 416 86 86937St. Regis, 325 Bay St., Toronto, ON M5H 4G3, Canada, +1 416 306 5800

Stacey Lastoe contributed additional reporting to this story.

The post 4th of July vacation: 7 ideas of where to go in the US and beyond appeared first on Tripstations.

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[keyprojects]

(image l. to r. Doreen McCarthy, Daniel G. Hill, Liz Sweibel and Harry Leigh)

Lightly Structured 

featuring Daniel G. Hill, Harry Leigh, Doreen McCarthy and Liz Sweibel

December 2, 2016 - January 21, 2017 Closing reception: Friday, January 20, 6-8 PM Location: Sculpture Space NYC-Projects 47-21 35th Street, Long Island City, NY 11101 Hours: Saturdays from 12- 6 PM and by appointment

Sculpture Space NYC-Projects is proud to present, as part of its Curatorial Program series, Lightly Structured, featuring work by Daniel G. Hill, Harry Leigh, Doreen McCarthy and Liz Sweibel. Curated by Patricia Zarate and in collaboration with Sculpture Space NYC-Projects and Key Projects.

Lightly Structured refers to a quality of “lightness.” This quality is found through a play with material, scale, weight and gravity - elements in the work of these four artists. Using diverse materials such as plywood, scraps of found wood, wire and vinyl, each artist creates structures, small to monumental, that visually look “light.”

Daniel G. Hill’s 3-dimensional wire drawings hang elegantly off the wall. The drawings have a flexible quality because of their constructional detail and engage in a contrary play with gravitational pull. Harry Leigh’s thin, bent wood constructions are simple geometric shapes that sometimes lean or hang on the wall. Proportioned to a human bodies’ reach, these works with their open structures silently command the space they occupy. By contrast, Doreen McCarthy’s biomorphic sculpture is a playful mass of inflated vinyl that glows from within (via LED lights). It is as if the air inside emits its own light, allowing the work to rest buoyantly in space. Small in scale, Liz Sweibel's sculptures use scraps of wood that are stripped to their bare essence and draw us into a world of minute details.

About the artists

Daniel G. Hill is a multi-disciplinary artist who has worked in sculpture, installation, painting, photography and digital media. He has exhibited in the U.S. for over 35 years and, more recently, in Europe, Asia and Central America. His work is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; MoMA Library Special Collection; New York Public Library; Phillips Collection; Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Art Gallery; US Embassy, Beijing Embassy Annex, US Department of State; Arkansas Art Center; and in several corporate and private collections. He is the recipient of a fellowship in painting from the National Endowment for the Arts. He received an A.B., Magna Cum Laude, from Brown University and an M.F.A. from Hunter College, C.U.N.Y. He lives and works in New York City. He is an Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at the Parsons School of Design and has been the President of American Abstract Artists since 2013.

Harry Leigh received his Bachelors degree in 1953 from Albright Art School and SUNY College at Buffalo. Drafted into the Army in 1953, he trained as a radio operator and was stationed in West Germany. While serving in Europe, he traveled extensively, visiting museums and architectural sites. Upon return, he studied on the GI bill and was a student of Peter Volkus and received a Master’s degree in 1959 from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. He studied painting privately with Richard Pousette-Dart from 1956 to 1960. During this period he began experimenting with large constructed works using cardboard, plaster, and plywood, and by 1965 sculpture became his primary medium. In his first solo exhibition in 1967 at The Brata Gallery in New York City he realized the full assimilation of his diverse work, travel and educational experiences. Leigh currently lives and works in Suffern, NY.

Doreen McCarthy is a sculptor based in New York City whose work has been exhibited in the United States, Europe, China and Japan since 1985. Throughout her career she has received grants, awards and residencies including Edward Albee Foundation, Santa Fe Art Institute and Gropiusstadt in Berlin. She has had numerous solo projects including Heskin Contemporary, NY; Galerie Junger, Shanghai, China; Indiana University Institute of Art and Design and the foyer of a Philip Johnson building in Berlin, Germany to name a few.

Liz Sweibel is a multidisciplinary artist working in drawing, sculpture, installation, and digital photography and video. Sweibel has participated in solo, two-person, and group exhibits in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, and Tennessee. Most recently, her work was in the group show Appropriation and Such at 337 Project Space in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  In 2015, her work was featured in the flat files during KIOSK, a group show at ODETTA Gallery in Brooklyn. Sweibel received her B.F.A. from Massachusetts College of Art and her M.F.A. from Maine College of Art.  She also holds a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Counseling.  She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Sculpture Space NYC is a ceramics and sculpture center founded by artists Magda Dejose and Andrew Kennedy to foster creativity, concept and collaboration. SSNYC offers the space, equipment and advanced education to allow artists to explore and expand their work. In addition, SSNYC offers a range of classes, lectures, workshops, artist residencies and an ongoing exhibition program.

Patricia Zarate is co-founder of Key Projects, an artist-run gallery space based in Long Island City, New York. Through intimate exhibits of contemporary abstract and conceptual art, we explore and showcase an international community of artists.

[dontpostme]

Screens at Lord Ludd 25 February - 01 April 2017, Philadelphia

Ellen Brooks

Lord Ludd is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new work by Ellen Brooks. This will be the artist’s first solo presentation in Philadelphia and first time showing with the gallery. The exhibition will open with a reception on February 24 and will continue through April 1, 2017.

Ellen Brook s’ Screens is comprised of a new series of large format photographs (all 2012-2017) which she produced by photographing detritus in her Brooklyn studio through commercially available screens imprinted with images of foliage derived from hunting paraphernalia. The density of the prints rivals action painting while generating a dialogue with digital imaging technology and multi layered Photoshop documents, yet there is no digital manipulation involved in the process— Brooks’ photographs are made entirely in studio, in a single exposure, without the aid of computers or software.

Active in New York since 1982 and working concurrently with the Pictures Generation artists, Brooks’ new work is an extension of Screens (1986-1994), an earlier series where the artist re-photographed source images through a dense black screen, which allowed her to distill subject matter into a “crystalline composite of color” as a means of addressing issues of cultural longing, over-cultivation, and mass media’s invasive packaging of beauty through magazines and theme calendars.

In retrospect, this early series poetically foreshadowed the present, where so much content is routinely mediated by the pixel based screens of computers, smartphones, and tablets. Brooks’ new work takes this interest a step further by creating images which collapse the intrinsic and extrinsic, nodding to the screen as the ultimate mediator, which the artist describes as a “leveler of language.”

Ellen Brooks: Screens By Peter Baker

“I’ve never liked ‘nature’ photographs.” – Luigi Ghirri

Since the onset of photography we have seen nature depicted profusely, from the earliest glass plate negatives, to pristine silver gelatin prints, to postcards, calendars, automotive ads and the like. Even the naming of Fuji film, after Japan’s largest volcanic mountain, implicitly tells the customer what they might want to ta ke pictures of; that ultimate Other, impenetrable, sublime. It has been a staunch subject for tourists, hobbyists and artists. In fact, perhaps the reason Ghirri never liked nature photographs is because the history of images has in many ways been an ongoing document of the erasure of nature. Apple’s generic wallpaper image of El Capitan, one of the highest peaks in Yosemite National Park and the namesake of its now universal operating system, is a particularly perverse attempt at conciliating our desire for nature, while evermore engrossed by screens.

In​ her latest body of work, Ellen Brooks’ ​Screens puts to use an image of nature that is at once a rather debased reproduction, yet functions reliably in the wild. I’m referring to the transparent camouflage nets the artist uses to obscure, abstract and inevitably transform into another image altogether. While taking in the world of these beautiful and densely detailed photographs, the natural inclination today is to assume ostensible layers in Photoshop being applied and painted throughout. However, Brooks’ process is all done in-camera, as it were, in the confines of her studio in Brooklyn, that distant terrain beyond the river from Manhattan, where she had worked in several modes for many years prior.

Like many artists of her generation, Ellen Brooks came of age at a moment where questioning and critiquing the various uses of images in media, entertainment and advertising, became a wellspring for expression and empowerment. Growing up in Los Angeles, Brooks was obsessed with all kinds of magazines, but was especially interested in how nature was presented. Various publications​ like ​House & Garden, ​Better Homes and Gardens, and other shelter magazines, tapped into a new market for gardening as a form of hobby, as well as showing off how the wealthy could surround themselves with the best sense of nature money could buy. The canyons and hills of Los Angeles display this concept perhaps more evidently than any other place in the country, in terms of the artifice of nature bleeding into the sprawl of the city. Manicured lawns abound, while more environmentally conscious homeowners use Astroturf to save water and receive a tax rebate to boot. Consider the palm tree, an emblem of the region, is not even native to Southern California, but rather, was transported from Mexico (fan palm) and the Canary Islands (date palm), and planted throughout the city purely for aesthetic and decorative purposes. As the life span of the original crop of palm trees from the 1930’s comes close to its end, questions about sustaining and planting new palms come under scrutiny, since they provide no shade, and the urban heat island effect of Los Angeles has increased significantly since. Projecting this kind of aspirational version of nature onto the landscape informed​ the work of many photographic artists, from ​New Topographics, which drew from the sober gaze of vernacular real estate images, to social landscape photographers who saw what was posed as the real world as kind of curious figment. Meanwhile the artists that became known as the ​Pictures Generation undermined idyllic cultural tropes by appropriating or re-presenting magazine and advertising pictures, to use it against itself. Many of these ideas bring to mind Baudrillard’s ​Simulacra and Simulation, which argued that to navigate our contemporary culture is to more often than not, find ourselves immersed in a reality of copies without an original. Or, that nature is receding, copied, confined and commoditized.

By appropriating camouflage netting as a veil to enhance the picture plane, Ellen Brooks has adopted a remarkably cunning strategy. The process itself is fairly straightforward. The artist drapes the screen in front of the camera and proceeds to explore the amalgamation of objects and other bodies of work within her studio. For an artist who identifies as a conceptualist, it is somewhat amusing that Brooks insists she does not alter any of the objects in the studio for the

making of the picture. Things are how they are. The only intervention is the thin material obstructing the view. It is relevant to note that this material can be found easily online or at outdoors supply stores. Among the various uses by customers who reviewed the large camouflage tarps, were World War II celebrations, going away and coming home parties for soldiers in the Army, tailgating, home decoration, and mostly hunting, namely, coyote, deer, wild turkey and waterfowl hunting. To do an image search of this thing is to delve into a masculine realm of weekend warriors, exceedingly decked in camouflage, intent on conquering some aspect of nature that eludes most of us in our daily lives. That a woman artist has decided to use the same material to investigate the apparatus of her life’s work is both sharp-witted and gratifying. But let’s take it further. Camouflage itself may very well be the lowest echelon of quality in terms of image reproduction, while achieving the maximum level of deception in the world. It is a constructed image that enters and plays along with nature, an image attempting not to represent, but to pass as the real, with deadly consequences.

A customer review written by the artist herself as to how and why she is using this material might look something like this: “I was looking for a mass produced, synthetic, see-through image to mediate ideas of nature and concealment and elaborate on the innate illusory characteristic of photographs. The screen became a kind of veil one must pass through in order to discover the environment of my studio.” What resulted are a series of large scale, chaotic photographs, where within the image of nature, we can discern fragments of a studio and remnants of other bodies of work by a prolific artist. In his essay ​The Vanishing Point, Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri writes of the experience of looking at photographs that evokes the sensation of viewing Ellen Brooks’ Screens. Its “as if there were a gossamer-thin sheet of film between us and the landscape we observe, between the world and its representation – one which, paradoxically, does not stop us seeing clearly but, on the contrary, becomes the point of balance between vertigo and precision, time and space.” An unmistakable orange extension cord runs through the frame of an image, mimicking the frenzy of blurred, brown branches. Among the array of other objects, some clear, some abstract, is a shopping cart, wire fencing, a magnifying lamp, painter’s tape, the blue light of dusk through a window, and an inflatable yellow ball, like the one a child goes searching for deep in the woods, before finally giving up and letting it join the ever growing image of nature.

Ellen Brooks​ (b. 1946, Los Angeles) lives and works in New York. She has shown internationally, at galleries and institutions including the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Centre Pompidou, Hauser & Wirth, Roth Gallery, Barbara Gladstone, Leslie Tonkonow, and Gallery Luisotti among many others. Her work is in the permanent collections of the MoMA, the Whitney, SFMoMA, the International Center of Photography, the National Museum of American Art, the Getty Museum, and the Albright Knox Museum among others.

Peter Baker​ (b. 1981, New York City) lives and works in Los Angeles. Peter Baker is an artist/photographer from New York City. He received a BA in Literature & Photography from SUNY Purchase in 2005, and an MFA from the Yale University School of Art in 2012. He has designed and taught courses at the International Center of Photography and has been a contributing writer for American Suburb X.

Photos by STUDIO LHOOQ