ANNUAL MEMBERS’ SHOW

Juror: Anne Leighton Massoni

JUNE 27 – AUGUST 2, 2025

Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony with Juror at Colorado Photographic Arts Center

1200 Lincoln St, Suite 111, Denver, CO 80203

Saturday, June 28, 2025

5 – 8 pm

All events are free and open to the public

To see a highly selective survey of the best contemporary photography from Colorado and across the country, don’t miss CPAC’s 62nd Annual Juried Members’ Show. This tradition showcases CPAC’s talented community of over 700 members and provides artists with an important exhibition opportunity.

Juror Anne Leighton Massoni, Executive Director of the Houston Center for Photography in Texas, selected photographs by 37 CPAC members to exhibit. She also selected 19 additional works for inclusion in the exhibition catalog and a tv slideshow in the gallery as a Special Mention subset. Members were selected from a pool of 206 photographers who submitted more than 1,000 images.

At the Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony on June 28th, Anne presented her selections for Best in Show and two Honorable Mentions. The Best in Show winner received $400 and the image was added to our Permanent Collection. The Director’s Choice winner received $150, presented by Samantha Johnston, CPAC Executive Director & Curator. All award winners also received an exhibition catalog.

Congratulations to the 2025 Annual Members’ Show Award Winners:

Best in Show – Allison Plass

Director’s Choice – Katie Kindle

Honorable Mentions – Josh Bergeron and Ernie Leyba

Copies of the exhibition catalog can be purchased on Blurb for $20. 

(Pictured Above: Longing, detail, by Jason Pendleton)

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Dupuy Bateman IV, Josh Bergeron, Mat Bobby, Ross Borgida, Lynne Breitfeller, Jo Ann Chaus, Giles Clasen, Ron Cooper, Sophia Poppy Ericksen, Bryan Florentin, Susan R. Goldstein, Rob Hammer, Alexander Heilner, Kevin Hoth, Patricia Howard, Constance Jaeggi, Michael Allan Jones, Erin M. Karp, Katie Kindle, Alison Lake, Brady LaVigne, Ernie Leyba, Rodney Gene Mahaffey, Zach Miners, James Montague, Heather Oelklaus, James Olson, Jason Pendleton, Linda Plaisted, Allison Plass, Bob Rosinsky, Erin Schoepke, John Shelton, Steven Silvers, JP Terlizzi, Frank Varney, and Torrance York.

SPECIAL MENTIONS

John Bonath, Lynne Breitfeller, Thomas Carr, Jo Ann Chaus, Michael Chioran, Teri Figliuzzi, Nicola Huffstickler, Alison Lake, J. K. Lavin, Zoe Congyu Liu, Anthony Maes, Jason Pendleton, Sage Sankofa, John Shelton, Steven Silvers, Laurie Smith, David Thoutt, and Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco.

Juror’s Statement

What compels us to look at an image longer than a passing glance? What makes us stop and take a further look? What challenges us to stay with that image longer still, wanting to know more about the artist and the ideas behind its making? As I juried the works submitted to the 2025 Colorado Photographic Arts Center Annual Members’ Show it became apparent that while the images were vastly different, the staying power of the selected images were undeniable to me. Each image had its own reasons for urging me to stay in that extended pause. Form for one, humor for another, quizzical-ness, color palette, personhood, difference, sameness – the list is as varied as the 38 pieces presented in this exhibition and speaks to the diversity of human experience and perception.

Undeniably, I lingered, and took the time to investigate further. The artist’s creativity, and desire to share, found a common place with my curiosities and want to engage. Of course this “punctum” is often indescribable, and as Roland Barthes suggests, what “pierces” me, might not someone else, given the same images to cull through. It’s fascinating how this moment of connection can vary for each viewer, depending on their personal experiences, history, and perspective. The best I can wrap my head around the “why” is that in the desire to share their creativity, they found a receptive individual who found commonplace in their interests and approaches. I swooned over color, I giggled over quirkiness, I caught my breath over the profound, and I accepted challenges when I didn’t understand – heart and mind open to learning more. One of the selected artists wrote, “Likewise, the viewer is not passive. They bring their own assumptions, histories, and questions to each image. But when done correctly, a good photograph can push a viewer from their framework and to explore and consider a world, person or experience anew. Meaning and purpose lives in that exchange.” I couldn’t agree more. The artist offers a piece of themselves, their creativity and their intent, but it’s the viewer’s own assumptions, curiosity, and background that completes the experience. It’s a co-creation that makes the exchange so meaningful.

 – Anne Leighton Massoni, Executive Director of the Houston Center for Photography

EXHIBITION PREVIEW

SPECIAL MENTIONS  

About the Juror

Anne Leighton Massoni is Executive Director of the Houston Center for Photography in Texas. Before joining HCP she was the Dean and Managing Director of Education at the International Center of Photography in New York City. She has held academic positions at Cornell University, Tyler School of Art, and the University of the Arts. She has curated over 25 exhibitions including most recently solo exhibitions by Marc Ohrem-Leclef and Deborah Jack. She co-edited The Focal Press Companion to the Constructed Image in Contemporary Photography with Marni Shindelman. Massoni graduated with a MFA in Photography from Ohio University and BAs in Photography and Anthropology from Connecticut College. Her personal studio practice relates to ideas of both real and fabricated memories and identity, using a variety of film and digital techniques.