Uxbridge Then & Now: Youth Photography Exhibit
WHAT DO YOU SEE ? ARE YOU WILLING TO TAP INTO YOUR CREATIVITY A LITTLE MORE ? ARE YOU WILLING TO SHIFT YOUR PERCEPTION JUST A LITTLE?
The Celebration of the Arts has created a photographic mentoring/learning program that will allow 20 youths from the Uxbridge area to express their creative passions. This workshop will help youth bring out their ability to see the world in a slightly different light as well as allow them to express themselves through the photographic medium. The final prints will be shown at the Celebration of the Arts juried art show, September 20-25, 2011. Doors open between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. (ends 12 noon Sunday)
Under the guidance of Professional Photographers Marni Grossman and Stuart Blower, participants will create original images on the theme of Uxbridges’ modern/historical amalgamation. This is designed to explore the historical aspects of our town and blend them with the modern.
The group will be invited to a hands-on mentoring workshop; they will then post their efforts onto a private Flickr site for discussion amongst each other under the supervision of the professionals.
A second workshop in September aims to bring their vision into fruition by creating fine art quality prints used in the media presentation. The students will learn to work with computer software and professional printing equipment to create their final prints.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Enthusiasm • Unique Perspective • Creativity • Willingness to learn
• A digital camera • Computer and Internet
Entrants to this program must submit a short, written essay outlining their passion and creative desires as well as why this program is for them. Sell us on YOU!
Up to five (5) photographs may accompany the submissions but are not necessary. We are looking for people who want to interpret, express and create with openness for learning. Previous photographic experience is not essential but would be preferable.
Please include name, address, phone number and parent/guardian contact info
Email to: marni@marnigrossman.com or sblower@stadam.com
DEADLINE: Sunday, July 17, 2011
ABOUT THE COORDINATORS
Stuart Blower I have been involved with cameras since I was 10 years old, when a class trip with the family brownie (12 exposures) started me on my long association with photography. I have been a professional photographer since 1975, when I worked for Metroland Publishing as a staff photographer and finally the chief photographer. Since then I have worked as a feature editor and writer, a digital imaging consultant for flexo and offset printers as well as web printers, and have mentored as a publisher and provided digital consultation and training for newspapers and graphics departments. Although I grew up working with film, I am completely comfortable with digital technologies. My professional work is commercial photography, my hobby is art. I have always had the need to capture slices of life, that are only there for a blink of a second. I look at the world around me as a an arena of activities and stories that need to be recorded. I am always trying to tell the story or provide the visual perspective that will take the place of a thousand words or more. The enjoyment of being able to spend my time examining and selecting the interesting elements in a scene, and then being able to use technology to present that unique visual message to a wider audience is very rewarding and satisfying. See Stuart’s portfolio at www.stuartblowerphotography.com 
Marni Grossman Drawn to aesthetics at a young age, I was compelled to pick up a camera and begin to document what I saw. Launching a career in the film and television industry in 1979, I amassed 25 years of experience, credits and a respected reputation. But in 2003 I travelled to West Africa to photograph a group of drummers and, there, I turned my camera towards the extraordinary I found in ordinary life. Since then I have endeavored to become a student of what is elusive and beautiful in the real and the natural. The mystery and magnitude of the outside world speak to me: sunlight paints the landscape a different hue at every moment; constantly changing weather leaves its footprint on every blade of grass; an impassive mountain range breathes and subtly shifts. On the west coast of this continent, I’ve pointed my lens into the mist in Big Sur; in BC I’ve been awed by the riches of Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest and the fragility and nobility of its indigenous bears, particularly the sacred (and rare White Spirit Bear whose habitat is threatened. It is difficult and painstaking to capture such images but it’s my aim to engage with and photograph what is ephemeral, evolving, endangered, innocent, dangerous and beautiful. In this vein I have also explored the abstract elements I find, to record what is primary and naturally occurring in shape, colour, texture, light and shadow. Human sensibility depends on the existence of such beauty; on the possibility of encountering what takes our breath away and reminds us of our own vulnerability. I photograph not just with my eyes but with an instinct in my heart, and with a desire to preserve – in the frame as well as in the landscape – the tenuous magnificence of places where not many people get to walk. My work as a photographer is less about composing the shot and more about becoming a medium for the fleeting canvasses of art I find around me. I am devoted to the environment and is printing archival pigment prints on Hahnemuhle Fine Arts (supported by) newest sustainable papers. See Marni’s portfolio at www.marnigrossman.com 
