The photographs by Julie Blackmon in this exhibition are largely drawn from her Domestic Vacations series. This body of work finds a compelling intersection between 17th century Dutch genre paintings of family life, and the artist’s own lived experience of home and domesticity in the 21st Century. One of nine children, and the parent of 3 of her own, Blackmon is intrigued by the complex dynamics of family life. She explains that “the stress, chaos and the need to simultaneously escape and connect are issues that I investigate in this body of work.”
Julie Blackmon, a Springfield, MO based photographer is gaining national recognition for her work. Her photography has been reviewed in the New York Times Magazine, VOGUE Italia, Time Magazine, and Vanity Fair (Italy). She has had solo exhibitions in New York, Boston, Chicago, Houston, and Seattle among other cities. Her work is included in the collections of the George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Portland Art Museum, OR; Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, WA; and the Walt Disney Corporation.
Eirik Johnson’s series titled Sawdust Mountain reflects back on his childhood in the Pacific Northwest. Memories of the iconic, forested landscape now intersect with the dramatic changes brought on by industrial and cultural shifts. In Johnson’s words the photographs in this series “reflect upon how the specific challenges facing the Northwest stand as a bellwether for a sustainable balance between industry and ecosystem.”
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Eirik Johnson is currently a photographer based in Boston, MA where he is an assistant professor of photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. His work has been exhibited at spaces including the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the George Eastman House in Rochester, and the Aperture Foundation in New York. He has received several awards including the Santa Fe Prize in 2005 and a William J. Fulbright Grant to Peru in 2000. His work is in the permanent collections of institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the National Fulbright Foundation, and the Joseph and Elaine Monsen Collection.