George Eastman House Blog

As the harbingers of spring, the winter aconites (Eranthus hyemalis) under the beech in the Front Lawn begin to loose their yellow color and the very last of the snow piles disappears from the parking lot, the gardening season is under full swing at George Eastman House.

The Christmas rose (Helleborus niger), a bit of a misnomer in our growing zone, is in full bloom under the fothergillas and tree peonies in the West Garden.

Tucked in the southwest corner near the steps into the West Garden is the earliest blooming rhododendron on site, the Korean rhododendron (Rhododendron muconulaum) whose pink flower buds are showing color.

There are Siberian squills popping up everywhere, in the lawns and many of the beds and borders. The first daffodil opened in the Terrace Garden on April 8.

The fern-leafed peony (Paeonia tenufolia) and oriental poppies (Papaver orientale) seem to grow inches each sunny warm day.

Garden Tours officially start in May and run through September, Tuesday–Saturday, 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m. If you are a Museum Member, see what’s in bloom on the members’ monthly In the Garden tours from May through September, including May 24 and June 28.

Eli Reed is a prize-winning documentary photographer, and a member of Magnum. He also works in the motion picture industry as a special photographer.

His exhibition Black in America is on display at George Eastman House through June 29, 2008.

“Eli Reed has been documenting the black experience in America from the time he began taking pictures. This volume, “Black in America”, is his provocative and often poignant portrait of black life in America.

As a photographer, Reed is known for his unflinching coverage of events both large and small. Here we see tender moments between parents and children contrasted with the Los Angeles riots. The joy of a wedding follows the sorrow and anger at the funeral of Yusef Hawkins (whose death sparked the Crown Heights riots in Brooklyn in 1991). The deceptive innocence of rural life balances the tension of the urban drug scene. A 104-year-old woman contemplates her life a few pages away from the Million Man March in Washington, D.C.

There is the truth in Reed’s work, as well as anger, and compassion. These images communicate to us - sometimes as gentle as a kiss, sometimes as hard as a bullet. They are all part of Eli Reed’s America, and ours.”

George Eastman House has commissioned Reed to create a contemporary and localized supplement to his series, photographing Rochester’s African-American community. I was fortunate enough to lead the organization and producing for his Rochester work. It always amazes me how much you can accomplish with a few phone calls. I took Eli to see the Campbell Brothers, at the House of God in Rush NY. He was blown away by the music and the hospitality that The Campbell Brothers and their church community extended to us.

Here is Eli with The Campbell Brothers

He also made a contact with Mr. Charles Price, Rochester’s first African American Police Officer. Eli and I went to his house where he took a portrait of Mr. Price and his wife.

I also had the pleasure of taking Eli Reed over to The Community Darkroom here in Rochester. The Darkroom runs a Urban Youth Program and has so for many many years.

We really only had 30-45 min for Eli to talk and be with the kids, as I needed to get him back to the museum to get ready for his lecture. We ended up staying for an hour and a half. The kids were glued to Eli’s every word. The students put one of their 8×10 photographs on the wall and Eli took the time to talk to each kid about their photo. Eli said he had a wonderful time and would like to visit them again when he comes back to photograph Rochester.

Thanks to Sharon at the Darkroom for contacting GEH to see if Eli would want to visit and thanks to Eli for taking the time to spend with each student.

Spring is near, and new things are popping up all over the museum. Eastman House’s spring exhibition Larry Towell: The World from My Front Porch is currently on view through June 15. Below are some shots of this multi-media exhibition that presents a retrospective of work by the photographer Larry Towell, featuring photographs, writings, and audio recordings of original spoken words and music performances.

 
The view from Eastman House’s front porch is changing as well. Most noticeably is the I Know It Happened And It Happened Like This installation by artist Heather Layton. In conjunction with Eastman House’s Loss/Hope exhibition series, this monument is founded on the idea that we, as citizens, are equally responsible for the welfare of an entire community, not just the issues that directly affect us as individuals. All of the items have been donated by members of the Rochester community. Visitors continue to add to the pile throughout the installation. Below are a few views of the monument.

 
Winter aconite are also appearing on Eastman House’s front lawn under the great beech tree – an early sign of spring.

Today George Eastman House is being transformed into a tropical escape for the Museum’s annual exhibition The Dutch Connection: George Eastman’s Conservatory in Bloom. On view February 8-23, the exhibition features more than 2,000 tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, freesias, and amaryllis in vivid colors. Continue Reading »

I’ve just returned from stimulating opportunities to look at photograph portfolios at Photo L.A., sponsored by the Santa Fe Photography organization called Center, and from Fotofusion, sponsored every year in Delray, FL by the Palm Beach Photo Workshop.
These are gatherings where picture-makers gather to share their work with professionals in the field, seeking advice and ideas. There’s passion and commitment in these places that energizes everyone who participates, and a wonderful range of participants, from teenagers to retirees, all eager to commit to making great pictures. And there’s inspiration here, too, from men and women who have found in photography fulfilling opportunity to communicate and share.

Gone this year was any trace of cynicism, any indulgence in irony, the tiresome aesthetic of banality. Present was a good dose of beauty and hope. Present, too, was the strong voice of the amateur. It is true that many who travel to these portfolio review sessions seeks advise about how to connect and advance a career in photography. But many more just want to make better pictures of events and people and places found particularly meaningful - family, friends, and the landscape, for instance. This is about a dignity of expression, a true heart of feeling and meanings. And while these are themes that reoccur, so many images I saw were energized by a search for ways to see uniquely, to more articulately develop ideas, or to connect to the long sound of other voices which have found wonder in a face, a flower, or even a sunset. Continue Reading »

The 6Sight Summit drew leaders in digital imaging from round the world recently for a two day exchange in Monterey, and I had an opportunity to share news about the Leadership Award George Eastman House received from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. The award will allow the Conservation Department at the Museum to create a modified Wiki that we will design and organize to share information on the material aspects of the photograph – information equally necessary to the connoisseur, the collector and the conservator. Click here to read my remarks. The announcement attracted press attention right away, which showed me the general interest in organizing and distributing information about our material culture.

Alexis Girard, leader and founder of 6Sight and its parent institution, Future Image, is organizing a significant gift to Eastman House of early digital imaging hardware and software and associated materials, such as manuals and workbooks. This gift, planned for next year, will point to the need for another Wiki, complimentary to the Wiki on the materiality of the photograph. In fact, the rich and deep documentation that will accompany the Girard gift of pioneer digital objects will create a foundation for data we anticipate will be submitted to the Wiki on digital imaging. Eastman House now has set out to raise funds necessary for both the digital and the legacy Wiki, a task that will be made easier through our association with Future Image. Continue Reading »

I am looking forward to reading your thoughts. For ours is a time rich with the possibility to listen, and to make clear our positions.

As director of one of the great collections in the world, I represent a profound instrument for communication. The photographs and moving pictures, the books and technologies, and the objects that reflect the legacy of George Eastman are vehicles ready to carry the curious to most any intellectual, emotional, spiritual destination they might venture to travel.

This is particularly true today. For where once it could have been said that museums sat back and waited for their audience to come to them, now museums have stepped forward into their communities to ask how best they might serve. In the past, it could have been said that museums believed their prime responsibility ended with the collection and care of objects held in support of mission. Exhibition and interpretation for the public in these museums was a secondary objective. Now it is clear that our responsibilities just begin with collections and their exhibition.

Both museums and newspapers were masters at making declarations. Neither was very interested in the two-way street of communication. Their pronouncements were entirely one way. Continue Reading »