OMG! Nude Graffiti!

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by Catherine Kirkpatrick in Photo/Creative Journeys

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catherine kirkpatrick, catherinekirkpatrick.org, Darleen Rubin, New York City, New York in the 70s, New York in the 80s, photography, Photospire.org, women in photography

What ever is New York coming to? When you go out for a walk in one of the toniest parts of town and come across…this.

Actually, it reminds you of the gritty, sassy, good old days when the city was truly filthy and dangerous but infinitely colorful. Adventure was around every corner. It was not safe and it was not smoothed over. Native New Yorkers developed a sense of humor early in life to cope with it all, because when you got on the bus or train or even just stepped out the door, you needed it, because you saw it all.

For an in-depth visual sense of what it was like, especially in the West Village, visit my friend Darleen Rubin’s website. Believe me, she has a few stories to tell and some great pictures to show.

Note the gun in this picture I took a few years back. There are rumors this building may be turned into condos some day. Don’t we have enough of those already? What is the city coming to!

Fire, Ashes, Fear: Bushwick in the 1980s by Meryl Meisler

17 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by Catherine Kirkpatrick in Photo/Creative Journeys

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1977 blackout, Adam Schwartz, Brooklyn Historical Society, Bushwick, catherine kirkpatrick, catherinekirkpatrick.org, Con Edison, Daryl-Ann Saunders, Ed Koch, Here I Am: Bushwick in the 1980s, John Dereszewski, Jonathan Mahler, Meryl Meisler, New York City, New York in the 70s, New York in the 80s, Pioneers of Bushwick, Professional Women Photographers, PWP, Soho Photo Gallery, T Paul Cox, The Bronx Is Burning, women in photography

Big Shadow ©Meryl Meisler

It just didn’t seem right. Why would a teacher leave a full-time post just before Christmas? Everyone knew Bushwick was dangerous. Was the teacher even alive? Had she been…killed?

Thus begins Meryl Meisler’s artist statement, but in 1981 it was a real concern. She’d already had a camera stolen–not on the street, but in a classroom where she taught on the Lower East Side. But Bushwick, an area in north Brooklyn bordering on Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville, was worse. Tourist guides left it out. No one wanted to go there. Meisler hesitated, but fearing she would slide down the Department of Ed. list, took the job.

In 1981 fear ran through the city. Dark days lay behind (the ’77 blackout, near bankruptcy, crime), and dark days lay ahead (more crime, AIDS, and crack cocaine). Every section was on edge, but some were worse than others. Bushwick was bad.

Continue reading on the Professional Women Photographers website at www.pwponline.org/blog

Must See – Art in NYC

25 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by Catherine Kirkpatrick in Must See - Art In the City, Photo/Creative Journeys

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3rd Ward Member Show, catherine kirkpatrick, catherinekirkpatrick.com, catherinekirkpatrick.org, Jewish Museum, Meryl Meisler, new york, New York City, New York in the 70s, New York in the 80s, photo journeys, Photo League, Professional Women Photographers, PWP, women in photography

This is a highly personal list of some shows I’ve seen or want to see. Suggestions are always welcome, pictures too. Warning: some of my friends (and sometimes myself) are included. Did you think this was impersonal and inclusive? Of course not!

©Meryl Meisler

Here I Am: Bushwick in the 1980s
(Friend alert!) Meryl Meisler will be the guest artist at Soho Photo Gallery, NYC from December 7th through December 31st. When she began teaching art in the early 80′s, “Bushwick resembled a ghost town war zone. Scorched and seemingly forgotten since the 1977 blackout, Bushwick hit the skids. To me, Bushwick’s natural light was beautiful; kids were kids, vacant buildings whispered: Here I am, take my picture before I collapse.” Begun in a (rather) low-tech way with a point-and-shoot camera, it aims high and chronicles an historic moment in our city. Go Meryl!

3rd Ward Member Show
Williamsburg mecca for photography, art, and high-end crafts. 195 Morgan Avenue. Through the end of November. Catch a rising star.

The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League, 1936-1951
If you like New York and you like street photography, this is the one for you. Also interesting if you are interested in photography movements, how and why they form, and how they fade away. The Jewish Museum November 4th through March 25th, 2012.

Fabulous! Flo Fox at PWP

03 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by Catherine Kirkpatrick in Photo/Creative Journeys

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catherine kirkpatrick, Flo Fox, inspiration, New York in the 70s, New York in the 80s, photographer, Professional Women Photographers, PWP, women in photography

(This article was first published on the Professional Women Photographers’ website)

Last night a photo queen graced PWP with her presence. Dressed in red velvet with flowing blue hair, Flo Fox, with her images, wit, and wisdom held the room at St. Paul the Apostle Church spellbound.

Fox began taking pictures in 1972, right after she “split from her ex.” With money from her first paycheck as a costume designer, she bought an SLR and never looked back. She had been promised one earlier by her mother, “when you graduate ninth grade.” But her mother died before this could happen. For any other person, this might have been a dream stopper, but Flo Fox is no ordinary mortal. But more on that later.

Continue reading on Professional Women Photographers’ website…