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Articles:
Coagula
- (Ko-WAG-yoo-luh) The Lowdown on High Art Jean Ferro,
Women in Photography.. article by Eugene Harris
- Dec 02 /Jan 03,
photo credits:
Double Mirror/Broken Mirror, 1975, self-portrait Jean Ferro, pg. 30;
www.WIPI.org 2002 Home page block image, pg 31men
in Photography.. article by Eugene Harris
- Dec 02 /Jan 03,
photo credits:
Double Mirror/Broken Mirror, 1975, self-portrait Jean Ferro, pg. 30;
www.WIPI.org 2002 Home page block image, pg 31 Double Mirror/Broken Mirror,
1975, self-portrait Jean Ferro, pg. 30;
Specialization seems to be the key for linking into the world of
art using search engines to cruise the electronic highway. Women In Photography
International (WIPI) has found it's niche as an online resource reaching
photographers worldwide. Women photographers from Kuwait, Italy, Germany,
France, Belgium, Iran, Brazil, Africa, New York, Texas, Los Angeles and
the middle American communities have found their way via the internet
to the Los Angeles based headquarters of WIPI. Women now have a choice
to have their art represented by traditional galleries and/or create their
own web gallery and link to an organization like Women In Photography
International.
I sat down...online with Jean Ferro, Photo Artist and President of
WIPI to discuss some of the ins and outs of how WIPI began and where
it is today and what's the focus for the future.
EH: I think of you as more cutting edge artist and not an arts administrator.
What inspired you to lead WIPI into the 21st Century?
JF: Arts administrator...how do you do that? The timing was right,
in the spring of 2000 WIPI hit a few snags and had to be reorganized and
grounded and this required someone to step up to the plate and take charge.
Peter Palmquist, historian and founder of the WIPI Archive, encouraged
me to take the wheel and do the driving which meant putting my photo art
on the back burner and becoming President of the organization. It's not
been the easiest project for me, since I'm more of a loner and an independent
thinker than a group enthusiast. I was inspired to see how it all worked.
If it were possible to blend the old with the new using the internet to
rebuild the membership, expand the base Internationally and create the
editorial and exhibition content of the website. In the Fall of 2001,
WIPI forged forward and we produced our collectible 20th Anniversary Exhibition
multi-media CD “Tea Time” with 75 images from 63 women artists
from around the globe, their resumes and artist statements. The inspiration
for the exhibition theme came from Linda McCartney's “T-Pot”
image, which is included in the exhibition.
EH: I remember hearing about WIPI back in the 80's, is this the same
organization?
JF: Yes, it started in Los Angeles 1981 as Women In Photography,
Inc. A group of women, Orah Moore, Thea Litsios and Mary McNally created
the non-profit outreach support group for women photographers. In 1985
WIPI had workshop series about “how to establish a professional photography
business” to shooting fashion with special “New Photographer;s”
lecture series with presentations by Judy Coleman, Victoria Pearson, Kenna
Love, Claire Garoutte and myself with “Eye to Eye” a lecture
on my self-portrait work. I met Nancy Clendaniel, WIPI Director in 1988
at Photo while she was promoting WIPI and I was autographing my Zoom magazine
layout. Sometime around 1989 WIPI created a 20 page newsletter called
f-2 with feature stories about successful photographers and member exhibition
notices. The first Distinguished Photographer Award was presented 1983
to Eve Arnold, and continued over the years with awards to Ruth Orkin,
Ruth Bernard, Judy Dater and Linda McCartney to name a few. Today, Carrie
Mae Weems (who was a member in 1981) is an Advisory Board Member along
with Distinguished Photographer awardee Joyce Tennesen.
EH: Lots of people worked w/WIPI in the early days, who were your best
contributors? What were the exhibits during the 80's?
JF: G.Ray Hawkins, Josine Starrels, Glenna Avila, E.K. Waller, Paris
Photo Lab, were all involved in the early 80's. The LA Photo Center held
“Women Photographers in America“ exhibition in 1985 with grants
provided by the NEA in association with the Women's Building. “Women
Photographers in America,“ 1987’s was premiered at the LA Municipal
Art Gallery with the work of Laura Aguilar, Gisella Gumper, Judy Coleman
Judith Winston, Carol Nye and many others. Both exhibitions had beautiful
catalogs. 1989 exhibition Women In Photography International traveled
to the Royal Photographic Society in Bath UK, Stockholm Sweden and Milan,
Italy. Several of the women who participated in the early exhibitions
are currently members of WIPI today
EH: WIPI disappeared sometime in the 90's. What happened.
JF: In the early 70's you could count on one hand the number of
women receiving photography degrees. In 1981, the grassroots organization
WIPI represented a change that was happening. Women photographers gathered
together to share their work and find ways to be recognized as professional
photographers, both commercially and in field of fine art. Photography
itself was growing and changing as an art form. Women began to pursue
photo careers through the educational system at schools like Brooks and
Art Center here in California. Starting with the 90's younger women didn't
need the same support system that brought the original members together
in the early 80's. In 1989, with Nancy Clendaniel leading the way, WIP
Inc, changed its focus and name to Women In Photography International.
Shortly thereafter, Nancy moved to Seattle with her newborn son and the
whole organization fell silent. Nancy and I stayed in contact over the
years and often we would talk about how to get WIPI started again.
EH: So, was it the internet that spurred WIPI on to the new growth?
JF: Absolutely, it's...a perfect marriage of imagery and 21st century
communication. Mailing packages, photo's, etc. would take months to reach
their destination..months! Now, in seconds there is communication to a
member like Stephanie McGehee, a Reuters photographer living in Kuwait
or making plans to set up an exhibition with another member in Italy.
It's fabulous, you can upload a 12 image Professional gallery and in a
few hours the whole world can have access to the work. We get about 50,000
hits +plus a month now. Our mission is to promote the visibility of women
working in the photographic arts and the internet is a great way to bring
attention to the artists work.
EH: Who are your members?
JF: A wide variety of members include, students to top of the line
PRO's including photo journalists, fine art photographers, educators,
curators, authors and lab managers with a wide variety of styles and techniques,
with content from social commentary to decorative art, using Polaroid,
large format, digital. Almost everything people digest today is photographic
related imagery, so it's a huge market. We service our members through
our website with Quarterly uploads, (Jan, Apr, July, Oct) where we present
PRO, General and Student galleries along with Historical profiles. We
have an f2-eZine section with WIPI News articles by our PRO members. We
have Competition listings, Exhibition listings, Industry News, this Quarter's
Marketing News we posted a special article on the Getty presentation of
Art, Technology, and Intellectual Property: First Assembly of the American
Assembly. We also maintain the WIPI Reference Library founded by historian
and author Peter Palmquist that contains info on over 23,000 women photographers
dating back to the 1800's.
EH: I see your on the list for photo l.a. 2003 in January. What's your
plan?
JF: Last year, Pro member Joanne Warfield, called the Stephen Cohen
gallery to see if WIPI could have a booth...the answer was Yes..and we
jumped in. We're the new kids on the block, a little raw and naive which
makes it all so interesting for now. photo l.a. presented by LACMA and
the Stephen Cohen Gallery is an exciting 4 day whirlwind of collectors,
photographers, over 6000 people cruise the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
Since our reorganization in 2000, our exhibit schedule includes 20th Anniversary
Exhibition, “Tea Time“ Oct.-Dec. 2001, at the House Of Photographic
Art in San Juan Capistrano, and then back to back exhibits including photo
l.a. 2002, Hollywood Bound, sponsored in part the Hollywood Arts Council,
and the Hollywood Library's Frances Howard Goldwyn gallery, Photo Impact/Santa
Monica, then a collaboration with Mary Oliver and the Pierce College Art
Gallery to produce “kitsch & klick, the Art of the Toy Camera“
and now the upcoming photo l.a. 2003...So, we're busy 24/7. I am impressed
that Mat Gleason has been able to produce Coagula so faithfully and weather
all the storms... Amazing, He deserves a metal..! I have a new understanding
of mixing content with visuals since I've also been the editor of our
online publication and work with the volunteers to create events. We are
starting to get notices in photographic publications such as the 30th
Anniversary Issue of ZOOM and the magazine called Picture out of NY for
the emerging professional photographer...we're growing and glowing.
EH: Where do you see WIPI headed in the next 3-5 years?
JF: Hm...WIPI exhibitions set into a Dick Tracy picture slide show
watch and distributed through Ebay..! Really..The website is our No#1
link to the world. We are also looking for a combination of sponsors,
to provide events to produce outreach educational programs, seminars on
portfolio presentation, copyright laws, marketing, gallery representation,
printing techniques, film, digital photography and exhibitions. Women
learn differently then men. Not necessarily slower, but they focus on
different aspects of the subject. Men are so much more mechanical and
technical, they enjoy things when they break down, so they can feel the
accomplishment of fixing things. Women, on the other hand seem to get
more frustrated with things when they don't work properly, (how many times
have you heard a women say...“I don't know how to operate the VCR!“)
so they approach learning differently and repetition seems to be a necessary
part of the learning process. They take smaller steps over longer periods
of time. Of course I'm going to get in trouble for generalizing, but it's
just what I've noticed over the last 2 1/2 years. Maybe because Women
want to make sure it's solid, stable and they don't like redoing things.
I'm not sure, just know that outreach programs are necessary on many levels
of photographic education and socialization. WIPI could use a director,
a ÒfemaleÓ Joe Smoke, the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs razor
sharp allocations manager who handles grants, fellowships and festival
funding!
EH: And what are your personal artistic plans?
JF: I have a huge selection of book material portfolios from Satin
Slips to the American Flag, LA artists to International Rock Stars. Since
the mid-seventies, I just kept shooting and shooting, hardly ever printing,
so my personal archives of personalities and projects are large. Now that
I have the 2000P Epson printer and I know the prints will last up to 200
years, I'm finally more attracted to start the process of printing. Something
about the disappearing Type R's from the early 80's stopped me cold in
my tracks for about 10 years. In 1996, I was planning to do an installation
of Global Liberty at the Los Angeles City Hall Bridge Gallery, (Coagula
Art Journal Issue #23 News) at the time, the grandfather of photography
G.Ray Hawkins said “Jeanne, get your ducks-in-a-row“...I came
home and quickly shot a Polaroid image of a row of ducks, that image resonated
in my imagination and now 6 years later, I started shooting a Polaroid
series “ducks-in-a-row“ because I just want to do something
simple and literal, one of a kind and that gives me a feeling of going
somewhere......I just line them up and like everything else in my life,
take my best shot.! WIPI will be at photo l.a. 2003, January 16-19, Santa
Monica Civic Auditorium. visit the website at www.wipi.org
Double
photo credits:
Double Mirror/Broken Mirror, 1975, self-portrait Jean Ferro, pg. 30;
www.WIP.org 2002 Home page block image, pg 31 Mirror/Broken Mirror, 1975ortrait
Jean Ferro, pg. 30;
www.WIPI.org 2002 Home page block image, pg 31
support sreak down, so th WIPI will be at photo l.a. 2003, January 16-19,
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. visit the website at www.wipi.org or visit
