Well I’m back on the train — and somewhere deep in Ohio.
My five week excursion back east is over and it’s time to get back to work and back to Portland. I’ll be busy right away moving apartments and office spaces, as well as taking on some interesting, new projects which I’ll explain in a bit.
The trip east was invigorating. I spent a week on vacation in Maine which is the place I seem to always return to when in need of relaxation and peace. I spent a day in Acadia National Park as well as Monhegan Island which I had never been to. Both were phenomenal and worth the trip. The weather was glorious, sunny everyday and in the lower or mid 70s.
I also spent 24 hours in New York which I squeezed in because I hadn’t been to the city in some time and I missed it. I’ve gone countless times growing up so it kind of feels like a second home to me. I went to my favorite museum there, which is now called the Museum of Arts & Design (formerly the Craft Museum) now located in a beautiful new building in Columbus Circle. I spent probably five hours walking around Central Park and photographing. In all the times I’d been to New York, I had never been to Central Park so I really wanted to spend a good deal of time there. I pushed myself to get a small portfolio out of it including portraits which I’m not normally comfortable doing. I left feeling good about what I’d taken. I have a bag filled with about thirty rolls of undeveloped film. So we’ll see, but I’m hoping to post images from that day in the coming month or so.
Some new and interesting happenings that will begin when I get back include the following.
First, I will be starting to finalize design details for the Dislaced book. I have not sent out a formal announcement yet, but pre-orders are being taken at the new website for the project at www.displacedproject.com. Pricing is as follows for the edition of 60: #s1-15: $350; #s16-30: $475; #s31-45: $650; #46-60: $900. Some of you have been asking me to reserve a copy in the first fifteen, but I can’t hold them without a deposit, so if you’re interested, please go to the displacedproject.com site and there is a pre-order option for $175 to reserve a copy. There will be an ad for the project that will come out soon in the Book Arts Newsletter, so if you’re contemplating a purchase, you might want to do it sooner rather than later and save yourself some money.
Second, I am pleased to announce that Kirsten Rian (www.kirstenrian.com) and I will be offering joint consultations to photographers looking to build portfolios, get feedback on work and/or marketing pieces, self publishing, building resumes, writing for artists, among other topics. For 16 years, Kirsten was Executive Director of Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, and has worked the past decade as a consultant and independent curator for individual artists as well as national non profit arts organizations. She is also an award-winning poet and painter. I am extremely excited about this collaboration. For more information or to schedule a meeting time, please contact me at lauren@laurenhenkin.com. The fee is $80/hour with both of us.
Third, Kirsten and I are launching a publishing company. Laurwyn Publishing will focus on producing small editions of fine artist books. Our first publication will be titled Geography, a book of collected poems and essays by Kirsten. Please stay tuned as a new website will be launched answering questions about our submission policy as well as purchasing.
I’m very excited to be working with Kirsten. She is an extremely talented artist and someone of incredible integrity. She is the best image editor and sequencer I know and with inside knowledge of the gallery and art worlds, she can provide answers to many of the difficult questions we all face moving our work forward.
More to follow…
