Glyphs of Time :: a blog by jarvis grant

June 26, 2016

A Little Good News!

Last week a received an email from curator Zoma Wallace of the DC Commission of the Arts and Humanities Art Bank that one of my photographs had been selected to be part of the Commission’s new Washingtonia Collection. It’s always great to sell a piece of artwork. This is especially true now. I’ve had my share of challenges over the past couple of years. So, having the work be chosen as part of a major art collection is a great boost to the ego at just the right time.

The piece the city will purchase is actually part of my Citizens We project. The photograph, Cinderella of Lanier Heights, is a photograph captured at dusk in my Adams Morgan neighborhood in Northwest Washington, DC. I was photographing the firehouse when a woman in a long and fluffy dress walk into the frame. I’m always drawn to scenes right before the landscape drops into the darkness of night.

So many thanks again to the DC Commission of the arts and Humanities and its panelist for selecting my image.

This image is used in the Citizens We book sponsored by the Humanities Council of Washington, DC

This image, Cinderella of Lanier Heights, is part of my Citizens We book and exhibition project sponsored by the Humanities Council of Washington, DC, and now part of the DC Commission of the Arts Washingtonia Collection.

 
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March 5, 2014

New Year, New Exhibition

Jarvis Grant at Museum Studies Workshop

Printing photographs in the Museum Studies workshop space at the Ellington School of the Arts Photo Credit: Marta Reid Stewart

Well, the new year of 2014 started out with a lot happening. One of the major projects I had was to build on the work in my Dream Chamber series. Last year finished with a bang as I completed the first phase of my portrait project, Citizens We. That project began fairly smoothly, and then it seemed to come to a standstill. Then at the end of the summer, funding came through. Now I’m thinking the process will get going but instead a couple of major obstacles began to pop up. Yet, in the end the project took on a new direction and ended very well, with a new outlook and possibilities. Man, what a ride that was.

During my last photo session for Citizens We I photographed a neighbor of mine , Daisy Hannah. I used her portrait on the back cover of the book. She had questioned about why I made a black & white image. I gave her a response, but I felt she would like a color version of her image. So I revisited her photographs. Just for fun I decided to work on another shot from our session. I really didn’t do anything with the new image. Pretty straight forward stuff, but then she wanted a set of all the images from the photo shot.  So instead of giving her a set of small JPEG image files, I compiled a PDF slideshow. I thought that would be more useful to her.

When I was done, I thought I’d design a nice artsy cover for the slideshow. Nik Software had just updated the Nik Collection with a new filter, Analog Efex Pro. So, I thought I would do a quick “One Click WOW” while playing with that new filter. It was fun, but I wondered “What would that color image of Daisy look like with a little more work?” During the process I came up with some interesting stuff. But in the end, I thought the image needed more “mystery”. That’s my way of telling myself to start over. In doing so I concentrated on the essentials, Light & Color. Things were going well, but I still needed that mysterious element. I thought of the Dream Chamber images. Do I put a Moon or clouds in the room with Daisy? That didn’t seem right. I wanted an incongruous, yet simple, Earth element. And then, it came to me, Water.

That image was just what I needed to push that series pass the sky elements I had been using. I began to see what the other images of the series could look like. I had an exhibit coming up and I showed the curator Eric Walton, those images in my Bēhance portfolio, and he choose four, for the exhibit, Life Through a Lens, at the Walton Gallery in Petersburg, VA. I really find it amazing that Citizens We portrait project has fed the Dream Chamber series. It should be a fascinating year of image making.

Slideshow:
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January 13, 2014

Citizens We: Humanities Council of DC Showcase

At Showcase1A

Project scholar Terry deBardelaben discuss aspects of the Citizens We project to Anacostia Museum curator Dr. Ariana Curtis ©Jarvis Grant

The Humanities Council DC Community Showcase was a fabulous event! Although I was under the weather, being at the event was simply wonderful. What I enjoyed most was listening to strangers speak about how much they enjoyed the images. I had three 17 x 22 exhibition prints along with a copy of the Citizens We: Portraits of Communities book on display. What was also fabulaous was witnessing the other project presented at the Showcase.  I felt that each of the other grantees cloud be a macro community for Citizens We. Okay, that a little self surviving, but still so many opportunities avail themselves for collaboration.

The main issue for the next iteration is, I  want to have writers become part of Citizens We. Poets, essayists, and curators speak to the significance of community and the individuals who are members of those communities will be the next step. At this moment there are so many ideas racing through my head  and heart, it’s a bit over whelming, yet attainable.

Thanks again to all those who’ve supported this project. This year will produce great moments for Citizens We.

 

 

 
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December 2, 2013

Citizens We: A Portrait of Communities

Cover Image for "Citizens We: A Portrait of Communities"

The cover for Citizens We’s first project,
“A Portrait of Communities.
©Jarvis Grant

For the past 18 months I have been working on a community portrait project, Citizens We. At times the progress of the project was looking pretty bleak. Even so, with the help and support of Joanne Henson and Terry deBardelaben the project received funding from the Humanities Council of DC and the DC Commission of the Arts. With the Council funding first phase of the project, a book of forty-two photographs was created, “A Portrait of Communities: Faces & Places”.

Back Cover: Daisy Hannah, Activist  ©Jarvis Grant

Back Cover: Daisy Hannah, Activist
©Jarvis Grant

On December 5, the Humanities Council will host DC’s “Largest Exhibition of Community History and Historic Preservation”.  The Humanities Council of Washington, DC. (HCWDC) proudly presents its’ 7th Annual DC Community Heritage Project (DCCHP) showcase. The showcase will be held Thursday, December 5, from 6:00 – 9:00 pm at the new home of the historic Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, 101 N Street NW, admission is free. The evenings’ program will feature a screening of a film that highlights 18 local history and preservation projects. Attendees will also be able to meet people that led the projects and view the products produced as a result of the DCCHP grant. Remarks will also be delivered by Lionell Thomas, Director of the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities and David Maloney, Director of the DC Historic Preservation Office.

I am honored that Citizens We is part of this Showcase and want you to attend! Come join us and learn something new about DC’s rich history by registering a http://dcchpshowcase2013.eventbrite.com.  To register by phone, please call 202.387.8391. RSVPSs are strongly encouraged. For further information, visit http://wdchumanities.org.

 

 

BuyA Portrait of Communities by Jarvis Grant at Blurb.com

 

 

 
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February 5, 2012

Citizens We Community Portrait Project, Continues…

Citizens We Logo

Nancy

Nancy, ©Jarvis Grant

A few month ago, I launch a proposal on USA Projects. I was seeking funding for, Citizens We. At that time I was looking to get $5000 for an upgrade to a new 24 inch Epson printer. Well, I didn’t make my goal and the USA Projects aspect of the project folded. With USA Projects it’s an All or Nothing deal. The odd thing is that while I got nothing from the USA Projects part of it, Citizens We actually began to pick up speed and developed a life of its own. People in the community bought into it, and it started to develop a life of its own.

The strange thing about the “Crowd Funding”  model was that many of the people I actually knew, friends and family,  didn’t support the project. They all wanted to write me a check! But, that’s not how this model works.  With Crowd Funding, you “pledge” an amount to a 3rd party organization. Three folks I knew, my daughter, Maya, and two Howard University classmates, Clarissa Sligh and Dan Wade, along with a former student, which I believe was Chris Belcher (or Chris Smith) bought into the process. The rest were strangers! Now, as disheartening as this was, I came out of the experience feeling pretty good. A colleague  of mine Debra Weiss gave me a call from LA to let me know she believed in the project and would add her support for it to continue. That call was HUGE to my ego and my sense that the Citizens We was an important project to keep pushing forward.

Back in December of 2011 another friend and colleague, Joanne Henson, offered me an opportunity to setup an impromptu studio at her Holiday Craft Bazaar. This afforded me the change to setup the studio, and solicited people to be a part of the project.  Along with making the photographs was doing the paperwork for Citizens We. This would not have been accomplished without the help and encouragement of my friend and now Project Director, Terry deBardelaben. Terry was the one who gave me the idea of a community portrait project, and her support has been my most valuable asset. Photographers like to believe they can do everything by themselves. At least that’s what their PR hype will push forward. But now I see that all artists need someone to manage the details. Or if are not managing those details, to point them out to the photographer/artist,  so their attention and action can be addressed.

Here are a few of the portraits I made at Joanne’s Holiday Craft Bazaar. There are some exciting things happening with the project that I’ll be sharing once we are underway. So for all of you that supported the project when it was on USA Projects thanks so very much! New aspects of the project are proceeding, and I’ll be informing you of the progress. Thanks a lot for your continuing and renewed support for Citizens We.

Slideshow:
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December 22, 2011

Pledge Your Support for Citizens We

Filed under: Innovation,Inspiration,Observations,Photography,Video — Tags: , — Jarvo @ 3:53 pm

The Citizens We Project is a photographic portrait of the people in the neighborhoods of Adams Morgan & Mt. Pleasant in Washington, DC. The project consist of a collection of twenty to thirty 24 x 36 inch Black & White prints. These photographs will be exhibited throughout the neighborhood in storefronts and public places. They will also be exhibited as a collection of images in a traditional and online galleries. My project proposal request is for $5000.00. These funds will be used to acquire a 24 inch, wide format ink jet photographic printer and the exhibition support materials

The project is being hosted at United States Artist Projects website:

http://bit.ly/Citizens-We

The Citizens We Project goal of $5000 must be reached by January 9, 2012
Go there to learn more about the project and support the project by pledging a tax deductible donation in any amount. Also, for your pledge of support there are several wonderful gifts. They are my way of saying Thank You for supporting me and helping to keep art alive in our community. Your tax deductible contribution in support of Citizens We will go a long way in affirming the powerful role multiculturalism plays in fostering a stronger and more beneficial society for all its citizens.

 
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