CT Valley Camera Club Hosts Art School Event In Old Lyme

From CVCC: The guest speaker at the Monday, December 3 meeting of the Connecticut Valley Camera Club (CVCC) will be Assistant Dean of the Hartford Art School and professional photographer, Robert Calafiore, who will give a talk titled, “Abstract Photography from the 70s to the Present”. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Lymes’ Senior Center, 26 Town Woods Rd., Old Lyme, Conn. All are welcome. There is no admission charge.

The talk will be focused on contemporary photography from the 70's to the present. It will focus on the notion that great artists are creative critical thinkers and that the best work starts with or develops from strong concepts. Calafiore will draw on examples by such artists as John Brinton Hogan and Meghann Riepenhoff, as well as share examples of his own work followed by a Q & A session.

Robert Calafiore employs a hand-built pinhole camera to create large scale one-of-a-kind c-prints. The subject matter, currently either select pieces from a family collection of ordinary glassware or the nude male figure, is placed within a larger construction, a constructed stage set. It is then transformed by the unique recording characteristics of the camera's wide angle, the extended exposure, and the light sensitive paper's recording abilities. Calafiore manipulates the still life to control the results; altering the saturation, color, density and translucency of specific areas. His interest in process, traditional materials, and the reaction between light and chemistry, as well as the personal and universal stories told through every day objects and intimate relationships, drives the work in his studio practice. Elevating the ordinary to the extraordinary is the primary motivator. No digital tools are ever used.

Calafiore was born in New Britain, Connecticut to Italian immigrants. Both his early childhood and young adult experiences have played a significant role in shaping his interests and practice. He received his MFA in Photography from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his BFA in Photography from Hartford Art School. Currently he is exhibiting his work nationally and internationally. Calafiore recently was awarded a Connecticut Artist Fellowship Grant for 2018. Calafiore’s work can be viewed on his website at www.robertcalafiore.com

Image via Shuttershock