Natalie van Sambeck says of her series, 'Coming Home', "Home is very much a state of mind.  Whether we define this in terms of  people, places or inanimate objects, it makes no difference.  Home is our sanctuary.  A place where we can go to for comfort, peace, or even solitude.  We are greeted by our self every time we connect to home and it is here that we begin to get a sense for who we truly are.  In this sense home and self become intrinsically intertwined; never fully being constant. 

My home is a sacred place nestled in the forest just off a slightly beaten path behind my family’s house.  This place is where I spent most of my childhood days hunting for frogs or crayfish, building forts in trees, stomping on skunk cabbage, or looking up and counting all the stars when night began to fall.  I’ve shed some tears  and revealed some of my deepest secrets with these woods.  It holds my hopes, my dreams, and even my fears. In essence, my self is imprinted within this place; a sacred space I call home. 

Each print is hand made using a 19th century photographic printing method called gum bichromate.  This process requires multiples layers that are all hand coated to create a full colored image that is a one-of-a-kind handcrafted piece of art.  Neither grounded in reality or fantasy, the soft desaturated color scheme and painterly aesthetics work together to enhance a dreamlike state of being that reveals the pathway for Coming Home.

​Recently, my work was also selected for the 2018 Alternative Processes Show at the Soho Photo Gallery that is scheduled to open November 6th of this year.

More explanation about the images
Coming Home is a linguistic based concept that combines self-portraiture within the landscape to express those intangible aspects of home and identity that define who we are.  While my images imbue emotions and experiences associated with a journey of self discovery, this fine art conceptual self-portraiture series explores a deeper meaning of home as a vehicle for understanding that the self we seek always lies within.  By looking at ourselves reflected in the natural world, we both know and are known. Through a connection to nature, we understand our very nature.

Through our own journey of self discovery, we reveal the pathway for Coming Home
Natalie van Sambeck specializes in one-of-a-kind antiquarian pigment prints that reveal the artist’s hand in each piece of artwork. Her work is tailored to those who desire unique imagery that invoke a deeper exploration into the inner workings of the subconscious mind and our perception of reality."

As an artist, Natalie van Sambeck is inspired by the natural world and mankind’s relationship to nature. Influenced by the teachings of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung, van Sambeck offers a unique perspective that challenges conventional ways of thinking about the broader issues surrounding home, identity, the human condition, and our relationship to nature.  With an emphasis in alternative processes and self portraiture, van Sambeck creates unique handcrafted works of art that offers her distinctive vision.

Highlights Career
Exhibitions-

2016   Annual Members’ Show, PhotoSynthesis, East Hartford, CT

2015    Annual Members’ Show, PhotoSynthesis, East Hartford, CT

Awards-

2017    Finalist, Photographer’s Forum, Best of College & High School

2016   Finalist, Photographer’s Forum, Best of College & High School

2015   Finalist, Photographer’s Forum, Best of Photography 
                    
2014  Finalist, Photographer’s Forum, Best of College & High School

Publications2017-

 “ The Golden Section VS The Rule of Thirds,”  AAU Lens, May 5, 2017
http://www.aaulens.com/blog/2017/1/25/the-golden-section-vs-the-rule-of-thirds?rq=natalie%20van%20Sambeck                   “The Artist’s Voice: Speaking Our Own Truth,”  AAU Lens, March 17, 2017

http://www.aaulens.com/blog/2017/1/25/the-artists-voice-speaking-our-own-truth?rq=natalie%20van%20Sambeck

“Lumen Printing With a Twist,”  AAU Lens, February 3, 2017. 

http://www.aaulens.com/blog/2017/1/25/lumen-printing-with-a-twist?rq=natalie%20van%20Sambeck

www.nvansambeck.art
 

Review by curator Diana H. Bloomfield:
The combination of photography, print-making, and painting is, in part, what makes the 19th century gum bichromate process so appealing.  

I was particularly intrigued with Sadler’s approach which so successfully exploits the print-making and painting possibilities inherent in the gum process.  That includes the graphics he used in the triptych separation.

I felt that the smaller images within that triptych— like narrow windows into and as part of the larger view— were individually strong enough, compositionally and otherwise, as stand-alone pieces.  I love the mystery and timelessness of this image, which were so compelling. No one’s face is distinct; no time frame can be given.

This is simply the essence of a particular time and place, experienced if only briefly. The deliberate choice of pastels also suggests a lovely and fading visual memory, plucked from the mind’s eye and carefully put to paper.  So many choices Sadler could make with this process and with this ‘figure in the landscape’ image, and each one here was smart, thoughtful, and beautifully realized."

Diana H. Bloomfield asks:
"Gum bichromate printing is appealing in the way it combines aspects of print-making, painting, and photography.  I love the image itself, and am intrigued by the way you chose to print it, which seems to really exploit the print-making and painting possibilities inherent in the gum process.  Why did you choose to print this in a historic process, like gum, as opposed to some other process, including digital printing?"

Parks Sadler says, "Gum printing has certain visceral nostalgic qualities to the process whenever the print is done and in my case I always use gum in a quite poetic and gentle way. The nostalgic qualities gum offers to a print is essentially why I chose it. I think it is not only fitting to the imagery, but also fitting to the concept of memory abstracting time and place. 

Bloomfield says, " I love the way you split the image here, with each one of those pieces making an intriguing scene all by itself.  In relation to that, both the image and print seem reminiscent in some ways to mid-century modern art to me, both in your choice of pastels and the triptych graphics.  What was your thought process in making those choices?"

Parks Sadler says, "Beyond the initial aesthetics I made these decisions because I wanted the viewer to question the time the images were created in or referencing.  There are moments when the viewer can almost be certain of the time and other moments when the time becomes more illusive. Also, a more straight forward reason is that I saw the shapes the images are cropped into as port windows on a boat looking onto these memories.  The viewer can use their imagination on the kind of window they are looking out of with the image shown in a more traditional rectangle crop."

Bloomfield says, "I also appreciate the fact that what the viewer sees here is less a reality than it is a remembrance, a feeling, or the essence of a summer boat trip, experienced somewhere, anywhere, at any time. Even the boaters’ faces are totally indistinct.  In that way, too, the image seems timeless. So many choices you could have made in the taking and processing of this image, so I would like to know the reasons behind your final choices that made for such a strong compelling scene."

Sadler says, "As I mentioned before I saw the shapes as port windows on a boat and the viewer is looking onto these memories. Memory is a fickle thing it is always changing and undulating like you are on a summer boat trip.  The goal of the works were to visually mimic the intangible act of remembering. This is why there are pieces of the imagery that are distinct and pieces that are frustratingly forgotten."

Parks Sadler says of his work, 'Cities & Memories', "This body of work permits you to ask questions about the conceptual measurement of place and the events that have occupied said place. Magnifying the abstract and cyclical disposition of time causing the viewer to never pin point a time period the images were created in. The nostalgia is overwhelming allowing the memories of the place to exist in the past, the images as a vehicle living in the present and extending into the future. Moments of abstraction and the flashes of clarity allow the audience to make sense of the complex works and this experience is similar to the act of remembering. The goal is to allow the viewer to project their own memories onto the works, reforming and changing their thoughts on the images and their memories making them question the actuality of the events."

Parks Sadler is a commercial and fine art photographer who is finishing up his degree in Graphic Design and Photography at UNC Charlotte. He recently moved back to Charlotte, North Carolina after living in their sister city Wroclaw, Poland. His work often explores themes of narratives, memories, and personal connections associated with place and location. Traditionally trained in
darkroom analog processes. Sadler
specifically enjoys 19th century alternative photographic printing including gum arabic printing, and platinum palladium. Sadler is currently working for an interior design company staging and photographing high end homes. He also works as a research assistant to an art historian. Currently he is working on a thesis project exploring language diversity and language barriers.
    
www.parkssadler.myportfolio.com
parkssadler@gmail.com
gsadler1@uncc.edu
instagram: @gparkssadler
 

Sara Musashi says, "What the common eye cannot perceive is what has always fascinated me.

My approach to photography is very instinctive; I am not backed by a strong technical or theoretical education. Since I was little, I’ve always felt safe behind a camera; I could observe people without interaction and engagement, I could catch moments nobody would ever remember, fantasize with compositional lines and obtain a beautiful image out of a small segment of the reality I was in, even if that reality was not always picturesque.

I try to take images that remind us the way our imagination interacts with scenery we are familiar with or that we are observing for the first time. I recreate how our mind recalls emotions and impressions, how we remember places and people. We live in infinity, everything is transitional, time passes, Beauty fades, Nature transforms, and our feelings alter. Our imagination persists."

Sara Musashi was born in Piacenza, Italy, in 1985. She studied Visual Arts at NABA Academy in Milan, attended photography classes held by the artist Massimo Bersani, and eventually graduated with a degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Milan. In 2015, she moved to Los Angeles.
 
Sara started taking photos when she was in middle school, to document, with a disposable camera, the ancient, beautiful, and secret gardens of her foggy hometown. Ever since, she has always conceived the act of taking photographs as a private ritual, a way to get to see what normally hides from us, like walking through thick winter fog.

Her photography focuses on the transitional aspect of Nature and Beauty; the way our memory evokes images from the past, the way our imagination interacts with sceneries we are familiar with or that we are observing for the first time.
 
Musashi has participated in various group-exhibitions, such as Silicon Valley Plastic Camera Show and LACP Fine Art Exhibitions. Her portfolios have been featured in selective photography e-zines. Sara also works with interior designers to bring a touch of her imaginative haze to private spaces and, obviously, secret gardens.

Partial CV:

July 13 - October 19, 2018
Silicon Valley Plastic Camera Show
Santa Clara University Art Gallery, California
http://scupresents.org/performances/visual-art-silicon-valley-plastic-camera-show
September 7, 2018
Silver Award in San Francisco Bay International Photo Show
ACCI Gallery, Berkeley, CA
July 19 - September 7, 2018
LACP 5th Member Exhibition
Los Angeles Center of Photography,
1515 Wilcox Ave, Hollywood, CA 90028
https://lacphoto.org/events/opening-reception-lacps-fifth-annual-members-exhibition-july-19-2018/
Photo/Foto Magazine
Featured Portfolio
https://photofotomag.com/2018/05/18/folio-death-in-venice-by-sara-musashi/
May 2018
LoosenArt
Absences - Group Exhibition
00154 Roma, Italy
https://www.loosenart.com/pages/exhibition-absences-1
December 2017
Tammy Cromer Gallery
The 7th Annual Holga & Friends Out of the Box
Dallas, TX 75207
May 2017
LACP
2017 Annual Fine Art Exhibition
Hollywood, CA 90028
https://lacphoto.org/gallery/second-annual-fine-art-exhibition-winners-2017-online-gallery-winners/
January 2017
Align Gallery 
10x10 - Group Exhibition
Highland Park, CA 90042
December 2016
International Photographer of the Year
Honorable Mention, Fine Art - Landscapes
https://iphotographeroftheyear.com/winners-gallery/ipoty-2016/amateur/landscapes/show/hm/1491

www.saramusashi.com

 

“Not all men are called to be hermits, but all men need enough silence and solitude in their lives to enable the deep inner voice of their own true self to be heard at least occasionally. When that inner voice is not heard, when man cannot attain to the spiritual peace that comes from being perfectly at one with his true self, his life is always miserable and exhausting...” —Thomas Merton

Sasha Primak says, "In a world where we’ve never been so connected, we’ve also never been so disconnected... from others, from our surrounding, and even from ourselves.

Our dependence on noise, activity, entertainment – indeed, all manner of stimulation – keeps us in a state of chaos. We are so busy processing the information received from all directions that we are losing the ability to slowdown, think and feel. Solitude and silence, are most intriguing and compelling spiritual disciplines, and yet also appear the hardest to come by in our crowded, noisy, modern world.  

With my Solitude project, I'm trying to find a visual that will make us seek that feeling of solitude and quiet interaction with an environment in a relaxed content state. My subjects appear as if time has stopped and they are simply absorbing the world around them without distractions. Another definition of the word “solitude” calls it a lonely unfrequented place with the absence of human activity.

I’m also depicting that lonely unfrequented place as silence (which is often missing from our lives) and how we need to get back to it.  I purposely compose my images that a person seems to be too small for a frame, but I believe that this "emptiness" help to enhance the main idea and give a viewer a real sense of scale."

Sasha Primak is an Editorial, Commercial, and Advertising Photographer based in the Vancouver area, BC. She is an Art Director and Photographer for Primus Studio, a visual communications company that specializes in print and publication design, concept development, branding & identity, as well as commercial, advertisement and life style photography.

Over the two last decades, Sasha has worked with different subjects and clients around the globe from Europe to North America. They include ad agencies, consumer brands, fashion labels, and restaurants.

Her background in fine art and extensive experience in advertising, design and photo industries help to bring a creative vision to all her projects. Sasha is a regular contributor to different online media and international magazines, including National Geographic. 

www.sashaprimak.ca

Instagram: @the_solitude_project

The Solitude project:
https://www.sashaprimak.ca/soli

Photographer website:
www.sashaprimak.com

Sonia Melnikova-Raich says, "Most of my photographs are a serendipitous discovery rather than being staged or arranged. I have no desire to just record something and lean heavily towards composition and mood of the moment rather than technical excellence.

I enjoy the challenge of creating an image of the ordinary and the familiar, but interpreting it in a unique way, looking for poetry and mystique in common things and trying to capture fleeting moments, barely visible, or disappearing things.

Career highlights:

Public art acquisition, multiple best-of-show awards, four solo exhibits, more than fifty group shows. Featured in Bokeh Bokeh Photography, Lenscratch Magazine, Float Photo Magazine, Shadow & Light Photography Magazine, L.A. Photo Curator, San Francisco Chronicle, Diffusion: Unconventional Photography, and other print and online publications.

http://art.soniamelnikova.com

Stefynie Rosenfeld says, "It wasn’t until I got my first digital camera that my photographic hobby became an artistic and spiritual journey.  

My works have explored the intricacies of the human condition, the blurred lines between the literal and surreal, the passage of time, and the spiritual beauty of the natural world.  

They are reflections of encounters I've had with people and places whose emotions go beyond words and are best expressed visually.  Through photography I have found the profundity of any given moment is always there, and who we are and what we bring to a situation allows the artistry to happen."

www.take2films.wix.com/throughmylens

Suzette Dushi says, "As the warm summer day approaches dusk and the beach starts emptying of people, the colors of the sky and ocean turn golden and pink.

Camera in hand, I walk on the cooling sand and a feeling of calm and solitude envelops me. I feel one with nature. Every now and then I meet a kindred spirit: A fisherman, a surfer, a kid taking a last swim, someone meditating... In those moments not only do they become part of nature, but they become one with the landscape.

I was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1957 and moved to New York in 1980. I earned my BA in marketing from New York University and worked as a financial analyst in banking.

I started photographing with my first camera at the age of eleven, when as a family we took a trip through Europe. My passion was rekindled a few years ago traveling in France with my own family.

Most recently, I studied at the International Center of Photography with photographers Dina Litovsky,Natan Dvir, Anja Hitzenberger, Barbara Mensch and Christopher Giglio. Currently I am studying with Christopher Giglio.

I am a street photographer and documentarian. I create images that are objective and realistic.

Highlights: 

    2018- Contemporary Istanbul 2018- Fine Art and Architecture Platform
    2018- PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, Juried Group Show "Portraits        without Faces"
     2018- Loosen Art-Millepiani, Rome, Italy, Juried Group Show, "Underwater"
     2018- PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, Juried Group Show " Significant Color"
     2018- PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, Juried Group Show "Just in Time"
     2018- Darkroom Gallery, Essex, VT, Juried Group Show "Open-2018"
     2017- Open House, Istanbul Biennial 2017

www.Suzettedushiphotography.com
 

Tony Schwartz says, "The photographs I have made are diverse in subject matter, gathered from New England, the US and the world.  The human face and form are fascinating, beautiful, and powerful.  I particularly enjoy making non-studio derived portraits that capture the essence of the person. 

Thus, over the past few years I have photographed models in natural light and settings.  This setting resonates with my love for “openness” and freedom of expression and being, and my belief that there is an inextricable oneness of our species and our planet. 

To create a series of images I took advantage of my finding that most models are what I call “still performance artists.”  That is, when allowed, they will insert their persona into an image.  Thus, I asked models to respond to my wife’s childhood doll, by creating poses that reflected their feelings. 

The results were sometimes startling and varied with the model.  The doll brought back memories and thoughts of childhood, motherhood, love, loss and yearning for children.  “Yearning” portrays a young model, Cyndal, who told her story of wishing to become pregnant and “Madonna” shows her with her baby two years later.  These and other images were included my photo book: “Claudia’s Doll and Other Windows.”
 
Several years ago, one of my cameras was converted for infrared image acquisition.  The resulting images, which are red and white in their “raw” form, are converted to black and white.  The technique records wavelengths mainly outside the normal range of human vision, and blues appear as darks and reds and greens as lights.  Textures change, and the results sometimes are otherworldly. Sylvan Elan Vital and Yearning are both Infrared images."
 
Bio and Career Highlights:
 
Before devoting himself fully to photography Tony was an academic veterinary surgeon and immunologist.  He has been on the faculties of the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, the Yale School of Medicine and, most recently, the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. There, he served as Professor and Chair of the Surgery Department and as an Associate Dean until retiring in 2005. 

He resides in Boston, MA and Peru, VT with his wife Claudia, who is a watercolor artist. Their son Tom, daughter-in-law Carolynn and grandsons Zeke and Arlo live in Madison, WI; their son Eric lives in Los Angeles, CA.
 
PHOTOEDUCATION AND TRAINING:
 
Photo Workshops in Oaxaca, Mexico (Jo Brenzo and Dan Burkholder) - 2003, and Mexico City (Jo Brenzo) - 2006
Complete Digital Workflow, including color management - Short Course at Cone Editions, East Topsham, VT - 2005
Digital photography (Randall Armour and Heratch Ekmekjian - 2006), People Photography (Dana Smith - 2007) and Web Design (Sue Ann Hodges - 2008), New England School of Photography, Boston, MA
Wildlife Photography, Tanzania (Rosanne Pennella - 2009) Figure and Landscape Workshops (Karin Rosenthal), Georgetown, ME - 2009 and 2010, Wakefield, Ontario, Canada - 2011, and Landgrove, VT - 2012, 2014-2016 (workshop assistant for printing during the three most recent workshops)
 
EXHIBITIONS AND AWARDS:
 
PRINTS IN JURIED, CURATED, AND/OR INVITED EXHIBITIONS:
    
Belmont Gallery of Art, Belmont, MA , “Animal Art”, juried, September 14-October 17, 2014
Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT , The 20th Annual Festival of Trees - “The Festival Reimagined”, curated exhibition, invited, November 27-December 29, 2015     
Cape Cod Art Association, Brewster, MA , “The National Exhibit”, juried, July 17-August 18, 2014, July 10-August 13, 2017, and July 16 – August 12, 2018; “All New England”, juried, October 22-November 16, 2015    
Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA , “Structures & Remnants: Landscapes and the Human Presence”, curated exhibition, juried, In Association with the Copley Society of Art, August 21-October 15, 2015.
Charles Fine Arts, Gloucester, MA , “Flowers and Elegant Objects,” Juried, May 20-June 16, 2017
Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA , in multiple juried exhibitions 2007-2018        
Dark Room Gallery, Essex Junction, VT, “Natural Realm”, juried, June 25-July 19, 2015, “The Face,” July 20-August 18, 2017.    

AWARDS:
 
Cape Cod Art Association, Brewster, MA , “The National Exhibit,” First Prize, Photography (“Winter Meal”), July 11-August 13, 2017
Gallery Seven, Maynard, MA , Honorable Mention, “About Face” Exhibition (“Woodland Crown”), February 25 - April 5, 2014; Best in Show, “Reflected” Exhibition (”Sylvan Pond”), February 24-April 4, 2015
New England Camera Club Conference, Amherst, MA, Judge’s Selection - Print Competition, July 2008 (“The Great Wall of China, Mutianyu Section”)
New England Camera Club Council (NECCC) Inter-Club Black & White Print Competitions:  First Place, Winter 2009 (”Coming Home”); First Place, Autumn 2011 (”Mekong Floating Market”); First Place, Spring 2012, and Second Place, 2012 NECCC Print of the Year competition (”Eiffel Tower”).
Santa Fe Workshops Portrait Competition, May 31, 2017, Honorable Mention (“Potosi Silver)
South Shore Arts Center, Cohasset, MA , 58th Annual Arts Festival,
Third Place, Black & White Photography (”Contemplation”), June 14-16, 2013
WPGA Gala Awards 2nd Charles Dodgson Award finalist, nude category – honorable mention  (“L’Embrace), 2017, with invitation to exhibit both at Gallery Valid Foto, Barcelona, Spain, April 10-28, 2018, and the 5th Biennial of Fine Art and Documentary Photography, Barcelona, Spain, October 4-21, 2018.
 
PRINT EXHIBITIONS (Solo and Two-Person):
 
Solo - Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA
Kids & Kin: Near & Far - Same yet Different – Red Room Exhibition, May 16-June 19, 2013;
“Claudia’s Doll and Other Windows,” September 7 - October 5, 2017.
Solo - Goddard House, Brookline, MA, December 2008–January 2009
Solo - Griffin Museum of Photography , SoWa Satellite
Gallery, Boston, MA, “Travels to China and Tibet,” November 16, 2017 - February 2,
2018.
Solo - Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT – Black and White in the Greens  - November 23, 2013-January 5, 2014
Two-Person Exhibition, Travel Photography - Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT  - February 12-March 15, 2011
 
On Line Exhibition:
 
“Ecotourism ended the traditional lives of Uganda’s Batwa Pygmies.”  Social Documentary Network (https://www.socialdocumentary.net/edit_exhibit.php?exhibit_id=4331) July 2018-
 
GALLERIES (including gallery representation):
 
3 Pears Gallery, Pawlet, VT and 3 Pears Gallery on the Green, Dorset, Vermont (https://www.facebook.com/3PearsGallery), has represented my work since 2013.
Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT www.VCPhoto.org
Portfolio of Black and White Photographs of rural scenes, available in the gallery since September 2014

PHOTOBOOKS:
 
”Kids & Kin: Near & Far - Same yet Different,” 32 pages, print, and on line   http://www.blurb.com/b/4276684-kids-kin-near-far-same-yet-different), Blurb, Inc., 2013
“Claudia’s Doll and Other Windows,” 74 pages, Book Baby, 2016; 2nd Ed., 2017.  Click here to view a sample of 2nd Ed. http://tonyschwartzphoto.com/ContactOrderPage/ClaudiasDollSample.html.
 
COLLECTIONS:
 
Prints in private collections
Permanent Collection: Five photographs -Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Elms Café, North Grafton, MA – November 16, 2010 -
 
LICENSING AGENT:  Suzanne Cruise Creative Services, Inc., Leakwood, KS, http://www.cruisecreative.com,
 
www.tonyschwartzphoto.com

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FIRST PLACE: