Exhibition 4

The One Night Stand at Café Babel

Canvases by Adi (4), Christel (2) and me (from the right)

The Transatlantic Art ConneXion, which meets at least once a month in the DAZ in Stuttgart, organized and put on an art happening for the third time as part of the American Days on May 22, 2014. We decided on one central theme for the evening and one format. We have used the square format in previous shows and will offer our artwork to the Museum Ritter near Stuttgart, which specializes in all things in a square format.

Sabine did a wonderful job of capturing the evening's theme "Connections" in her work

Mixed media is one of Uka's strengths, mixing photography and drawing on the canvases.

Nic found inspiration in the solar system.

Juan went all out and made delicious finger-food for the 30 participants and visitors.

In addition to showing three canvases, Adi also put her handmade jewelry on display.

To complement the 40 x 40 cm canvases we put up all around the café, the Writers in Stuttgart, read from their work.

 

In two years the American Days will roll around again and we'll be looking for another interesting venue to do our happening. Please tell me if you know of a good place!

Exhibition 3

 Diverse Perspectives

Joel Micah Miller, Jim Martin, Edwige Damron, Uka Meissner-deRuiz, Martin Greeson and Jim Palik

The big show at the Café Künstlerbund was a success due to the terrific people who organized it and participated in it.
Jim Palik and Uka Meissner-deRuiz were the veterans among us, each of them having over 50 years' experience as a photographer! We hung the show on May 18, 2014, and will take the pictures down a week from today on June 29.

Jim helped Uka transport her huge pictures

Bernd Mückenhaupt, also a photographer and member of the Künstlerbund, helped us hang our pictures and by the time I arrived at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning had pasted up the newest poster advertising our show.

Bernd puts up the billboard announcing our show

Edwige Damron is the youngest in this group, but she has experience in both the U.S. and in Germany as a professional photographer. Her specialty is newborn photography but she appears to be just as comfortable capturing the beauty of six million year-old rock formations in Arizona.

Edwige sticks an information tag onto one of her pictures

Eight in the morning is early, especially on a Sunday. But we all gathered there with our four pictures each and watched the experts hang them high and straight. 

Joel helps align Jim's pictures with his own

On the one wall we decided to hang the photographs which showed cities or towns. My four from NYC are at the front of this picture and Uka's triptych from Alabama are hanging near the bar.

On the opposite wall were Edwige's landscapes from Arizona and Joel's from California.

Martin Greeson, a photographer for the US Army, showed his four images up at the stage, including one ingeniously hung picture of ducks and their reflection in the water. Viewers could actually rotate the image 180° to see what it looked like upside-down.

Jim Palik and Martin Greeson talk after the hanging.

My good friend Christof Schmidt played an American program on the trombone, accompanied by Frank Zuckschwerdt, who is an accomplished trumpeter and pianist.

We were graced with the presence of over 100 visitors the evening of the opening and there were probably thousands more who came in to appreciate the show in one of Stuttgart's best locations for showing art.

 If you haven't had a chance to see the show yet, hurry up! BTW, the art is for sale.

American Days 2014, Exhibitions 1 & 2

Last month I was able to reap the rewards from months (and years) of work. I was privileged to be asked to show in four exhibitions at one time.
The first was in the prison in Heimsheim (no cameras allowed, thus no pictures here), where I showed five of my black/white prints from my recent street photography production. This one was chosen to hang in the front hall where visitors go in and out. I had actually chosen the theme "In and out" for my images, and came up with a group that worked well together.

The next show went up at the DAZ as part of the American Days celebration. There I hung four pictures I had been aching to show because I liked them so much. They are not like anything I had ever done or seen before, so I was curious to see people's reactions.

I received many favorable comments on the photographs, most people wanting to know how exactly I had made them.

Last weekend I cooked something similar and took many more photos under better lighting conditions. Here is one of those.

The opening of the show was a big deal. A colonel from the US military base came and gave an interesting speech about German art. Two young girls from a local music school played Chopin's "Variations on a Theme from Cinderella" and kept our attention throughout their playing.

There was plenty to eat and drink, but it was hot and crowded. Most people were there to appreciate the art and the camaraderie of the evening, but there were also some people off the streets who were there primarily for the free food. And I guess that's fair. We had enough to go around. For those of you who have never been to an opening and are not sure how to avoid a faux pas, here is a list.

Since the opening was early in the evening, my entire family was able to come. I appreciate the support my family offers me in my artistic endeavors. I'm looking forward to continuing to work with them in the arts.