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De Santos Gallery to represent Jennifer L. F. McNichols in Houston
(July 20, 2007) – Jennifer L. F. McNichols has secured gallery representation in Houston with the De Santos Gallery, one of the city's premiere photography galleries.
Houston-based collectors, or those who have learned of Jennifer's work through De Santos' efforts, should purchase work through the gallery, which retains exclusive rights to represent Jennifer's work in the city of Houston.
Jennifer's 17x17" C-Prints will now be sold in limited editions of 10 prints each, rather than open editions. This editioning includes prints previously sold as open edition prints.
Jennifer's work will still appear in Houston Center for Photography show "2007 Fellowship Show, Honorable Mention," as courtesy of the De Santos Gallery.>
The De Santos Gallery is located at 1724-A Richmond Ave in Houston.
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HCP "2007 Fellowship Show, Honorable Mention" to include four works from McNichols' series in progress
(June 15, 2007) – Four photographs from a series in progress, "Stages," will be show in a month-long exhibit at the Center from July 20-August 19. An opening will be held on July 20 from 6-8 p.m.
"Stages" is a series of photographs of "scenes in which the absence of people is clearly felt," Jennifer said.
Other artists included in the show include fellow Honorable Mentions Caitlin Atkinson, Christopher Olivier, Kristy Peet, Krista Steinke and Daniel Traub.
The Houston Center for Photography is located at 1441 West Alabama in Houston, Texas. |
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McNichols awarded Honorable Mention for Houston Center for Photography 2007 Fellowships
(March 30, 2007) – The Houston Center for Photography has named Jennifer L. F. McNichols as an Honorable Mention in its 2007 HCP Fellowship competition.
Fellowships were awarded to Colin Zelt and Amelia D´Entrone. Additional Honorable Mentions were awarded to Caitlin Atkinson, Christopher Olivier, Kristy Peet, Krista Steinke and Daniel Traub. The competition was juried by Lynn McLanahan Herbert, Adjunct Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston.
A listing of shows drawing from winners' and Honorable Mentions' work will be posted to the HCP website. |
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Jennifer L. F. McNichols to offer "Series 111" limited-edition prints of favorite images in small format
(January 1, 2006) – Texas fine art photographer Jennifer L.F. McNichols, known for her 17"-square photographs of carnival scenes, children's amusements and details of the natural world, has always sold her work in open, unsigned editions. The artist recently announced her intention to produce signed, limited-edition prints of several of her favorite pieces, dubbed "Series 111" because one hundred and eleven prints will be made and sold of each image in that format.
"I examine my subjects closely, take pictures I hope others will enjoy examining just as closely, and hand-print all of my own work using traditional color photographic processes," explained the 32-year-old Texas photographer. "That being said, photography is essentially a reproductive medium, and I have never liked the idea of limiting my audience by capping printing of my work."
The costs of traveling to shoot and print, combined with McNichols' intensive "artist's hand" in the production of her work, have led to her prints selling for $300-500 each. But she found over time that many younger people were interested in her work – people unaccustomed to spending that much on art and who did not consider themselves collectors of fine art photography, but who found individual images arresting enough to want to have them in their home.
By combining the smaller format with a limited-edition run, McNichols hopes to encourage young purchasers of art to consider the art they purchase for their home as the foundation of an art collection of lasting value. "The truth is, most people buy an artwork because they love to look at it and want to be around it," the artist said. "They like the way it makes them feel or the way it influences their day-to-day perception of the world around them. Everyone needs objects like that in their lives to maintain perspective and feel fulfilled."
There are currently five images available in this format: "Giraffe" and "Ferris Wheel No. 2" (from McNichols' carnival series), "No. 8" (from her nature series), and "New Orleans Cemetery" and "Austin Bats" (from her miscellaneous prints). "It takes a certain kind of image to work well at that size," she explained. "It needs to be somewhat iconic and relatively simple in its composition in order to read well. 'Austin Bats' was the only image I broke that rule for, because I was preparing for an art show in Austin and knew there would be a lot of local interest in the image, which I hope is a fairly unusual take on the pride and joy of downtown Austin, their resident colony of Mexican freetail bats."
McNichols envisions adding a few Series 111 editions each year to encourage young collectors and spotlight some of her favorite individual images. Individuals on the artist's mailing list will be notified when new images are printed in Series 111 editions.
Some edition numbers from three of the five series have already sold as of this writing, and after the 111 signed and numbered prints have been sold, no additional prints of these images will be produced in this format. Prints are matted at 8"x10" and are sold for $75.
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New carnival photographs by Jennifer L. F. McNichols to be displayed in Spring, Texas gallery beginning Oct. 10
(September 12, 2005) SPRING, TEXAS – A unique and colorful view of American culture will be on display in Old Town Spring from October 10 through November 5 when new carnival photographs by Texas fine art photographer Jennifer L.F. McNichols grace the walls of the Iron Horse Studio and Gallery. The exhibit of 18 photographs taken at carnivals in Texas and beyond showcases recent work in the artist’s six-year series of photographs taken at traveling and permanent carnivals in the United States and Europe.
Since returning to her native Texas in 2002, McNichols has braved Texas’ spring rainstorms, scorching summer blacktops, and fall fire-ant resurgences while continuing her work to capture something essential to American life: the gritty ingenuity, surreal character, and well-worn beauty of the traveling carnival.
“This series was inspired by a trip to Santa Cruz several years ago, when I was living in San Francisco,” McNichols explained in a recent interview. “It was the off-season, overcast, and the place had a very solitary, reflective, and yet still invigorating feel. I took a lot of pictures and ended up with a few that became the foundation for this project. As the series has grown, the photographs have naturally captured diverse moods and messages. What has remained constant is the emphasis on the ‘artifacts,’ not the people, in this cultural scene.”
By treating the carnival rides and games as her subjects and visiting them before anyone has arrived to ride the rides or play the games, McNichols creates a fascinating, silent world in which objects take on a strong human presence. Instead of the familiar view of a brightly lit ferris wheel at night, we find a shadowy and sepia-toned reflection in a parking-lot puddle. Instead of the faces of carnival workers or visitors, McNichols’ subjects reveal human touches in unlikely places ranging from a yellow hard hat lodged in a ride’s bright pink machinery to a pair of painted mermaids with cut-out heads making their own faces against the side of a semi truck.
Collectors value McNichols’ work for its position in contemporary American fine art photography. In an age when many photographers who work in color have their photographs printed by third-party photography studios, Jennifer McNichols hand-prints all of her own work, which allows her to make important decisions in the darkroom.
“Ansel Adams once said that the negative is like a musical score, and the print is the performance,” McNichols said. “To me, that’s an essential truth about photography. I make critical decisions about the exposure and color balance of my prints in the darkroom, and I couldn’t consign that work to anyone else and still believe the work was fully my own.”
McNichols works with a medium-format Hasselblad camera, shooting on 120mm negative film for maximum clarity and an unusual square-framed image. In the tradition of Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson, McNichols does all of her image cropping “in-camera,” which means that images are fully composed before she clicks the shutter, rather than cropping and composing in the darkroom.
“Cropping in-camera is a discipline and an art in itself,” said McNichols, who prints her work with the telltale black border that documents that her photographs are printed full-frame. “For me, it preserves some of the magic of photography, and also keeps my eye truly attuned to what is going on around me as I shoot. The images I capture are not just the raw material to cut into attractive compositions; they represent a moment in which I have framed reality in a certain way, and for a specific reason.”
Since the availability of large-format color processing equipment is limited, McNichols makes semi-annual trips to her alma mater, the San Francisco Art Institute, and to Seattle’s Photographic Center Northwest to print her work.
“The costs are real,” McNichols said, “but they’re worth it. As an artist, I believe that the production of my work is as important as the initial composition, shooting, and selection of my photographs.”
A reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, October 29, from 4 to 8 p.m.
“New Carnival Photographs” will be on display from October 10 to November 5 at the Iron Horse Studio and Gallery at 315 Gentry St., Suite 2B, in Old Town Spring. For more information, call the gallery at 281-288-1195. Jennifer McNichols’ photographic work, including images from her latest series, can be viewed on her website at www.thefunmachinephotography.com. |
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Artist Jennifer L. F. McNichols
prepares for annual printing trip with 25% discount
on past works through August 31
(July 11, 2005) – In preparation
for her 2005 printing trip to Seattle's Photographic
Center Northwest, artist Jennifer L. F. McNichols will
be offering a substantial discount on currently available
prints to make room for her new work. For the next six
weeks, the artist will be honoring orders for unframed,
unmatted prints in stock for $300 – a temporary
discount of 25% from her show and studio price of $400
for unframed prints.
Discounts apply to all work produced
prior to her August 11 printing engagement, encompassing
three years' work in her carnival, self-portrait, nature,
and children's ride series, as well as miscellaneous
prints. Most 2003-04 images are still available, and
purchased prints are shipped with a certificate of authenticity
to document the work's provenance for collectors and
to insure its value.
Jennifer will travel to Seattle
in August to print new work from her carnival, nature
and self-portrait series and to confer with local fine
art photographers. She
has also been invited to give an artist's talk and donate
a print to the center's permanent collection.
To inquire about the availability
of specific pieces from Jennifer's portfolio, contact
her with image titles of the pieces you are interested
in.
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McNichols awarded
printing scholarship by Seattle's Photographic Center
Northwest
(February 1, 2005) – Photographer
Jennifer L. F. McNichols has been awarded a printing
scholarship from the Photographic Center Northwest,
a Seattle-based nonprofit organization that includes
a school, a gallery, and both black and white and color
darkrooms. In addition to mounting regular exhibits
of fine art photography and providing year-round rental
darkrooms to amateur and professional photographers,
PCNW offers photography courses and workshops and subsidized
youth programs to the broader Seattle community. The
center is one of the few U.S. locations that offer public
rental of color processors sufficiently large for Jennifer's
printing method.
Jennifer will travel to Seattle
in August to print new work from her carnival, nature
and self-portrait series and to confer with local fine
art photographers. She
has also been invited to give an artist's talk and donate
a print to the center's permanent collection.
PCNW plans to award printing
scholarships to twelve artists annually.
To learn more about the Photographic
Center Northwest, visit the PCNW website at http://www.pcnw.org.
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Fotoseptiembre opening draws
visitors to colorful carnival scenes in San Antonio's
Hemisfair Park
(September 10, 2004) – An opening was held on September
9, 2004 for "The Fun Machine," an exhibit
of photographs by central Texas photographer Jennifer
L.F. McNichols, at the Universidad Nacional Autonomia
de Mexico-San Antonio (UNAM) in San Antonio's Hemisfair
Park.
Twenty-three images from Jennifer's
series of carnival photographs were on display singly
and in pairs, with bilingual labels and an international
audience. Approximately 80-100 people joined the artist
from the San Antonio and Austin communities and beyond.
A wonderful selection of food
was provided by Aldaco's Restaurant.
"The Fun Machine" was
curated by Fotoseptiembre organizer Michael Mehl. The
exhibit will hang in the museum until September 30,
and can also be viewed in the Galleries section at www.safotofestival.com.
An article about Jennifer and
her work was published in the San Antonio Express-News
on September 26. To read it, click
here.*
Photos, from top: Images
from the exhibit; opening attendees chat with the artist;
Dr. Mario Melgar, director of UNAM-San Antonio, and
curator Michael Mehl; a young supporter of the arts
from Austin tends to her parental duties; Jennifer's
daughter, at seven weeks, spent the evening soaking
it all in.
*
If you are asked to register or sign in, use the username
spamfree@yahoo.com, password jlfmphoto.
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Jennifer L.F. McNichols' carnival
photography selected for solo show at San Antonio's
FotoSeptiembre 2004
(June 15, 2004) – Jennifer L. F. McNichols will
be a featured gallery artist at the 2004 Fotoseptiembre
photography festival in San Antonio, Texas. A show of
twenty-three images of her carnival photography will
be on display at the Universidad Nacional Autonomia
de Mexico's San Antonio Campus, located in the city's
Hemisfair Park, from August 30-September 30, in an exhibit
curated by Michael Mehl. A selection of work from the
exhibit is also a featured collection on the festival's SAFOTO
Web Galleries.
An opening reception catered
by Aldaco's Restaurant will be held on Thursday, Sept.
9 from 6 to 8 p.m.
The gallery is open from 9 a.m.
to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m. Friday. Parking is available in the Hemisfair
Parking Garage, located at the corner of Bowie and Market
St., and in the Institute of Texan Cultures. For further
information, contact Olivia Lopez at (210) 222-8626,
extension 30, or at oml@servidor.unam.mx.
Jennifer Lee Forster McNichols
studied art history, religion and studio art at Trinity
University in San Antonio and earned a B.F.A. in Photography
in 2000 from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her work
has been exhibited in Texas and California.
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