ANNUAL MEMBERS’ SHOW

Juror: Ann M. Jastrab, Executive Director at the Center for Photographic Arts (CPA)

JUNE 30 – AUGUST 8, 2020

Timed Entry at Colorado Photographic Arts Center (1070 Bannock St, Denver, CO 80204)

Virtual Award Ceremony with Juror (via Zoom)

Saturday, July 11, 2020

4 – 7:30 pm

All events are free and open to the public

The Colorado Photographic Arts Center is proud to announce its 57th Annual Juried Members’ Show, a tradition that showcases the talents of CPAC’s core constituency and provides local artists with an important exhibition opportunity.

Juror Ann M. Jastrab, Executive Director at the Center for Photographic Arts (CPA) in Carmel, California, selected photographs by 28 CPAC members to exhibit. She also selected 20 additional works for inclusion in the exhibition catalog as a Special Mention subset. All together, the show highlights works by 46 CPAC members selected from a pool of 130 photographers who submitted more than 630 images.

At the virtual Award Ceremony on July 11, Jastrab selected winners for Best in Show and two Honorable Mention awards. The Best in Show winner received $300 and the selected image was added to CPAC’s Permanent Collection. The Director’s Choice winner received a $100 award, presented by CPAC Executive Director & Curator Samantha Johnston. All award winners also received a catalog.

Congratulations to the 2020 Annual Members’ Show Award Winners:

Best in Show – Michael Quinn

Director’s Choice – JoAnn Carney

Honorable Mentions – Leah Diament and Preston Utley

Copies of the exhibition catalog are available for $16 on Blurb.com. Purchase here.

(Pictured Above: Antarctica Obscura iii, detail, by Michael Quinn)

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Robert Anderson, Gary Beeber, Brenda Biondo, Cody Bratt, Derrick Burbul, Annette LeMary Burke, JoAnn Carney, Thomas Carr, Diana Cheren Nygren, Marcy Cohen, Ron Cooper, Norma Cordova, Leah Diament, James Diekmann, Nicholas Fedak II, Joe Fretz, Christopher Frost, Lawrence Hass, Paul Malinowski, Nancy Myer, Mark Overgaard, Michael Quinn, Eleonora Ronconi, Lynn Roth, Rand Smith, JP Terlizzi, Michael Trupiano, and Preston Utley

SPECIAL MENTIONS

Dominic Adducci, Terrel Bailey, Steven Begleiter, S. Brian Berkun, Marie Bush, JoAnn Carney, Ron Cooper, Kevin Gilson, James Gralian, Michael Gray, Doug Hjelmstad, John Kenney, Julie Larsen, Malcolm Murray, Ruth Neubauer, Ernest Nitka, Inga Pae, Teodora Pogonat, Molly Wood, and Anni Zhang

Juror’s Statement

There is something about the way the clouds settle beneath you in the West, the way an entire valley can disappear below you, that will always astound me. Growing up in the East, closer to sea level, waking with the clouds above me was the norm. When I was jurying the members exhibition for the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, I was taken aback by the beauty of the landscapes that were submitted to the competition. I actually had to stop myself from making the show one of majestic mountains and awe inspiring views. Perhaps it was even more tempting because at the time of jurying, I’d been sheltering in place in my home for nearly two months. No grand vistas. No ancient ruins. No towering peaks. No vast open plains. Just my cat, my couch, my kid, and the computer screen…and an occasional life-risking trip to the grocery store.

But jurying the show, I could be alongside fire fighters deep in a blazing alpine forest, really risking their lives. I could also marvel at those very clouds at dusk sinking into a chasm made by a mighty river. I could gaze out of an airplane window at the sunlit earth far below. I could wonder at the inverse tones of solarized trees and color infrared film. I could also see people again. Strangers close, faces worn with age, collages of relatives that were torn apart or sewn back together, surreal portraits and nudes. Buildings, both densely packed in a teeming city, and solitary buildings barely standing out in the windswept fields, much of their structure taken for who knows what purpose? A bonfire? A lark? To build something else? Somewhere else?

I want to thank all the photographers for sharing their work with me and for taking me on this journey, far afield, far from my familiar surroundings. It was very difficult culling several hundred images down to just thirty-two. I had to leave out many images that I would have included in a larger selection, but they are still in my mind’s eye (the African savannah full of zebras, a silhouetted sunset elk, a Bauhaus worthy photograph of a Ferris wheel and zip lines…I still see them…and thus, you know it was hard to leave them behind). Congratulations to all the artists for creating and continuing to make work in this unprecedented time. Your vision will see us through.

—Ann M. Jastrab

EXHIBITION PREVIEW

SPECIAL MENTIONS  

About Ann M. Jastrab

Ann M. Jastrab is the Executive Director at the Center for Photographic Art (CPA) in Carmel, California. CPA strives to advance photography through education, exhibition and publication. These regional traditions—including mastery of craft, the concept of mentorship, and dedication to the photographic arts—evolved out of CPA’s predecessor, the renowned Friends of Photography established in 1967 by iconic artists Ansel Adams, Wynn Bullock and Cole Weston. While respecting these West Coast traditions, CPA is also at the vanguard of the future of photographic imagery. Before coming onboard at CPA, Ann was the gallery manager at Scott Nichols Gallery in San Francisco where she incorporated contemporary artists with the living legends photography.

Ann also worked as the gallery director at RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco for 10 years until their closure in 2017. Ann has curated many shows in the Bay Area while simultaneously jurying, curating, and organizing numerous exhibitions for other national and international venues outside of San Francisco. She has reviewed portfolios for a multitude of organizations including the Seoul International Photography Festival in Korea, Fotofest, Photolucida, GuatePhoto, PhotoNola, Review Santa Fe, Medium, Palm Springs Photo Festival, Filter, PhotoAlliance, and Lishui International Photography Festival in China as well as being a juror for Critical Mass. While being a champion of artists, she created a thriving artist-in-residence program at RayKo where recent residents Meghann Riepenhoff, Carlos Javier Ortiz, Kathya Marie Landeros, and McNair Evans all received Guggenheim Fellowships.

Besides being a curator, Ann Jastrab, MFA, is a fine art photographer, master darkroom printer, and teacher as well. She has been leading courses in the San Francisco Bay Area and at the Maine Media Workshops (formerly the Maine Photographic Workshops) in Rockport, Maine since 1995.