#Virginia Heckert

[softsoundingsea]

Japanese American Photographers in 20th Century LA

"It’s really quite astonishing how often, in looking at some of the works of these Japanese American photographers, how simple the subject is, and yet how graceful its rendition is.”

At the turn of the 20th century, the Japanese population in Los Angeles was growing rapidly. At the same time, photography was becoming more affordable, accessible, and popular. Scores of Japanese Americans were avid photographers in this period, and by 1926 the community was active enough in LA to form a club, the Japanese Camera Pictorialists of California, centered in the Little Tokyo neighborhood. However, as the US entered WWII and the military displaced and incarcerated Japanese Americans from the West Coast, their community splintered. These photographers were forced to leave behind their cameras, negatives, and photographs, many of which were destroyed. As a result, much of the history of this group was lost or forgotten for decades, until the early 1980s, when art historian Dennis Reed began working with Japanese American families to preserve and display these artworks.

Getty recently acquired 79 photographs by Japanese Americans from the Dennis Reed collection as well as 75 additional photographs from the families of these artists. In this episode, Virginia Heckert, curator in Getty’s Department of Photographs, discusses these works and the history of this artistic circle.

[rafaelroncato]

And that’s where the title of the Getty exhibition I worked on in 2015 — “Light, Paper, Process” — comes from. It’s about light and paper and the process of exposing that paper with light. The exhibition included John Chiara and Chris McCaw, whose works capture the landscape, but it’s something about the way of capturing it that is so direct — putting paper negatives directly into large format cameras and exposing them and showing those negatives as the work of art. It forms a very direct, tactile, tangible connection to the photographic medium that I think we’ve gotten away from. And I was just missing it. That’s what attracted me very much to that work.

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And that may or may not mean direct eye contact. It may mean really understanding who that person is and placing that individual in the most comfortable, appropriate environment. But that’s not always the case. It may also be that a portrait is made in the studio and the sitter has the opportunity to fantasize and dream about who he or she wants to be, how they want to present themselves. I think there are many different ways to create a great portrait, but I do think that, more often than not, it’s a collaborative work, a collaborative effort. There are some photographers who just have that knack and there are others who don’t, and I think it’s something that can’t be faked or forced. I also think in some instances, having a great subject is really important, you know, somebody who can really shed all inhibitions and just be there, be real, be there for the photographer to capture.

[statecryptids]

In addition to cryptids, I’m also a huge prehistoric creature nerd. I recently wrote an article for Tracks and Trails, the newsletter of Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, Connecticut where I work.

It’s (hopefully) the first in a series about prehistoric animals of the East Coast of North America

First a little introduction. In the Connecticut Valley, the majority of fossils are trackways. Bones and body fossils of large tetrapods are quite rare with a few exceptions such as the partial remains of Podokesaurus, a Coelophysis relative found near Holyoke, Mass, and the hand and hip bones of the early prosauropods Anchisaurus and Ammosaurus (there are, however, abundant full-body fossils of Jurassic fish, but that's an article for another time).

 Tetrapod bones have, however, been found in a number of other Triassic-Jurassic rift valleys along the East Coast. Since these valleys all date from the same time period- during the break-up of Pangea- it is highly likely that these creatures also inhabited the Connecticut Valley.

 There are a lot of interesting fossils along the Atlantic Coast, but I only had so much space for the article. So I decided to spread it out into several pieces covering groups of related animals.  This first article talks about the Tanystropheids, a diverse group of reptiles with unusually long necks.

 I also did a couple black-and-white illustrations of the creatures I talk about. It's nice to finally be getting back to some paleoart after such a long hiatus.

 Anyway, without further ado:

 TRIASSIC FOSSILS OF THE EAST COAST: THE LONG-NECKED REPTILES

by John Meszaros

 The Triassic period can be thought of as a time of “evolutionary experimentation”. The preceding Permian Age ended with a massive extinction event- the largest known extinction in Earth’s history, in fact- that wiped out ninety percent of life on Earth. In the wake of this Great Dying, innumerable ecological niches were left vacant. Life evolved to take fill these gaps, often in forms that seem bizarre to us in the modern day.

 Although evidence of Triassic life is rare in Connecticut, fossils from other sites along the East Coast of North America allow us to construct a reasonably accurate picture of the animals that would have lived here. Dinosaur State Park’s Triassic diorama and its accompanying background painting by William Sillin depict a few of these prehistoric creatures: the crocodile-like Rutiodon; the giant amphibian Metaposaurus; bearded dragonesque Hypsognathus; pig-nosed Stegomus and the early dinosaurs Coelophysis and Sileasaurus. These are but a small sample, however, of the unique and unusual Triassic beasts lying buried in rocks all along the Atlantic coast.

One of the more distinctive reptiles of the Triassic was Tanystropheus (Greek for “long vertebrae”). Sometimes described as a “living fishing pole”, this creature was characterized by its extremely long neck- at 10 feet, it was longer than the rest of the animal’s body and tail combined. Despite this length, however, Tanystrophus's neck had only 12  elongated vertebrae. The exact reason for this strange anatomy is not known, but since fossils of Tanystropheus are usually found near marine sediments, it is speculated that the animal hunted for fish from the shore by dipping its head and neck into the shallows.

 Tanystropheus bones are known primarily from Europe, the Middle East and China. However, in 2014 paleontologists Paul Olsen and Hans-Dieter Sues described the discovery of a single Tanystropheus neck vertebra from the coast of Nova Scotia along the Bay of Fundy, thus establishing the presence of these reptiles on our side of the Atlantic. This is actually not that surprising considering that during the Triassic the lands that would become North America and Europe were close together within the super-continent Pangea. 

 In contrast to the single Tanystropheus bone from Nova Scotia, fossils of its smaller cousin, Tanytrachelos, are abundant in fossil sites along the East Coast- primarily in the Solite Quarry of Virginia. Nine-inch long Tanytrachelos resembled a long-necked lizard with powerful webbed hind legs that it used to kick-swim in a frog-like manner through the shallow lakes of the Triassic rift valleys. It likely fed on aquatic insects, which are themselves abundantly preserved in fine detail at the Solite Quarry. Tanytrachelos is thought to be the maker of a type of fossil footprint called Gwyneddichnium, found abundantly in Triassic sandstones from Pennsylvania. It is, of course, not possible to determine exactly what creature made these tracks- just as it is not possible to say definitively that Dinosaur State Park’s own Eubrontes tracks were made by Dilophosaurus. However, the foot structure of Tanytrachelos is a close match to Gwyneddichnium, making it- or a very similar reptile- the most likely candidate. 

The same Virginia quarry where Tanytrachelos fossils are so abundant has also yielded fossils of another possible Tanystropheus cousin, the gliding lizard Mecistotrachelos . This creature lived among the boughs of the ancient forests, hunting insects and sailing from tree to tree on wings formed from elongated ribs much like those of the “flying lizard” Draco volans of South-east Asia.

Mecistotrachelos shared the Triassic skies with a number of similar wing-ribbed gliding reptiles, including Kuehneosaurus (known from fossils found in southwestern England) and Icarosaurus (known from a single specimen unearthed in New Jersey). It differed from these other gliding lizards in a few ways. For one thing, it had an elongated neck similar to Tanystropheus- though its neck was much less exaggerated than the “fishing rod” of the latter animal Mecistotrachelos also appears to have had better maneuverability in the air than its contemporaries. The base of the first wing-ribs were significantly thickened- much thicker, in fact, than the leading ribs in other gliders. This suggests that they may have been anchors for strong muscles that would have allowed the creature to flex its wings, giving it the ability to bank and alter its direction as it descended. 

 Mecistotrachelos is notable for being the first fossil to be analyzed with a CT scanner- a necessity since the skeleton was too delicate to be removed from its stony grave through typical paleontological procedures.

 Though none of the species  discussed here have yet been found in the Connecticut Valley, as was said before, the presence of these fossils in other East Coast fossil Triassic river valleys gives good evidence that frog-like Tanytrachelos once swam the waters of our state in the shadows of the predatory phytosaurs whilst wing-ribbed Mecistotrachelos glided through the gingkos and conifers along the shores. And where the rivers met the sea, it is quite possible that there were Tanystropheus dipping their fishing-pole necks into the surf to snap up fish.   

 REFERENCES

 Window Into The Jurassic World by Nicholas G. MacDonald

 Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Life In The Triassic by Nicholas Fraser, illustrated by Douglas Henderson

 The Great Rift Valleys of Pangea in Eastern North America: Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Paleontology (Volume 2) edited by Peter M. LeTourneau and Paul E. Olsen

 Last Days Of Pangea: In The Footsteps Of Dinosaurs by Daniel T. Ksepka and Kate Dzikiewicz

(This is a slim informational booklet to accompany an exhibit on Triassic fossils at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT)

 An article on Mecistotrachelos from National Geographic

 Quantitative Taphonomy of a Triassic Reptile: Tanytrachelos ahynis from the Cow Branch Formation, Dan River Basin, Solite Quarry, Virginia. Michelle M. Casey. Master's Thesis in Geosciences. 2005 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

 Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Paleontology of the Upper Triassic Solite Quarry, North Carolina and Virginia. Cynthia M. Liutkus-Pierce, Nicholas C. Fraser and Andrew D. Heckert. Geological Society of America Field Guides 2014; 35; 255-269

 Stratigraphic and Temporal Context and Faunal Diversity of Permian-Jurassic Continental Tetrapod Assemblages from the Fundy Rift Basin, Eastern Canada. Hans-Dieter Sues and Paul E. Olsen. Atlantic Geology 51; 2015; 139-205 

[townsquarecollaborative]

An ode to Front Porch Society

By  Campbell McCool, a Mississippi developer and organizer of The Conference on the Front Porch,

It wasn’t until several years into the development of Plein Air that I became curious as to the why of the front porch. Why did a majority of houses in pre-World War II have them? What forces led to their demise? And how did the ethos of our neighborhoods change without the front porch?

There was no shortage of scholarship on this subject. Reams of articles and books had been written; I was the one late to the party. The more I read, the more fascinated I became with the significance of the front porch in society. This single architectural feature had a profound impact on how neighborhoods lived. Front porches fostered a greater sense of community, interaction and even kindness. I had long been a believer, but this needed to be celebrated on a larger scale. We didn’t merely need to build more houses with front porches — we needed to stand on the porch and shout that front porches matter!

Such were the origins of The Conference on the Front Porch.

Next month will be our fourth conference. It has grown from an idea into a two-day celebration and study of what the front porch stands for in American society. We didn’t want just another “porchfest" — as great as those are.  (And we love to drink and dance on a porch. We do that, too.)  We wanted an academic component to our gathering. So we brought in the people who had already done the deep dives into the history, demise, and resurrection of the American front porch.

Our first keynote speaker was Scott Cook, author of the seminal study done at The University of Virginia on “The Cultural Significance of the Front Porch in America.” Following Cook was Michael Dolan, author of The American Porch: An Informal History of an Informal Place, as well as Crow Hollister, founder of the Professional Porch Sitters Union. Jay Watson, the Howry Professor of Faulkner Studies at Ole Miss, gave presentations on the significance of the front porch in many of William Faulkner’s greatest works.  Mississippi poet laureate Beth Ann Fennelly penned an original piece on her love affair with the front porch. Architect V. John Tee walked us through the history of the porch from early Greece until today.

Front porches in cinema. Front porches in presidential politics. The correlation between front porches and mental health. Never had so many serious porch-nerds gathered in one place at one time.

As the conference grew, we expanded into food, music, literature, and storytelling — and we looked at how the front porch factored mightily into each.  Scott Baretta, possibly the world’s foremost living blues expert, gave an extraordinary talk on the importance of the front porch in the formation of the blues. (It was the devil’s music and got kicked out of the house.) John T. Edge, who runs the Southern Foodways Alliance, explored food and the front porch. The former Director of Publishing for the Library of Congress, Ralph Eubanks, gave a poignant talk on how, growing up in rural Mississippi, he would wait on his front porch with his mother for the bookmobile to come down his dirt road each week. It changed his life.

The conference features lectures and presentations in the mornings. In the afternoons, there are tours and outings to places such as Faulkner’s Rowan Oak, the Ole Miss blues archive and Mississippi’s only gin distillery. Evening festivities include block parties, dinners in the field, porch plays and music. Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors serenaded attendees last year; this year The Kudzu Kings will let loose with their southern funk-a-rock.

The 2019 conference takes place September 26-27 and features another all-star lineup of speakers. Attendees will receive front porch wisdom from Mark Plotkin of the Amazon Conservation Team, Audra Burch of The New York Times, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack, novelist Ace Atkins, writer and philosopher Brian Jones, legendary journalist Curtis Wilkie, artist Jason Bouldin and more. Garden & Gun Magazine has signed on as lead sponsor and editor Amanda Heckert will present from her new book on southern women.

One could easily argue that America in 2019 needs more front porch time. Thankfully, the percentage of houses in America with front porches is rising again and none too soon. The porch symbolizes community, neighborhood and conversation. When you ask people about their favorite front porch, many recall a kinder, gentler time. What is your favorite front porch, and how does it resonate with you still today?

[winteram5]

Week 8 Analogue and Alternative Processes in the Contemporary Context

I have provided some links for you to begin your research. This is only a starting point, feel free to go further.

Shadow Catchers – Camera-less Photography

https://vimeo.com/13149612

https://www.creativereview.co.uk/shadow-catchers-at-the-va/

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/camera-less-photography-artists/

Light Paper Process: Reinventing Photography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtZIgjRY-mk

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/process/

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-ca-light-paper-process-getty-photo-show-20150503-story.html

Emanations: The Art of The Cameraless Photograph

http://www.govettbrewster.com/exhibitions/emanations-the-art-of-the-cameraless-photograph

https://artblart.com/2016/07/31/exhibition-emanations-at-the-govett-brewster-art-gallery-new-plymouth-new-zealand-part-1/

New Matter- Recent Forms of photography

https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/?exhibition_id=7312

https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/artsets/qdrle3

[1] Batchen, Each Wild Idea - Writing, Photography, History. Pg. 137

[2] Baker is paraphrasing Rosalind Krauss’s position from the 1979 paper Sculpture in the Expanded Field.

George Baker, "Photography's Expanded Field," OCTOBER, no. 114 (2005). P. 136

[3] Ibid. P. 138

[4] Virginia Heckert, Light, Paper, Process: Reinventing Photography (J. Paul Getty Museum, 2015).

[5] Batchen, Emanations: The Art of the Cameraless Photograph. Pg. 47

[6] Martin Barnes, Shadow Catchers: Camera-Less Photography (Merrell, 2012).

[isthisadrelevanttoyou]

"Although Ruscha uses the adjectives 'hideous' and 'passé' to describe the buildings, he clearly recognized the potential cultural value of including them in a widely distributed book."

Heckert, Virginia. Ed Ruscha and Some Los Angeles Apartments. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2013. 31. Print.