Silver Eye

Register below: Enroll by March 27th!

What’s the relationship between collage and photography? How can we use collage as a tool for interrogating the history of photography and images in our current moment? This workshop will take a critical and complicated look at the use of photography as a subversive tool.

First we will look at Edward Steichen’s 1955 blockbuster exhibition The Family of Man which was created with goals of social change and universal humanism in mind. Although Steichen may have had the best intentions, the resulting book and exhibition have been endlessly criticized for having a patriarchal heuristic agenda and employing sentimental humanism. In this workshop participants will discuss readings by prominent critics of The Family of Man as well as learn about the transformative power of the medium of collage. We will explore the work by prominent artists who use collage as a way to highlight viewpoints that have long been left out of history.

Students will complete two collage assignments - one using The Family of Man exhibition catalog and one collaborative assignment where they can use source materials of their own choosing.

This workshop is open to all skill levels (beginner through advanced) and will be virtual, taking place over 3 sessions of three hours each.

Participating Artists

1. Kelli Connell’s work investigates sexuality, gender, identity and photographer / sitter relationships. Her work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, J Paul Getty Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and Museum of Contemporary Photography, among others. Publications of her work include Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis (Aperture), Kelli Connell: Double Life (DECODE Books), PhotoWork: Forty Photographers on Process and Practice (Aperture) and Photo Art: The New World of Photography (Aperture). Connell has received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, MacDowell, and The Center for Creative Photography. Kelli Connell lives in Chicago where she teaches at Columbia College Chicago. 

2. Natalie Krick is a Seattle based artist whose work investigates visual perception and pleasure through complicating the act of looking. She holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts and an MFA from Columbia College Chicago. In 2015 Krick was a recipient of an Individual Photographer's Fellowship from the Aaron Siskind Foundation for her project Natural Deceptions. In 2017 Natural Deceptions was published by Skylark Editions and Krick was awarded the Aperture Portfolio Prize. Krick’s work has recently been exhibited at SF Camerawork, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Aperture Foundation, The Museum of Sex, and Blue Sky Gallery. Her photographs have been highlighted in several international publications including BOMB, The New Yorker, Vogue Italia, PDN, Aperture, and Vrij Nederland.