Three Wonderful Things Today

It's a special day today for three reasons. First, it's Summer's birthday! Happy Birthday Summer! It doesn't seem like it was very long ago that I stayed up all night (Sunday night) with Jeanne and then witnessed your birth at 05:55, Monday morning - July 20th - 17 years ago! Wow! We love you Summer! You will always be our beautiful (baby) girl!

Secondly, today is the grand opening of STUDIOQ.COM - my Wet Plate Collodion Online Workshop, book and DVD. Although the book and DVD doesn't ship until the first week of August, the video workshop is online and there's plenty to see and learn in the interim. I'm excited about the launch!

And last, but not least, are the images I made yesterday in Frankfurt. Jeroen (also known as Dr. Herr De Wijs), our friend from The Netherlands, came down and stayed the weekend with us. He got to experience the Höchst public art making fest, also known as Montmartre Am Main. Erick, an American living in Ladenburg (near us) also made the journey to Frankfurt and witnessed the Collodion portraiture and the public awe of the event. He brought his dog Clover, too. It was a good day. As always, people gathered around and, with great interest, spent some time in my world.

Summer played guitar and sang some songs - it was very nice to be in the dark-box listening to her music while I was processing plates. Jeanne talked with people and got to relax a little bit after a long hard week of administrating the VBS - she worked until 9PM or 10PM  every night last week.

Here are some of the portraits:

"Greek Man In Frankfurt"

 
"Spanish Woman In Frankfurt"

 
"Greek Woman In Frankfurt"

"Romainian Girl In Frankfurt"

Montmartre am Main

Every once in a while, when you stop trying so hard to do something, it just shows up without you doing anything. I'm sure the gurus have a name for this kind of thing, I just call it ironic.

For many months, maybe I can even say years now (2 years plus), I've been sending our queries to German Kunstgalerie (Art Galleries) and various German artists that seemed to be interested in photography. All I've ever wanted is to find some kind of community and share/show my work with the German public. Until yesterday, nothing had happened in Germany for me.

Here's the backstory. Two weeks ago, I received an email from a very nice lady named Kathy. Kathy is an American artist that has been living and working Germany for many years. She, through many trials of her own, organized a group of artists to meet in Höscht, Germany to share and show work and mingle with the public. She asked me if I would be interested in attending and making some plates (do a demo/make some work). This was what I had been looking for through all my queries and begging for community - there it was, and she was contacting me. I had put an ad seeking Germans to sit for me for portraits in thelocal.de - Kathy saw the ad and emailed. I'm very thankful she did.

She said, "It's a totally open gathering of artists painting en plein aire along the riverside where a lot of Sunday strollers and bicyclers pass by. The artists attract a lot of attention and feedback." Her idea is brilliant and I want to support it as much as I can. I found this on a Frankfurt blog about Montmarte am Main:
The first "artspace" was probably back when Montmartre in Paris became the place for mostly unrecognized artists. Both Montmartre and Hyde Park were destined to symbolize the free artist together a group of like-minded but at the time, scorned artists. Now, Kathleen Schaefer is trying to start the premise of those two places in Germany where such a tradition was never tried out. It´s for all artists, especially the ones who are barred from galleries but who have earned through their talent the right to have their art be seen in public. At the same time an appeal is made to those "arrived" artists to support, by their presence at Montmartre am Main, the idea that the work of all artists the right to be seen. And, let's not forget the 99% of the population that does not feel comfortable entering an art gallery in the first place - they also have the right to see art in a natural and casual manner - just like at Montmartre am Main!

I totally agree. Here's her website.

Trudy, an artist set up next to me, did a wonderful sketch of me, I'll post it when can scan it. It was just a lot of fun to meet people, talk about art and make photographs.

Update: Here's the sketch she made of me - wonderful!

Quinn at Montmarre am Main - Frankfurt, Germany

Here are some of the portraits I made yesterday. I will use some of them in my project.

Helmut, a German painter.

 Karin, a German painter.
Sandra, from Frankfurt, GermanyTrudy, a German artist.Gabi, from Frankfurt, Germany

My Teaching Philosophy: It’s About Questions, Not Answers

I'm reminded daily of how much I don't know. Or, I question daily what I think I do know. I’ve often thought about doing some in-depth studying on epistemology. I think it’s a fascinating topic. Knowledge, how we know what we know, shapes our world view and accordingly dictates how we act and live.

These ideas seem to put a lot of responsibility on people who have a lot of influence. People like teachers, preachers, politicians and even pop-stars. I’m constantly being swayed by the power and potential "difference-making" of teaching, maybe even preaching. It’s something in me, and I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it’s just my ego, my need for attention, but I doubt it. It feels much more powerful than that. Sometimes, it feels like the same emotion of warning people of danger. Urgency comes to mind. Other times, it’s like the knowledge of revelation. Knowing something that needs to be said or taught and passing it on. In other words, it feels like I’m a participant in life, not a spectator. And I’m trying to do my part in the chain of human progression, one tiny word (or idea, thought, action) at a time to pull people off of the bleachers and into the game.

We talk a lot about the “what” in life but rarely the "why". The greatest gift education gave me was to question. Not the kind of questioning that you may relate to authority. Questioning like, “What is my purpose for taking space and sucking oxygen?” and one that has been rolling around in my head for a couple of years now, “Why did the Holocaust happen?” There aren’t any answers to these questions, not definitive anyway. However, I think people need to talk about these kinds of things - you know get ideas and philosophies out there for people to think about. We are in wars and have all kinds of problems because we don't ask or offer questions, we always think we know the answers.

I was fortunate to recently meet, and quickly befriend Elke. She is a cleaning lady in my building where I work. She asked if I would make her portrait. I gladly said, "Ja, Klar". She spent a couple of hours with us today making photographs, drinking espresso and talking about our lives. Although I'll use her image in my series about the German past (and she knows this), she is a very kind and loving person. I don't meet many Germans like Elke. Vielen dank für alles Elke.

Elke Wössner Putzfrau - Viernheim, Deutschland 23.08.08

Update on Friday, December 10, 2010 at 2:23 by Quinn Jacobson

A very sad update: Elke died of cancer. It's a loss for everyone that knew her. She will be missed. Rest in peace, Elke.