MEMBER SHOW PROFILE // Claire Sheprow's Photography Captures The Intimacy Behind The Entertainer

 

At the 3rd Ward Member Show this Friday, November 18, you'll be able to check out a wide range of amazing creations that represent our diverse community, including photographs by Claire Sheprow.

Sheprow is experienced in a wide range of photography and has been honored with multiple awards for her work. She's cultivated such diversity with a unique openness to the images that she sees in the world. "To me, there are portraits to be made of shadows, and stories to be told about landscapes, abstractions to be found in faces and so on," she says. "The feeling I experience while creating the images is what I'm trying to capture and to convey—the dialogue between me and the subject, whatever it is."

For Friday's Member Show, Sheprow is presenting portraits of local variety and burlesque performer Anna Copacabana. "Her variety show is a very public appearance involving wigs and lots of flash, but I knew immediately that I was interested in shooting a more intimate side of her real-life persona, which for me started with shooting her without her signature wigs," she says. "We met to talk about the concept I had in mind, and were both enthused. However, as things would have it, the shoot didn't come to happen until about a year and a half later. Which was actually quite wonderful, because in that span of time we became quite good friends, which only deepened the silent dialogue between us during the shoot and opened up the amazing vulnerability and intimacy of her story that I wanted to capture."

Hit the jump to read more about Sheprow and see more of her work.

As a successful photographer whose clients have included Gibson and Fender guitars, Time Out NY, Glamour, MTV and many others, Sheprow finds that 3rd Ward is a good place to recharge and stay connected with herself. "Although I pour all of my creative energy and voice into my professional work, when meeting the needs of clients, editors, and art directors the lines between my 'art' and 'work' sometimes become painfully blurred," she says. "3rd Ward has become a space for me to carve out time for my own personal work, and to reconnect with a voice that is deeply my own. Taking classes to re-spark my creativity, hanging work in the shows, and just being in a community of such talent and creative energy, witnessing the work being created around me has really helped me to refocus on my personal work separate from my professional work."

What's Sheprow up to as we speak? "Currently I'm in the Arizonian desert exploring various means of self-discovery and the complex stories of the people who come here to experience them," she says. "Hearing their past stories and daydreaming about the future paths their lives may or may not take beyond these 'life-changing experiences.'  However I hope to be back just in time to attend the Member Show!"

-- John Ruscher

MEMBER SHOW PROFILE // Get Comfy With Avgo, Michael Zick Doherty's Digitally Fabricated Chair

Avgo is not a typical chair. Nor is it a typical piece of woodwork, or a typical digital design.

Inspired by Ovalia, the iconic 1968 egg-shaped chair by Danish designer Henrik Thor-Larsen, 3rd Ward's Michael Zick Doherty and collaborator Nik Psaroudakis didn't use any screws and glue in their design for Avgo, opting instead for digitally fabricated slices that fit together like a puzzle. "It was designed entirely in a 3D modeling program and then converted by software into commands that are used to tell a CNC Router how to cut the forms out," Doherty says. "We also challenged ourselves to use the curves and angle of the joints to create a form that gave a strong sense of volumetric presence from 2D sliceforms. It was exhilarating to create such a complex form while playing to the limitations of the CNC machine we were using."

Avgo has been featured in the ITP Spring Show at NYU and on Core77, and you can see if for yourself this Friday, November 18 at the 3rd Ward Member Show.

Hit the jump to learn about some of Doherty's other awesome projects and check out some more photos of Avgo.

Avgo is just one of a wide range of amazing projects that Doherty's had a hand in, from the Open Hardware Scholarship-winning Bitponics to Windowfarms to some incredible innovations in mobile technology, and 3rd Ward has helped him both diversify and hone his skills. "I've always been a bit all over the place in terms of my craft," he says. "Being in some of the classes has really been great in forcing me to focus on learning a new skill in a set period of time. It's also just incredible to have all the resources at your fingertips. I'm always wishing I had more time to take advantage of what 3rd Ward has to offer. Teaching the interactive media class has been really amazing as well in that you really get to take a look at what you know from another perspective."

We probably don't have enough fingers to count all of the amazing things that Doherty has in the works, but he gave us a heads up on a couple of particularly exciting ones. "On the digital fabrication front myself and a couple partners will be launching something extra special that I can't say to much about yet, but if you're into creating the physical from the digital you should definitely follow @FabGuild on Twitter for our launch," he says. "I'm also doing research and development with a lab at EuroRSCG which is an agency in the city. My job is to come up project ideas that showcase new technologies. If you're interested in pushing the limits of technology, it's definitely worth checking out (http://madscience.eurorscg.com or @EuroNyMadSci)."

And now for more shots of Avgo:

-- John Ruscher

MEMBER SHOW PROFILE // Science Class with Painter Joana Ricou

"Our Self Portrait"

"I'm kind of a biology geek," Joana Ricou tells us. The Portuguese-born painter spent high school on a heavily science-oriented track, eventually to become biology major at Carnegie Mellon--until she discovered there could be a happy co-existence between science and art.

Now, Ricou works mostly in oil painting, doing BioArt and figure painting (in addition to line sketches and a bit pf photography)--her work for the upcoming 3rd Ward Member Show on November 18th is a bit of both. "I read this neurology book with a Walt Whitman quote 'I contain multitudes,'" she says. "The pieces I proposed for the member show are kind of a representation of that." 

Her particular brand of BioArt is gaining quite a following--she's part of an online exhibit at the Arte Institute, and she's showing in the Eclectic Chaos series in New Jersey this month. Ricou's had her work selected as the cover for Journal of Neuroscience and has given talks about art as education.

While Ricou says she still loves to read biology journals and stay up on the research ("the really exciting stuff"), she doesn't see herself returning to the lab anytime soon. "I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing," she tells us. Amen. ...Now hit the jump to catch a couple more glimpses of Ricou's work.

"Hum Hum Together""Other Self"

-- Layla Schlack

MEMBER SHOW PROFILE // Fanny Allie's Installations Have Us All Aglow

"Glowing Homeless"

As we approach our Fall edition of 3rd Ward's Member Group Show--happening Friday, Nov. 18th--we're taking the opportunity to introduce you to a few mightily talented folks who's work you'll see. Today, we give you mixed media wunderkind Fanny Allie:

While it was Fanny Allie's piece "Glowing Homeless" (created for Greenpoint's Bring to Light art festival) that caught our eye, that piece strays from Allie's usual fare. "I actually had to have someone make that for me," she explains. "I usually like to work with more natural materials, clay, I make my own papier mache." Still she was excited to be a part of the event inspired by Nuit Blanche, an art festival from her native France.

Allie's studied at Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie at Arles before making the move to New York in 2006, when she participated in the Bronx Museum of the Arts' Artist in the Marketplace program. "I moved here to do that," she says, "and then I just kind of stayed..." 

A common thread beneanth Allie's work--one that's earned her spots exhibiting in the Chashama Window Space Program and at Urban Alchemist--is an ease with the human body. Heads, fingers and silhouettes all recurring visual themes. We're thrilled to add Allie's organic, slightly whimsical aesthetic to the Member Show, so hit the jump to get a glimpse of what's in store.

"Chair Body""Eye Level" 

-- Layla Schlack

MEMBER SHOW PROFILE // Photographer Beril Gulcan Plays Connect the Dots

All images courtesy of Beril Gulcan

On Friday Nov. 18th, 3rd Ward's Fall Member Show goes down. In the run-up, we'll be profiling a handful of the members/artists participating. Today, we bring you photographer, Beril Gulcan:

Gulcan was a producer for fashion photographers in her native Turkey before moving to New York and becoming a photographer herself--so, people are a common subject for her. But her latest series Unknown Texture is the realization of a lifelong fascination. (See more after the jump.) "I've always had an obsession for freckles," she says. "All of the men in my family are redheads with freckles." So she got up close an personal with her relatives' speckled skin, and that of her best friend--"but I consider her family." 

This is Gulcan's second time in Member Show. After finishing an International Center for Photography program, we saw her work in the May show Between You & Me, a series of portraits of mothers and daughters together. "For that one, I shot them in their homes, so it would be more natural."

Gulcan is working on opening a studio in Williamsburg, where she'll do portraits and other commercial work. "That's really what I've been working on lately, is opening the studio," she says. "The business plan, finding a space, it's a lot." We're quite confident she'll make it all happen.

Now hit the jump for those photos.

 

 -- Layla Schlack

MEMBER SHOW PREVIEW // Chris O'Neal: Making dreams (and nightmares) come true

Artist Chris O’Neal is literally making his dreams a reality. One of his pieces, part of a series of three dream-inspired drawings, will be on display as part of this week’s Member Group Show. Wonder what a psychoanalyst would have to say about a sharp-fanged dog with a head shrouded in pink? Us too.

Chris's body of work runs the gamut from flyers, logos, type and websites. He even has plans to produce a limited-run of posters and t-shirts in an 3rd Ward screenprinting class. He's also taking classes in business plan writing and wine tasting.

Bottomline: by the time the Member Show's over, Chris will be a regular Brooklyn Renaissance Man -- drawing his entrepeneurial dreams under the warm buzz of a Syrah.

-- Cara Cannella

MEMBER SHOW PREVIEW // Beril Gulcan: Home at 3rd Ward

When Beril Gulcan first moved to New York, she heard about a place in Brooklyn where folks creatin' things could all hang out. Bonus: that place also gave away free bikes. As a photographer, Gulcan found herself immediately drawn to 3rd Ward.

Her sources of inspiration? Other than her Hasselblad camera: watching documentaries, immersing herself in the work of Irving Penn and Alice O'Malley, and meeting interesting people. Being surrounded by creative doers is the key to her productivity, she says, and advises prospective or new members to “Just hang out at 3rd Ward. You’ll be surrounded by creativity. A lot of inspiration will follow.”

Gulcan's most recent creation, ''Between You and Me,'' is a portrait-based project built around the intimacy and distance between mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, and siblings. That work will be on display Friday at the 3rd Ward Member Group Show.

So come raise a glass to Beril and her fellow exhibiting members! It’ll be good for you, as she knows well after getting “a little drunk” (and having a blast) at a recent Wine: For Your Health! course.

-- Cara Cannella

MEMBER SHOW PREVIEW // Bernard Vauzanges' handmade wooden clock

One day, 3rd Ward member Bernard Vauzanges was sitting in his apartment listening to the tick-tock of an old grandfather clock he'd inherited when he thought, “How does it work?”

After a few months of research, Vauzanges, an architect and furniture-maker, decided to build his own clock here in 3rd Ward’s wood shop -- taking advantage of the newly-acquired scroll-saw to craft all those intricate gears and other parts.

Vauzanges’ clock is completely open, allowing you to see its every motion. Oh right, it’s also made entirely out of wood. Some people have guessed that he created some of its parts using a laser cutter. Nope. This masterpiece is 100% hand-made.

You can see Vauzanges' clock in action and watch the gears turn this Friday from 7-10pm at the first ever 3rd Ward Member show. Admission's free, and in addition to Vauvanges’ amazing creation you can check out excellent work by some other serious 3rd Ward talent.

-- John Ruscher