been framed lately?

In case you are in the Dayton area, please stop by Custom Frame Services and see what Dave Crowell did with "Hairy Cemetery Nut". Some really amazing reclaimed wood stock surrounds the floated print.

http://customframeservices.com/content/photography-by-francis-schanberger/

Please visit them during the hours of 10 am - 6 pm Tuesday through Friday and Saturday, 10 am until 2 pm.

1029 Wayne Avenue, Dayton OH 45410

Their phone number is 937. 220. 9020

Hairy Cemetery Nut at Custom Frame

Posting entries can be like big steps or little steps. Today is a little step.

Dave Crowell over at Custom Frame Services has selected my business card out of a glass bowl, randomly I've been assured, for a free frame. As you can see, he has chosen to float it and present it in beguiling, distressed wood. Head over to his shop at 1029 Wayne Avenue in Dayton, Ohio to see it on display, now until the end of January. They are open from 10 am - 6 pm Tuesday through Friday and Saturday, 10 am - 2 pm. http://www.customframeservices.com/

Photo courtesy of Custom Frame Services (possibly captured by Charmaine Griffith)

waiting with map pins

One month, maybe longer, I return to the blog.

Sorry.

Someday soon excuses will surface but for now I will get right down to business. In Vivo, the three person show at DVAC, has two days remaining. Today, I returned to the gallery to document two of the pieces and now I am regretting not photographing the rest of the installation.

Above is an image of Forty-six, photographed at a raking angle so that you, the viewer, may see how each 12" x 9" piece is anchored to the wall. Just two map pins at the top, which leaves the bottom flapping in the circulating air. 

four of forty-six

It's been a while. These last few weeks have been full of printing, framing, printing, getting class materials together for a new semester, more printing, and more framing. Oh...and there was a short beautiful trip to New Mexico.

There is lots to blog about. To start off the new month on its fourth day, I am presenting a preview of the seed installation at DVAC. Here our four of the forty-six Van Dyke Brown prints of maple seeds I will have on the wall at the gallery. The exhibition opens on September 14th.

mis-mitosis (ash seeds)

Here is the completed version of mis-mitosis (ash seeds). There are some irregularities to the way the paper was cut. I ended up using thin strips of exposed and processed van dyke brown prints to fill in the gaps.

It's growing on me.

Some process notes from today:

I worked on a new cyanotype fungus image and used the late afternoon sun for exposure. With the Coventry Rag Vellum White, my idiosyncratic inkjet negatives and traditional cyanotype chemistry, I obtained good print density with exposures of 12 minutes (at 5 pm) and 15 minutes (at around 6 pm).

In a couple of days I should be able to upload a quick and messy cell phone snap of the prints.

the usual suspects and their comfort zones

I do have an image of the newest piece for in vivo. I'll post it tomorrow. Or just visit my website, www. frangst.com.

In the meantime, just a heads up regarding the usual suspects, summer juried shows.

Three pieces, Pluot, Japanese Pear and Honey Crisp, are part of the annual Fine Arts Exhibition at the Ohio State Fair. This is a great exhibition that runs concurrent with the state fair, from July 25th through August 4th, bringing in a diverse group of visitors (fair go-ers) to see work made by professional and amateur Ohio artists. An opening reception is planned for Tuesday, July 24th from 6-8 pm.

Earlier this summer, I broke out of my comfort zone to work with an iPhone photograph which I printed for the 21st annual members juried show at Dayton Visual Arts Center. The exhibition is titled and themed "No Borders". Look for my print just below a photograph by Janelle Young. This exhibition runs from July 13th through August 18th. DVAC has gallery hours of 11 am through 6pm Tuesday through Saturday.

my next big thing

This is the layout for the next multi section van dyke brown piece I am making for in vivo. These are the negatives used for the print exposures done today. Thirty-five minutes per group of four.

Tomorrow I'll be processing about seventeen of these. I'll have two extra blanks and four unexposed, coated pieces of paper in reserve because I do not work in a perfect universe.

In All Fairness, 2012 Edition

It's almost that time of year to go to the Ohio State Fair to see the Fine Arts Exhibition. Amidst the livestock, dairy and butter sculpture displays found on the fairgrounds in July is an amazing display of visual art as well as contemporary video and short films. I make it a point to enter work in the juried exhibition each year.

In the 2012 edition of 2D and 3D work was juried by Jon Cook, Executive Director Peggy R. McConnell Arts Center of Worthington and Ardine Nelson of Columbus.

I will be exhibiting "Pluot", "Honey Crisp" and "Japanese Pear". Bridgette has two paintings in the professional division.

Other 2-D artists showing work in the professional division this year are:
Monica Anne Achberger, Karen Albanese Campbell, Timothy Albon, Judy Anderson, Ginnie Baer, Carron Baxter, Bridgette Bogle, Rick Borg, Jon Browning, Louise Captein, Mark Chepp, Rachel Clark, Alex Conrad, Ken Coon, Anne Cushman, Clifford Darrett, Betsy Defusco, Joanna Donchatz, Susanne Dotson, June Douglas, Paul Emory, Valerie Escobedo, Frederick Fochtman, Mark Fohl, Sean Foley, Bruce Foster, Margaret Freed, Angela Gage, Beverly Goldie, Lloyd Greene, Tracy Greenwalt, Christine Guillot Ryan, Rod Hayslip, Cody Heichel, Helen Hoffelt, Tony Hoover, Morris Jackson, Donna Jacobs, Laura Joseph, Richard Jurus, Dan Knepper, Jules Knowlton, Amy Kollar Anderson, Chris Lang, Marc Lincewicz, Brenda Lloyd, Kevin Longley, Ken Marshall, Paul Mcclain, Lynda Mcclanahan, Kellie Mcdermott, Kathy Mcghee, Mike Miller, Ronald Mlicki, Juliette Montague, Ashley Moore, Paula Nees, Chaz O'Neil, Kathleen Pepicello, Alyssa Petrosky, Allison Pierce, Mabi Ponce De Leon, Jose Luis Quinones, Loaned Rain, Robert Robbins, Lindsay Rodgers, Debbie Rosenfeld, Nikos Rutkowski, Laurie Schmidt, Kristine Schramer, Jenny Scranton, Ashley Shellhause, Don Slobodien, Meghan Sours, Emily Starr, Marlene Steele, Melanie Steffl, Marti Steffy, Andrea Stern, Joan Tallan, Sally Tharp, Marcus R. Thomas, James Trout, Gerald Van Scyoc, Barbara Vogel, Chun Arthur Wang, Linda Wesner, Janna Wheeler, Daryl Woody, Darlene Yeager-Torre.

In the professional division, the 3-D artists are: Laura Alexander, Lindsey Alexander, David Argento, Sandra Aska, Carolyn Baginski, Diana Bjel, Carol Boram-Hays, Jim Bowling, Juliellen Byrne, Scott Dooley, John Freiman, George Gregory, Chelsey Hammersmith, Michael B Hays, Alissa Head, Mikelle Hickman-Romine, Gary Hovey, Tamara Jaeger, Kevin Keiser, Carrie Longley, Barbara Morejon, Lauri Murphy, Jeffrey Owen, Jeffrey Owen, Nate Ricciuto, Mark Rosen, Melinda Rosenberg, Jason Routson, Keith Simpson, Catherine Bell Smith, Nicki Strouss,and Jane Tuss.

For the 2-D and 3-D artists in the amateur division please visit the Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition blog at: http://theohiostatefairfineartsexhibition.blogspot.com/

Gone Bananas

I think I've gone bananas trying to make prints I will send to reviewers I met with at FotoFest.

Working title ..."Ridiculous Nebula"

a slightly complex photograph

I've been concentrating on reprinting "Don't Take This Personally" for a Houston based photography collector. I've been working this, off and on, since late March. Teaching and other exhibition obligations have limited the amount of time available to focus on this slightly complex photograph (or is it a collection of photographs).

This week I have had the whole week available to address color variation, flaws in coating, flaws in paper or exposure concerns. It's almost done. Today I am going to spot the sections, draw guidelines for the framer in Houston, trim down the paper, flatten them and figure out a way to sign this piece. Then it gets boxed up and shipped to Houston.

File Under Book Keeping

Pluot at Red Filter Gallery

Japanese Pear in DVAC's 17h Annual Auction Preview

This is one of those posts where I list current exhibitions. Sorry. Some people keep a spreadsheet. Some keep a binder. I use this blog on occasion to keep track of shows and what work was exhibited in specific venues.

Currently I have one piece, Pluot,  over in New Jersey at the Red Filter gallery in their Alternative Views exhibition which runs from March 1, 2012 - April 22, 2012. This is a re-working of the Transferred exhibition last fall in Alexandria, Virginia.

Dayton Visual Arts Center is previewing their 17th Annual Auction. Japanese Pear is in the silent auction and is part of the preview exhibit at their gallery 118 North Jefferson Street here in Dayton, Ohio. The auction will be on  April 27, 2012 at Sinclair Community College’s Ponitz Center. Please visit the Dayton Visual Arts Center's website for specific hours and ticket information. The preview exhibit is free and runs through April 25th at . Gallery hours at  are 11 am—6 pm, Tuesday—Saturday.

Last but not least, I will be showing Honeycrisp in Manifest gallery's Botanical:An Exhibiton of Works Exploring Plant Life which has an opening scheduled for Friday, April 20th and runs through May 18th. Manifest is located at 2727 Woodburn Avenue,  Cincinnati, Ohio 45206.

Honeycrisp at Manifest Gallery

It's always humid in Houston

At the start, let just get this out of the way: I do things the hard way.

I am basically carrying a chunk of what I consider my studio. For Houston, I brought 5 large anthotypes, rolled up in a tall plastic tube as well as  two smaller ones. Next is the hard case, a too large to carry-on suitcase which has my  clothes, two larger portfolio boxes and toiletries. Addtionally I have my messenger bag with lap top, an Agfa 11x14  box with some extra prints to exchange or sell, chargers for the computer and cell phone, a hard drive, etc. etc. etc.

Here's the narrative of my travels today: lug this stuff to the check in counter at the Columbus airport after an hour drive at four in the morning. Did I mention that my flight departs from a city different from my final return trip city of Dayton?)Retrieve the luggage after a turbulent re-route of my Houston flight (an extra two hours in the air). Forget the large tube of anthotypes while retrieving the hard suitcase from a locked cage near the baggage carrousel ( I evidently took my time going wee, eating a Tampico burrito form Papasitas).

Not realizing I had forgotten my tube until I was handing my luggage to the Super Shuttle driver. Running back to locate the tube, finding it and running back to the shuttle.
Checking in at the Meeting Place office. Did I mention I liked to do things the hard way. Instead of going directly to my off-site hotel, I decided to lug all of the luggage through the Double Tree (three bags full, sir) and then track down my hotel.

Going out Dallas street to Main (maybe five city blocks) to pick up the light rail. Buying a ticket on the correct side of the tracks to go to my hotel. Thinking it was the wrong direction and walking up a block to board the light rail going in the wrong direction. Taking it in the wrong direction for one stop. Exiting and re-boarding the correct direction.

Taking the train down towards Reliant Park and the Medical Center while talking to a suspiciously friendly dude who was telling me he inherited a Houston Pedicab company. He technically didn't call it a pedicab. He described it as a three wheeled bike that has two seats in the back and was a business.
Exiting the train at the correct stop but walking the wrong direction (away from the hotel) and then back again.

I should have checked in first. BTW, I think this room is half the size of our house and it has two flat screen TV's in it. Thank you Margie and Ray! I think I will watch cable and avoid tomorrow's portfolio reviews. After all, it's always humid in Houston for a gent carrying too much of his studio on foot.