Lowell Sun just ran a story about my show

Maxine, the Loading Dock Gallery curator, just told me about this story in today's Lowell Sun, in the "Steppin' Out" section. This definitely ups the anxiety a bit. I actually haven't been anxious that much, but something like this means a lot of people I don't know will pick up the paper, read this story and show up with their critical eye, so there's that voice in me that says "friends will say your work is nice, but strangers can be honest if it's not", so I'm really hoping people enjoy the show. I've been very busy getting ready. And of course the whole crew at the Loading Dock Gallery have been busy as well. I'm pretty excited about tomorrow night. Everyone is invited to the show at 122 Western Avenue in Lowell. The reception is Friday night, from 6-9pm. And I still need to figure out food!

If you're on Facebook, you could put it on your calendar here

Imagining Past and Present: a Photo Retrospective by Jeffrey Engel

Not too pretentious a title hopefully! I'll have a solo show from March 3 through 28 at the Loading Dock Gallery in Lowell, MA. An opening reception will be held on Friday March 5th from 6 to 9pm. Some of the work that will be in the show will cover a wide range in terms of age as well as media. I'll have photos from the early '90s, and I'll have recent Polaroid emulsion lift pieces. There is no over-arching theme other than most of the pieces tend to be landscapes or environmental photos.

I'll also have a few hand-made silver-gelatin prints available. I made these at Bill LaPete's lab in South Boston. Bill is a master printer, a genius at his craft, and he'll impart some secrets you never learn in art school if you use his darkroom.

Ballad of Life, Opening Reception

The opening reception was amazing. I couldn't have imagined a larger turnout. This isn't about bragging, this is about my bewilderment and being absolutely grateful for the fact that between 200 and 300 people were interested in checking out our work between 2 and 4 pm last Sunday. In reality, there were already about 50 people in the gallery at 1:45.

In case you didn't know, I am in a group exhibition right now called The Ballad of Life. It closes February 29th. You can check it out on the third floor Contemporary Art Gallery located at, of all places, the Armenian Library & Museum of America in Watertown, MA.

360º VR Panospin™ of me talking to Erik Hansen in front of my work
Photo © 2008 Carlton SooHoo

I have six pieces in the show from an ongoing series I call Personal Mythology. However, for this show, I call this initial group of photos "What I Remember". The work is related to dreams and memories from childhood up to recent time. My focus is primarily on how we tend to romanticize and dramatize events, and sometimes treat dreams as real events as well. This mixture of dreams and events become real concepts to us and become a part of our personal lexicon, but more importantly personal mythology.

The name of our group is PhotoEmerge. It was founded by our curator Naveed Nour and officially began in early 2007 as a workshop in the business of photography. I'm proud to say I'm a member of the "first class" so-to-speak, as PhotoEmerge will continue as a group collaborative with old members leaving and new members renewing its existence.

Other members that also showed were Kate Russell-Jones, George Libbares, Jason Jedrusiak, Melanie Thornton and Marcus Stern.