Transitions. Smithsonian

Transcription

1 Transitions PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROBERT CREAMER EXHIBITION PROSPECTUS A new exhibition organized by the Smithsonian s National Museum of Natural History and circulated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service Smithsonian

2 Since the early beginnings of photography, techniques and technologies have grown and changed with the times. Nearly 200 years separate the first daguerreotype from today s digital images. But one thing has remained the same: To take a picture, you need a camera. Or do you? THE GRAND MAGNOLIA, The jet black negative space created by the scanner renders the details of this magnolia flower even more intense. Transitions: Photographs by Robert Creamer features 39 framed color photographs plus text panels, labels, and a video. This moderate-security exhibition, which occupies 150 running feet, tours the nation from October 2007 October 2010 and is available for a participation fee of $5,500.

3 One man s chance experimentation with a piece of office equipment the flatbed scanner has opened the doors of traditional photography to a new and utterly unique means of capturing flora and fauna with astonishing detail. Robert Creamer s images are beautifully arranged, thoughtfully planned, and carefully composed on this new canvas the plate glass of the scanner bed. A teacher and photographer for more than 20 years, Creamer is a man with an infectious passion and enthusiasm that inspires his audience. With an extensive background in traditional photography, primarily in landscape and architecture, Creamer has always seen the world with an artist s eye. His appreciation of beauty in nature propelled him to discover that a scanner could act like a camera, and capture the details of objects from flowers to bones. Creamer creates stunning artwork with his flatbed scanner, which he calls a naked blank slate that does remarkable things. Objects are placed upon or mounted above the flatbed and scanned, a seemingly simple innovation that has revolutionized the way we can examine and experience nature. Use of the scanner eliminates one of the greatest challenges of working in traditional photography: controlling the light source. Unlike a camera, which focuses on one element, often relegating everything else to background haze, light from the scanner is always straight on and perfect. The results are crisp, sharp, and meticulously rendered images that look like they were painted by a baroque artist. These photographs are a rare combination of art and science that leaves viewers marveling at Mother Nature s own attention to detail. It s this heightened detail that evokes an eerie sense of time in the object s lifespan, a transformation that Creamer sometimes hastens by freezing, igniting, or floating an object above the scanner bed. Grains of pollen and flecks of dust still cling to flower petals; a lily s petals curl inward as decay creeps in; a magnolia blossom transitions from a soft flower into dark gray ash as it flames on the scanner bed. Recording the transitions that organic objects go through during life and death is at the core of Creamer s work. He has become a student of botany and natural life cycles, getting to know when objects are exactly right for scanning, whether selected from the research collections at the Smithsonian or other settings, such as the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Florida, Maryland s Eastern Shore, or Lilypons Water Garden outside of Washington, D.C. SITES and the Smithsonian s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) proudly present Creamer s work in Transitions: Photographs by Robert Creamer, a new exhibition of 39 framed color images with text panels, labels, and a video of the photographer at work. Debuting at NMNH in fall 2006, the exhibition includes not only botanicals but also images of stuffed birds, eggs, skulls, and other museum specimens. In these cases, Creamer is documenting a different transition: one that changes objects from elements of nature to museum artifacts. Each reveals something about the intellectual philosophy of a given period and about the specimen s life in a museum s collections. The exhibition itself therefore becomes part of the lives of the objects, yet one more transition from nature to art. Photos Robert Creamer

4 EXHIBITION SPECIFICATIONS Contents: 39 framed color photographs, text panels, labels, video (venue provides equipment) Participation fee: $5,500, est., for a 10-week booking period, plus outgoing shipping Size: 150 running feet (45 m), est. Weight: To be determined Crates: To be determined Shipping: Outgoing Security: Moderate Tour begins: October 2007 EXHIBITION SUPPORT As a host of Transitions, you will receive the following: Complete curatorial and registrarial information Complete shipping, handling, and installation instructions Wall-to-wall fine-arts insurance coverage under the Smithsonian s policy Public relations support, including sample press release, images, logos, and advice on promoting the exhibition and hosting special events Educational and programming resources, educator resources, speaker list, bibliography Ability to link to and from the SITES website SECURITY REQUIREMENTS This exhibition has been designated Moderate Security and will be offered only to institutions that are able to meet the Smithsonian s requirements. Institutions hosting Transitions will be required to adhere to the security and environmental controls listed, but not limited to those, below. Space Exhibitors must have a limited-access, gallery-type area. An open mall, hallway, or lounge area is not acceptable. Venues must have sufficient area and wall space to accommodate the exhibition. Functioning fire prevention systems and fire protection devices that meet local ordinances must be available in the exhibition, staging, and storage spaces. Smoking, eating, and drinking are prohibited in exhibition, staging, and storage spaces. Temperature and humidity controls are required in the exhibition, staging, and storage spaces. These controls are necessary to guarantee temperature levels of 68º 72º Fahrenheit and an environment of 40% 60% relative humidity, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No part of the exhibition may be stored, crated, or moved off the premises without prior authorization from the SITES registrar. Empty crates must be stored in a secured, pest-free, and temperaturecontrolled environment. Protection Guards or other trained personnel must be present in sufficient numbers while the exhibition is open to the public to assure the safety of exhibition components. They may perform other duties in addition to watching the exhibition so long as the entrance and exit to the exhibition remain within view at all times. Guards or trained personnel must also be present during truck off-loading, unpacking, installation, deinstallation, repacking, and loading of the exhibition. The exhibition area must be locked and secure during closing (night and nonpublic) hours. Venues must use the security hardware provided for the framed photographs. Collections Management Handling of objects, if not actually by a registrar or curator, must be by preparator, exhibition technician, or other persons trained in handling museum objects. The photographs, labels, and text panels must be left in their crates at least 24 hours before unpacking. The exhibition is accompanied by a cumulative condition report book with entries for each object as well as for the text panels. Each venue must complete an entry on the condition of each item in the exhibition during unpacking and packing. The condition report summaries must be completed and returned to SITES within 48 hours of unpacking and repacking. Light levels must be maintained at no more than 20 foot-candles. Direct sunlight must be diffused or eliminated at all times. A member of the venue s professional staff must check the exhibition once daily. Exhibition Care The exhibition consists of 39 matted and framed photographs and accompanying text panels and labels. The framed pieces will be hung with hardware and cords in addition to the security hardware. Venues must not remove the photographs or hanging devices from the frames without prior permission from the SITES registrar. Venues must not remove the hardware or use another method for hanging objects. All gallery preparation work, especially painting, should be completed before the objects are placed on the walls. Use only Plexiglas cleaner for the photographs. Use a lint-free, soft cloth for frames and text panels. If it is necessary to stack the frames or panels, place them back-to-back and front-to-front for protection. If possible, use spacer cards between each photograph to avoid scratching. SITES CONTACTS Scheduling Shannon Perry perrys@si.edu Content Design Devra Wexler wexlerd@si.edu

5 HINGED BALD EAGLE, MARINE FROG INVENTORY, GOLDEN MOSAIC,

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7 Exhibition Collaborators NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY The National Museum of Natural History is dedicated to understanding the natural world and our place in it. Opened in 1910, the museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was the first Smithsonian building constructed exclusively to house collections and the curators and scientists who conserve and study them. WATER LILY GARDEN, Creamer says that using the scanner is totally different from a traditional camera, which requires the photographer to edit out details to fit the subject in a small frame. With the scanner, the process is additive and constructive rather than reductive. Everything I do creates a new beginning. I will never run out of source material. ROBERT CREAMER LOTUS POD BOUQUET, With an artist s imagination and a scientist s sense of order, Creamer keeps a bag for cuttings in his car and is always aware of which plants are in season throughout the year. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION TRAVELING EXHIBITION SERVICE SITES has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, D.C., for more than 50 years. SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science, and history, which are shown wherever people live, work, and play.

8 SITES PO Box MRC 941 Washington, DC ÐESIGN BY CAROL BEEHLER 2006 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Cover: LOTUS CORONA (detail), Back cover: STUNNING (detail),