Delivering Work to the Gallery

I posted on Thursday morning about my recent work making a few final prints and trimming down unframed prints. Later that day, I made 2 trips to the gallery with my work for my upcoming solo exhibition:

Seven framed pieces in the back of my car.


Three larger ones in the backseat.


A dozen slightly smaller framed pieces in the back,
with 1 larger piece in the backseat in the background.


Two dozen pieces in the gallery closet, ready to hang later this week!

I'll be delivering about 22 unframed prints later this week, as well as helping the gallery director layout everything in the space. I don't think there's room for all 46+ pieces I have, but we'll see what we can do! Stay tuned!...

Final Solo Exhibition Prep

Here are 2 pics from my last 2 days of work (you can click them to enlarge).

Yesterday, I spent all morning triming down prints that will be unframed and shown behind glass:

And this morning, I made a few final prints as I noticed I had 1 frame that still wasn't used:

Two of the 4 options (17"x22" prints).

I'll be dropping off 90% of my work later today at the gallery. I'll be helping layout and set up the exhibition in about a week (so stay tuned for more on that, because I'm really exicted about that day!), and then the opening is 2 weeks away: Feb 24 from 5-7 pm (with an artist's talk at 5:30 pm). See the postcard here.

Framing and Teaching

As of last week, everything is framed for my solo exhibition in 3 weeks! (Although I still need to wire a few of the frames.) Here's one of a few larger framed pieces (30"x40") ready to go:

And I'm underway with the spring semester at both North Central University and Hamline University. Here was the white board at North Central at the end of our 2nd week of class last week:

I love these early "nerdy weeks!"

Check back often now because I'll be having more about my upcoming solo exhibition shortly. The opening is Thursday evening, Feb 24 from 5-7 pm.

Related links: announcing the exhibition late last year, starting to frame work, my image on the university's yearly mailer, some big prints and final prep, and the postcard for the exhibition.

Solo Show Closing In...

I have just a few more prints to make for the exhibition next month (all images that won't be framed), and everything else is coming along. Here are a few quick pics from the last 2 weeks:

Henry showing off one of my bigger framed pieces. Precariously.


Printing a few smaller images last week.


I figured out what I needed for my last few framed pieces
this past weekend, and I'm waiting on a few final matboards.

That binder on the left contains all my information about the exhibition. It's where I tracked all possible ideas, the 4 different possible layouts I had for the space, and any other info. All of the sheets laying out in the first images of the post last month where I announced this exhibition are in there. I like to have a small binder for every little project where I can collate my ideas and progression.

Scroll back through recent posts for more on the exhibition, or check out these links: announcing my solo exhibition, framing up smaller work, and my image on the "Art and Design" flyer for Concordia University.

Framing Work (Stressfully)

This past week is when I really started framing work in earnest for my upcoming solo exhibition. Here was the view in my house a few days ago:

I don't mind framing work (I've never loved it), but it does stress me out a little. My wife just got me a new Garmin for Christmas, and it was entertaining to see my heartrate elevated in the 2 hour window when I was framing on this day:

A workout in the morning and late afternoon, teaching
a class from 9-12, and the "framing stress" from 1-3.


It showed up on my "stress indicator" as well.

Big News: Upcoming Solo Exhibition!

I'm so happy to announce that at the end of February 2022, I'll have a solo exhibition of my 4 a.m. work at the Concordia University Gallery in St. Paul! I'll have a lot more about this over the next few weeks and months, so keep checking back for more details.

Here's a handful of images from the last few weeks of prep work:

Early October: I sat down in the faculty office space at the University of Minnesota for a few hours of planning.


Notes, image lists, and gallery maps to be working with.

After I put together a 3-page list ranking most of my 4 a.m. images back in August (something I'll never show publicly), then I started thinking of ways to use the gallery space: did I want to just show my best 4 a.m. photos? Did I want to highlight different mini-series within the larger 4 a.m. series? I currently have 4 different possible mock-ups of the gallery layout.

More recently, I gathered all my 4 a.m. files in one place and made 5 large contact sheets of images:

Nearly 120 images from my 4 a.m. series cut out and ready to sort.


(I made the contact sheets on some old CVA paper - nostalgia!)

Then last weekend I really started planning in earnest. I had my stack of images ready to sort in a big open quiet area at Hamline University:

It almost sounds silly, but it took hours of work (and pacing back and forth) to get to this point.

The upper left are images I wanted to print large and have framed, the lower left are images I'd frame in some "normal" sized wooden frames (13x19 images framed 22x28ish), the upper middle are images I'd be putting in 24" black metal frames, the lower middle are images I'd like to print larger (24x30 overall) and have behind glass, the upper right is a mini "social justice" series around George Floyd's murder and the Mpls riots, and the lower right are alternatives. All-in-all, that was 120 images cut down to 45-55 for the exhibition.

The work continued at home: our dining room table looked like this for about 5 days.

Then a few days ago, I headed to the DSB on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota. This is a big printing room right across the hall from where I worked and taught from 2005 to 2011, so it was a bit sentimental to be back:

Looking east in the DSB.


Looking west back to the printer I was using in the corner.




Waiting on my first image to print: 24" wide and 32" long.


Large prints.


More prints.


My biggest print coming out: this one was 44" long.


Starting to wrap-up after 4 hours.


There are about 16 large prints wrapped up in there, all ready
to be secured between 2 pieces of foam core for the ride home.

That brings us to today. The prints are "drying" in my studio, and I hope to start framing in about 10 days.

I've had pieces in that gallery before, and if you are interested in seeing the space I have to fill, here are 3 posts that show it from a few years ago:

     - Photos from the "Rise" exhibition
     - A single panoramic image from that same show
     - Some images from "The Art of Teaching" which shows the vertical height in parts of that gallery

Stay tuned for more! There's a LOT of work that still needs to happen in the next 8 weeks! In the meantime, keep the evening of February 24, 2022 open if you are a local...

New Headshot

My department asked for a new headshot at Hamline University, so I snapped a few back in November. I just had access to a small softbox and a small "bare bulb" flash with a gel, so this is what I was able to do in a random small basement classroom at Hamline:

[click each image for a larger version]

Without a gel in the back.


With a blue gel.

As I was getting ready to turn those in last week, I realized my beard wasn't trimmed, and I had been unhappy with how my collar was laying (I was wrestling with it as I was shooting those 2 months ago). So I quick shot another headshot with a "better" shirt and with a trimmed (but longer) beard:

This new one is the one I submitted. I'll post about the updated faculty/department page when it goes live.

Prep for the Wells Art Expo

I was recently asked to make a few pieces for a big Art Expo as part of my hometown's 150th anniversary.

Work in my studio ready to go. (Yes, a summer project will be cleaning my studio!)


Loaded up.


With a quilt strategically wrapped between and tucked around the 4 pieces, ready for a 2 hour drive.

Soeffker Gallery Prep

My work is being hung at the Soeffker Gallery in preparation for the opening next week (Friday, March 1st, from 6-8 p.m.). Here are few pics in process:

Framing work in my studio.


Showing some work that's slightly outside of my "norm."


Three pieces framed up, sitting in my office, and ready to be delivered.
(Don't judge the amount of Cherry Coke Zero that I consume.)


Sorting some loose prints before class.


Trying something new here too - showing some loose "work in progress" prints.

Stop by the Soeffker Gallery at Hamline University in a week to see more work at the opening reception. It's Friday, March 1st from 6-8 p.m.

Making Frames

Nearly 2 weeks ago, I started making some frames, and I finished them up about a week ago. (One of them is for a piece in upcoming exhibition in CO at "The Center for Fine Art Photography.") Here's some photos from the process.

Sorry everyone else shopping at Menards, but I picked over their poplar stock PRETTY well.


At the Hamline University woodshop.


From my Instagram: "Playing in the woodshop. Making some frames for an upcoming exhibition."


After a pass through the table saw.


Safety selfie.


After 2 passes through the table saw.


Final frame (and mat) dimensions for the piece for the CO exhibition.


The large frame and 1 of the small frames mitered, assembled, and puttied (just the nail holes).


Another Instagrammed photo: "A 32"x41" frame for an upcoming show in CO,
and three 22"x28" frames. Puttied, sanded, and ready to be finished!"


Some tight joints.




Hanging out in my office for the weekend.

After they spent a few days in my office, I hauled them home, wiped them down, and laid them out for finishing in my garage:

Wiping on a coat of tung oil. The difference is subtle, but I like the way it gently
"warms up" the frames. (Coated on left, not on the right.)


Before / after.


Before / after.


After drying for a day.

Check out my last post for some photos of the large print that will be going in the biggest frame for the exhibition at "The Center for Fine Art Photography."