Boston Athenaeum:

The Boston Athenæum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of a number of membership libraries,^[2] meaning that patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use the Athenæum's services. The institution was founded in 1807 by the Anthology Club of Boston, Massachusetts.^[3] It is located at 10 1/2 Beacon Street on Beacon Hill.

Resources of the Boston Athenæum include a large circulating book collection; a public gallery; a rare books collection of over 100,000 volumes; an art collection of 100,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts; research collections including one of the world's most important collections of primary materials on the American Civil War; and a public forum offering lectures, readings, concerts, and other events. Special treasures include the largest portion of President George Washington's library from Mount Vernon; Houdon busts of Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Lafayette once owned by Thomas Jefferson; a first edition copy of Audubon's "Birds of America;" a 1799 set of Goya's "Los caprichos;" portraits by Gilbert Stuart, Chester Harding, and John Singer Sargent; and one of the most extensive collections of contemporary artists' books in the United States.^[4]

The Boston Athenæum is also known for the many prominent writers, scholars, and politicians who have been members, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., John Quincy Adams, Margaret Fuller, Francis Parkman, Amy Lowell, John F. Kennedy, and Edward M. Kennedy.

Source: Wikepedia

The Athenaeum has frequent exhibitions, showing works from within the New England region. Its current show, Called "Works on Paper" includes a couple of photographs of mine from Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor that I made in 2005. The library purchased the full portfolio in 2011.

Peddocks Island is on the gallery page of my site: here.

Catharina Slautterback, the library's curator of prints and photographs, chose works from the permanent collection for the show. This exhibition emphasizes recent acquisitions.

It is a very beautiful show. It is up through mid September.

Although the Athenaeum is a private library for its members, it is free and open to the public on its first floor. It is also one of Boston's great resources, practically across the street from the State House with real charm  and an old world presence. Never been? Seize this opportunity to see  some great art set in a great place, a retreat from the noise and fast pace in downtown Boston.

Forgive the self serving nature of this post but there is a killer show at 555 Gallery up right now. It opened last weekend and is called "Devil's Promenade" and features the work of Antone Dolezal and Lara Shipley with some really stunning photographs. The two collaborate on their photographs and this body of work is made in the Ozarks. Both poignant and powerful, this is work that needs to be seen.

There is another photographer's work in the show, namely me, and these quite odd pictures of medical and forensic specimens have never looked better.  If you only know my work in landscape, architecture, built spaces or aerials, you're in for quite a surprise.The work in this show is from two collections; one at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia and the other from the Spallanzini Collection in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Four of the large photographs in the show present the Mutter Museum work in a new way, specifically in color. Having been made on 8 x 10 inch transparency film, the prints have a level of detail and fidelity that must be seen to appreciate.

The other work is, for the most part, smaller prints:

Finally, if you haven't been to the newest photo gallery in Boston yet.... go. Susan Nalband, 555 Gallery's owner, is showing wonderful works: diverse, eclectic, beautiful and at times, intense. This current show is a good example.

She has also made this space at 555 E Street in South Boston into a first rate place to look at art. Don't you hate it when good work is shown badly? Well, that doesn't happen at 555. Great light, a quiet and serene space in which to look at work and yes, it's true, a friendly and welcoming atmosphere when you come in. Imagine, a gallery that is pleased to see you! 

The show is up through November 8. 

When I asked Paula Tognarelli (the director and curator of the Griffin Museum) what she thought of the exhibition she said: "This is a powerhouse of a show."

Not to be missed.

From the 2010 one man show at Panopticon.

I have been exhibiting my work with Panopticon Gallery for almost 25 years. Initially under the ownership of Tony Decaneas and, in the past 3 1/2 years, under the ownership of Jason Landry. My work has been displayed in all three of the gallery's locations as one man shows; in Boston along the river at Bay State Road in about 1990, in Waltham, where the gallery was for many years, and at its current location in the Hotel Commonwealth in Kenmore Square in Boston.

From the 2006 one man show in Waltham

No more.

I am no longer a gallery artist at Panopticon Gallery. One thing is always true and that is: things change. Since I retired from teaching in 2012 my life is very different and my needs for the showing and selling of my work have changed as well. As I age and take a more active role in managing my current and past work my needs for a gallery to represent my photography are different than when I signed a contract with Panopticon in May of 2010.

Am I signing with a new gallery? Not yet. Have I got something lined up? No. Is it scary to be dangling out in the breeze without representation? Not really, for I am  confident in the belief that something good will come from this new situation I find myself in.

I also want to write in praise of Jason Landry for he is a most excellent person to have in your court as an artist. With Jason's sometimes instigation and always with his support, we entered into several ventures together that proved lucrative for us both over the years. With his help, my work is better known now by far than it was in 2010 and better received too. He has my lasting gratitude for a job well done. He treats his artists with respect and often works hard on their behalf. Asked if I would recommend or endorse his gallery to artists I would not hesitate, particularly to those that are young and emerging.  

It probably seems counterproductive to be leaving a gallery at a time when so many are looking to join one. So be it. To be honest, some things aren't optional when you are in your late 60's, the way they are when you are younger. My years of continued output and production at a high level are limited and that means I am in a hurry. 

So, I wish Jason Landry and the gallery the very best, in all its ventures. 

Jason at his desk during the 2010 show of my work:  "Twenty-Five Years".

Good times, even though I pulled my pulled back out earlier in the day.

An opening of the Three Amigos show in Harvard , MA late Saturday afternoon with a fine crowd and then back to the studio in Allston for a small party. We had some good beer and wine, some very good pizza and there were wonderful people enjoying themselves in diverse conversations with several wonderful stories to boot.  Some were new friends and some were old. I thank you all for coming.

Got an extra 20 minutes or so? We say we're really busy and we are but still we seem to be able to take time to space out in front of a computer screen and cruise on line, don't we?  So, cruise on over to my site and first, run through the 25 pictures that is the series Mountain Work. If you can, take a little time with these, looking at details and things spatially. And, of course, their color.

Good so far? Let's move on.

Next I'll ask you please go to to Lago Di Bolsena, Italy . This is a WW II cemetery in central Italy and an altogether different kind of series. Somber and sobering. To be there in the fall that afternoon with a big storm building with the wind picking up and the temperature going down was  remarkable, memorable, and very moving. 

And third, let's do one more. I know, you're busy, but we want to end here on a more optimistic note. 

So, lets finish with: Spruce Pine, NC 2013.

This is the second group of pictures I've made while teaching at Penland School of crafts the past couple of years. I don't think they'll bum you out. Spruce Pine is a really special and beautiful southern small town.

There you have it, three to go.

The Three Amigos show in Harvard is up through January 4th. Check it out. I think you will enjoy it. For more information: Center on the Common

Oh, and if you honor Christmas, may it be a wonderful one, and I wish you the  best of  New Years. 

Two friends and I are hanging some of our work for most of December at The Center on the Common, in Harvard, MA. The show is called "Three Amigos". We are installing the show December 10 and there is a reception the evening of the 14th. Stay tuned for more information. I hope you can come to the opening. This should be fun.

As my friend Mercedes says:

Woohoo!