Colors

Check out this slideshow about color palette and photographs...

The Kindness Project

Check it out - this woman, Brooke Welty travels the country collecting stories of kindness.

HERE is the link for the project.

Give it a listen... what are some profound acts of kindness that have affected your life?

Should we do GEV kindness stories?

Photos from and exhibit in Mali.

Hey Gals - Surprise! People take photos all over the world (but you knew that already).
These photos are from artists all over Africa that are being exhibited  in Mali, a country in Western Africa. I thought that these would be great for you to look at as we reflect on what makes each of our home towns/states/geographic areas unique to us. Take a look at these and think about what you can learn or borrow from these photographic styles as you romp around Ware over the next few days...

Here is the link for the BBC article and a slideshow of more photos.  I recommend that you look through the slide-show and read a bit about the artists, their subjects and the theme of the exhibit.

Beautiful, Powerful Photographs

Hi Ladies - I hope that the holidays are restful and fun in your worlds.
I'm feeling very moved by these beautiful portraits of Iraqi women taken by Andrea Bruce. They feel hopeful, tranquil and continuous in a way that makes feel connected to these women. What do you think? What sort of emotional response do you have to these? I think that many of these women are the same age(s) as you - what do you think their GirlsEyeViews hold/show?

HERE is the link for more......

Please take photographs over break - hundreds of them!!!!!!!!!!!




See you in a week! Send me your writing and photos if you want to do a blog post.

Vote for US!!!!

Florence Savings Bank has an annual give back to the community through which they give $50,000 to local non-profits.

Please vote for Youth Action Coalition - our larger organization to be a recipient of one of these grants. It would make such a positive difference in our community. It only takes a moment...


LINK FOR CASTING VOTE ON FSB WEBSITE

LINK FOR CASTING VOTE ON FACEBOOK

FOLLOW OUR BLOG?!?!?!

Hey Gang -

We get loads of blog views each day (and from google I have learned that they have been from as far away as Alaska!!). It would be AWESOME if you would officially become "followers" of this project so that we know who all is a part of our larger community.

To become a follower follow the prompts on the page (upper left corner I think).

Gear up for another great semester of GEV, starting on 1/4/12!!!!!!!

Image credit here!

Back to the Future

This photographer Irina Werning has been doing a project of remaking family photographs years after the original ones were made. Below are some examples of her work and HERE is the link for her website.

 

Thanks for such a splendid party yesterday - I will wear my GEV button all the time.

Have a great vacation and check back here often, as I will continue to post throughout the holidays!

Party Tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bring a t-shirt tomorrow so that we can make GirlsEyeView prints!!

We also will have a button-maker to make GirlsEyeView pins!!!!!!

As always, I can't wait to see you gals tomorrow! As promised we will have a bit of a celebration...!!!!!!!! Bring t-shirts to print on, music to dance to, any treats you fancy (I'll bring a snack as always) and of course your cameras!!

Oh! Also any costumes you might want to dress up in as well!


See you tomorrow!!!!!




Also - I got the picture of Audrey Hepburn from a blog called "A Conversation on Cool".
HERE is the link for it!

This I believe Submissions

Hey Gals,

After all sorts of research it turns out that I cannot submit your essays for you, rather you must submit them yourself. So, here is the lowdown for doing it.

1.) Follow THIS LINK to the This I Believe Website. It will take you right to the submission page.

2.)Read the Submissions Agreement.

3.) Hit the "NEXT" button at the bottom of the page, the next page you go to will ask for personal info about you. Write a little description of who you are.

4.) Continue on to the next series of pages. You will upload your essay and agree to their terms of use and depending on your age you may need to have something filled out by your parents or guardian.

5.) Let me know once you've submitted your piece!

Post from Anna: Imogen Cunningham

Hello Hello!

I wanted to show you all Imogen Cunningham this week. She is possibly considered one of the best (or most well known) female photographers of the 20th century. She started shooting when she was 18 in 1901 so she was really popular during the 1920's ad 30's.  These images are shot with black and white film and printed in the darkroom, like the Barbara Morgan dance photos we looked at on our field trip.  I really admire the range of value in her prints. She really captured a rich black in the shadow areas. Also, notice how she uses body parts like hands and arms in a way that even 60-70 years later seems like something new and exciting in photography!

OPEN SEASON!

Check out this SWEET poster that Crystal made.

On Wednesday Anna and I will be at lunch at WHS spreading the word about GEV... tell all you friends! We have about 6-8 spaces open for new folks to join!

A Photo and Hour (or 24 photos in one day)

Hey Gals -
This project made me think of you all. This mama takes roughly a photo an hour for a full day to document the everyday activities in her house. What do you think of her style of photos? The project itself? Would you want to do this project?

To see more photos from this series CLICK HERE!

It will be lovely, lovely to see you all today. We're going to have a fabulous day together: Poetry, Map-work, Discussion, Printing + Assorted Games!

Oops, I forgot to put the photos in the last post...

Bieke Depoorter is a young, Russian photographer. What do you this of her photos? I like looking at them and reflecting on the Mary Oliver poem. I keep thinking about that idea of the "soft animal of your body" while looking at all the textures in these photos.

What are your reactions to both the poem and the photos?

 

Here is the link if you'd like to see more photos!!!!!

Great Poem, Sweet Photos + Can't wait to see you all Tomorrow!!

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting 

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver

VIdeo Vangaurds Screening THIS FRIDAY!

Hey Gals - This should be a great event! Unfortunately I have work until 8pm so I won't make it but......
I know that you are all passionate and skilled organizers. Maybe you can whip together a carpool to go?
If you are super desperate to go, but organizing a ride is waaaaay to complicated give me a call or send me an e-mail and I'll see what I can do.

A post from Jenaja - Reflecting on our first meeting in September!

This was the first day of G.E.V. We took pictures of something that we thought was good  about ourselves. We each had a partner and Jeyda (the picture at the top) and I, were each others partners. Jeyda LOVES her hair and she thought “I’m going to write about my hair.” As the photographer of this photo, I instructed her to hide behind her poster, and hold her hair up high to show that she really does love her hair. We all had a great time on the first day G.E.V. and I hope the second term of Girls Eye View goes just as great!

YAC UNITY Slideshow!

Hey Gals -
Here is s slideshow from Friday night. Barry put it together and posted it on youtube for all to enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb18psCU91U&feature=youtu.be

Photo by Barry Scott

Blog post from Anna!

Hello Ladies! 

I had such a great time with all of you that came to the Open Mic on Friday! It was really great seeing you all share your work and seeing what the other YAC groups have been working on. I wanted to show you this contemporary British photographer named Hannah Starkey. Take a look at these photos and think about how they are similar or different to other photographer we have looked at recently, in particular, Robert Frank in the Americans. Do you think her photos are documentary style, set up, or both?  Do you think of a photograph differently when you know how is was made? What aspects of identity do this images capture? It seems as if we've been given a look into someone's personal moment or thought in many of these photos. Do you think the people photographed can represent a larger feeling or aspect of the communities they live in? If you were to stage a photograph of yourself in attempt to describe your environment what would it be? Lots to think about! 

                                                                                                                               -Anna

Collaboration + What did you think of Friday?

Hey Gals -
What did you think of Friday? Wasn't it great? I was quite moved by how bold and open you were to showing your work and meeting new people. I am also feeling very lucky to know so many creative and active folks!

I hope that you are ready for a big, old chunk of map-work for our Wednesday meeting (we'll do other stuff too). I though you might be interested in looking at this blog. These two women made a collage each week on Sunday morning for a year......... while living over 3,000 miles apart! It seems to fit into our theme of maps and collaboration, huh?

Website link HERE!!!!!!!!

On the topic of Friday, I'm really glad that you all got to see the work by Barry and Katie on Occupy Wallstreet and Immigration policies. They both have websites/blogs that you can check out. Here are the links and some sample work!

Barry's Tumblr!

 

 

Katie's Website!

From Crystal - The plan for Monday!

Hello, ladies! Mim and Anna will not be joining us on Monday, but Patrick and I
will be there, and we are gonna start talking about POETRY. As you all probably
know by now, writing is my first love. I miss our meeting last Wednesday to go
to a workshop about spoken word poetry, and it was run by Taylor Mali. On
Monday, we will actually listen to a Taylor Mali poem and start exploring how
poetry and photography can be connected. We’ll also look at how we can tie
poetry into the larger Ware community as we do some more exploration of “Who
are we, the people?”

To start you off with an example, here is a poem I wrote and a photo I took to
go with it.


Sometimes

Sometimes I want to break the ocean and shoot the blue out of the sky.
I want to see the dark crack between the clouds as our glass ball begins to
shatter,
to cut the waves with a sword and watch it bleed red.

Sometimes I want to be a hurricane.
I want to blow through my bedroom in a fit of rage and leave it ruins,
to destroy all the precious objects and erase all signs of order.

Sometimes I want to slam the door hard enough to make walls crumble.
I want to see the ceilings cave in and the structure topple sideways,
to watch the people flee the enclosure in freedom and in fear.

Sometimes I want to break you down.

 

Celebrate (YAC UNITY)

This is for you Annalee!

Let's all CELEBRATE your fabulous selves and the beautiful, edgy, inspiring, powerful, inventive, silly, serious, intense, deliberate, fearless, brave, hopeful artwork that you make!!!!!

AND let's also celebrate the vibrant community that YAC represents.

See you tomorrow at 5pm in the WHS parking lot!! Is you haven't RSVPed yet please text, call, facebook, e-mail, blog post or howl (very loudly and in the direction of Northampton)!!!!!

Kool & the Gang Celebrate - Link Here!!!!

SEE YOU TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Deanna Templeton

Hey Gals -

As we continue to ask, who are the people of Ware as a part of our larger organizational theme of who are we, the people I think that the work of this woman may be of interest to you. Read the statement below that was posted with a recent show. What do you think of this statement? What do you think of her work?

We work a lot with the combination of text and image. How does the text within these photos play into the larger project? How do you feel about writing messages onto bodies? Tattoos?

Credit Here

Deanna Templeton has always shot photos. Her mother bought her a Cannon T - 90 for coming back home after running away. She was 15. That camera got stolen from her luggage on her way back from Mexico in 1987. She stopped for 3 years. When she was 21, she got a Yashica point and shoot. She shot so much, that I got her a Cannon AE - 1 for Christmas one year. That started her on her current roll...

She now has a whole bevy of cameras to choose from, and seems to always have one with her. Looking at her photographs is like knowing her. Photographs say as much about the person behind the lens as it does about the subject. There are choices involved that reveal the sensibilities of the creator. In Deanna's you see an eye to the feminine experience, - the cracks that are forming in that false persona of being a girl in this day and age. She explores what being a child, or a woman feels like today. She gets inside the migrant workers and little ironies on the street that passes us by without a thought usually.

Credit Here

Message from our Peer Leader!

Lady’s,

Thank you all for coming to the field trip.

Hope you all had as much fun as I did.

                     Sincerely: Amanda C.

Post by Jazmin T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look at this little cutie!!!

This is my little brother Jonas who is 2 and a half, and he actually posed for this picture. 

My Grandfather says he looks like a young Elivis. 

Jazmin T. 

 

Dyptich

This made me think of you all and the dypichs we've been working on. There are just so many different ways to make and use them huh? Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsburg  are the two in these photos - they are french musicians, who were very popular in the 60s + 70s.

Image credit here

 

 

YAC UNITY + Other thrills on the way!

Hey Gals -
YAC UNITY is this Friday at 6pm at the Mercy House (365 N. Pleasant St. Amherst).
Come eat burritos, meet lovely people and share your art!!

image credit here

Also - looking towards tomorrow and maps and all that: What would a map of you look like? What does your personal map of Ware look like? Who are the other people of Ware and what unites them? Tears them apart? Inspires them?


And just so you can keep tabs on the other amazing ladies in the current art world......

 Magda Biernat is a contemporary female photographer, look at her work below and click HERE to see more of her work!