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Christopher
James
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About
Christopher:
Christopher
James is an internationally known artist and photographer
whose paintings, photographs, and alternative process images
have been exhibited in galleries and museums in this country
and abroad. His work has been published and shown extensively,
including shows in The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Eastman House, and the White Room and Witkin
Gallery. Christopher's new book, The Book of Alternative Photographic
Processes (Thomson Delmar Learning, 2001) has received unprecedented
critical acclaim and was the winner of The Golden Light Technical
Book of the Year award.
Christopher, after 13 years at Harvard University, has for
the last 12 years been a Professor and Chair of Photography
at The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. He is
also a working graphic designer and a professional scuba diver.
contact:
dublinstudio@earthlink.net |
Behind
The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes:
When
I was in graduate school (RISD ’71) I made a decision
to produce my work “from” the medium rather
than “with” the medium. By adopting this creative
approach I had the freedom to marry the chemical and technical
knowledge of photography’s beginnings with the historical
and critical perspectives of the present. That decision,
and the fact that I love to teach, motivated the next 30
years of my life … inspiring students in university
and workshop environments to work with, learn, and love
the process of the handmade photographic image.
My book represents a significant part of the evolution of
my education as an artist and teacher of artists. For nearly
three decades I’ve been modifying and adding to a
notebook that, in an abbreviated form, has served as a set
of working notes for my students. The content of the book
represents what we have learned together; pertinent and
peculiar observations, techniques, anecdotes, and a good
dose of interesting history to enhance the connections between
the past and contemporary process. My intention was to create
a resource that was interesting to read and “user
friendly”, and to write a flexible guide that would
encourage the reader to see what might happen if they let
their creativity and interdisciplinary associations out
to play. To paraphrase Mark Twain: … it hardly matters
when your technique is great if your imagination is out
of focus.
The part of this book that I like the most is the abundant
number of illustrations and the fact that these wonderful
images were primarily made by my students and friends. The
collecting process was easily the part I liked the best
and the fact that so many are student generated has made
the book an inspirational tool for teachers who want to
show their students “…how high the bar is.”
- Christopher James
Learn more about The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes
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