http://toastedrav.com/people/jlainde en Copyright 2008 Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:02:45 -0700 http://toastedrav.com http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification http://media.bonnint.net/dado/oss-trav/0/42/4263.jpg ToastedRav.com jlainde posted a comment on the article Toy Camera Art Coming to You This Friday...With Polka Music:


“The Holga only has one f-stop,” explained Mark A. Fisher, photographer and curator of the Holga Polka Invitational. “The back of the camera might fall off if you don’t tape it on. You’ll get double exposures, either intentionally or unintentionally, if you don’t advance the film. Little about the Holga says it’s a camera, but people are still using it as another tool for creating stunning work.”

To celebrate creative Holga photography in a contemporary assortment of media types and styles, the Regional Arts Commission (RAC), located at 6128 Delmar, will host the Holga Polka Invitational from January 9, 2009 – February 22, 2009. Each of the forty-two participating artists were encouraged to experiment with alternate approaches to their own primary medium to create a variety of art – ceramics, hand made books, alternative photographic processes, printmaking, mixed media, and if all else fails, traditional photographs - based on their own Holga images. The opening reception on January 9th from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. will feature a live polka band to help set the quirky atmosphere.

A handful of writers from local publications have also been invited to try their luck with the mysterious Holga. Stefene Russell of St. Louis Magazine, Alison Sieloff of the Riverfront Times, and Byron Kerman of Playback St. Louis will each take photos with a Holga for two weeks. Their results will be displayed at the Holga Polka Invitational and their experiment chronicled in their respective publications.

Holga Polka Invitational participant Tony Schanuel has been a photographer since the 1970s, but he didn’t begin using the Holga until Fisher gave him one in 2006. “I hadn’t shot film in some time,” recalled Schanuel. “I’d been using digital cameras. I have some very expensive film cameras that have been sitting on the shelf for the past seven years, and then Mark gives me this twenty-dollar plastic camera that has the lens quality of a cataract. It’s very limited in what it can do. You don’t have an incredible amount of control. Consequently, it’s a risky camera to work with.”

Despite the Holga’s flaws, or maybe because of them, Schanuel couldn’t put down his Holga. The Holga is known for producing soft-focus images, leaking light spontaneously into pictures, and casting a hazy vignette around the image without a definitive foreground or background. “It’s a strange camera and in my case it was kind of like an odd magnet,” said Schanuel, who described the camera as “fun” and “wacky.”

Schanuel said the Holga encouraged him to go back to his roots as a photographer. He found liberation in the lack of control and began to rethink subject matter. “The Holga is the perfect camera for quirky subject matter like six-foot lawn bunnies,” said Schanuel.

The possibilities are endless for the results of the 2009 Holga Polka Invitational. Since the Holga’s birth as a kitschy, mass-produced camera in Hong Kong in the 1980s, the Holga has become an additional tool for many amateur as well as professional photographers world-wide, producing wide-ranging imagery from whimsical student work to award-winning photographs. Photographer David Burnett won a top prize at the 2001 White House News Photographers’ Association’s Eyes of History contest for a photo he took with a Holga of Al Gore on the campaign trail in 2000.

Still, the Holga remains stubbornly itself. “It’s a Holga— you’re always going to have problems,” Fisher said. “If there’s nothing falling off, it’s not a Holga. They are marvelous instruments for the pure purpose of ‘seeing’. All technology is relegated to how well you apply your electrical tape and whether you remember to manually advance the film. The essence of the photographic process is distilled, producing fascinating images when placed in the hands of talented and creative artists.”


]]> http://toastedrav.com/post/5884#comment-15585 http://toastedrav.com/post/5884#comment-15585 Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:00:27 -0700 jlainde added mike as a friend.]]> http://toastedrav.com/people/mike http://toastedrav.com/people/mike Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:46:02 -0700 jlainde added the Shout Holga Polka at the Regional Arts Commission]]> http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/194_holga_polka_at_the_regional_arts_commission http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/194_holga_polka_at_the_regional_arts_commission Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:27:28 -0700 jlainde voted up the Shout! titled Holga Polka at the Regional Arts Commission.]]> http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/194_holga_polka_at_the_regional_arts_commission http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/194_holga_polka_at_the_regional_arts_commission Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:27:28 -0700 jlainde voted up the Shout! titled Big A$$ Indie Art and Craft Show.]]> http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/148_big_a_indie_art_and_craft_show http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/148_big_a_indie_art_and_craft_show Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:56:01 -0600 jlainde added the Shout Big A$$ Indie Art and Craft Show]]> http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/148_big_a_indie_art_and_craft_show http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/148_big_a_indie_art_and_craft_show Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:55:58 -0600 jlainde added the Shout Call for Art: The Last Minute Maul]]> http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/147_call_for_art_the_last_minute_maul http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/147_call_for_art_the_last_minute_maul Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:53:10 -0600 jlainde voted up the Shout! titled Call for Art: The Last Minute Maul.]]> http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/147_call_for_art_the_last_minute_maul http://toastedrav.com/shout/post/147_call_for_art_the_last_minute_maul Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:53:10 -0600 jlainde posted a comment on the article Artopia: Beyond Expectation:

Mad Art Gallery presents the Big [Naughty language removed.] Indie Art and Craft Show, your alternative to the alternative holiday craft shows. The STL Craft Mafia will be helping organize and plan this alternative art & craft extravaganza with Mad Art Gallery.

This show offers three days of shopping (December 5, 6, 7) in St. Louis' most spectacular and well-known venue for art exhibitions and unique events. Our show focuses on presenting original art and hand-made crafts of the highest quality. Expect the unexpected with the most unique and high-quality indie art this holiday season.

For details and online applications, please visit:

http://www.madart.com/eventsexhibitions/publicevents/bigassindieartcraftshow.htm"

Mad Art Gallery
2727 S. 12th Street,
St. Louis, MO 63118
]]> http://toastedrav.com/post/3693#comment-10931 http://toastedrav.com/post/3693#comment-10931 Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:10:22 -0600 jlainde posted a comment on the article Pick Your Perfect Pumpkin: A Trip To The Pumpkin Patch:

Mad Art Gallery presents the Big [Naughty language removed.] Indie Art and Craft Show, your alternative to the alternative holiday craft shows. The STL Craft Mafia will be helping organize and plan this alternative art & craft extravaganza with Mad Art Gallery.

This show offers three days of shopping (December 5, 6, 7) in St. Louis' most spectacular and well-known venue for art exhibitions and unique events. Our show focuses on presenting original art and hand-made crafts of the highest quality. Expect the unexpected with the most unique and high-quality indie art this holiday season.

For details and online applications, please visit:

http://www.madart.com/eventsexhibitions/publicevents/bigassindieartcraftshow.htm"

Mad Art Gallery
2727 S. 12th Street,
St. Louis, MO 63118
]]> http://toastedrav.com/post/4438#comment-10930 http://toastedrav.com/post/4438#comment-10930 Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:08:00 -0600 jlainde favorited the post entitled Jack's Halloween Art Show and Party: Submit Your Artwork by Oct 1.]]> http://toastedrav.com/post/3359 http://toastedrav.com/post/3359 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:28:29 -0600 jlainde favorited the post entitled Did You Know that St. Louis Has a Craft Mafia?.]]> http://toastedrav.com/post/3322 http://toastedrav.com/post/3322 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:57:06 -0600 jlainde favorited the post entitled Road Trip Must-Sees.]]> http://toastedrav.com/post/2856 http://toastedrav.com/post/2856 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 11:04:43 -0600 jlainde posted a comment on the article Soulard Art Market is Calling All Local Artists:

This quirky gallery of 14 local St. Louis artists offers up a variety of art, all home grown. You can chose from glass, photography, painting, drawings, jewelry and sculpture]]> http://toastedrav.com/post/3246#comment-8221 http://toastedrav.com/post/3246#comment-8221 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:39:21 -0600