An email from Elaine

Something very exciting happened since my post Unexpected Developments on 31st July.

Unbelievably, one day out of the blue, I received an email from a lady named Elaine.

Elaine was doing a bit of family history research and typed the name of her aunt "Elsie May Baills" into her computer search engine.  This led her to this very blog site where she found not only a photo of her aunt but also a contact (aka me) who was actively looking for family members who might be interested enough to claim and care for this photo and others.

After making sure we had the right family, it turns out Elaine was the perfect recipient/guardian for the photos.  We were both excited to find one of the photographs I had was of her father as a small child (see above).  Elaine already possessed a copy of this photo, but hers was too damaged to repair.

It is such a good feeling to be able to return these photographs to someone with such a close connection to them.

My thanks must also go to Vicki in Iceland (who turns out to be a bit of a genealogical whizz) for all her help in working out this puzzle.

Turns out Elaine was only a car trip away from me - unlike Vicki, who did all her wonderful detective work from the other side of the globe.

Feature Artist - PHILIP ANDERSON

Philip Anderson 

is a photographer based in the United States of America.

Philip has taught English at the university level in Finland and the United States.  He has taught English to adult immigrants and continues to teach English in the K-12 system.  His photography has been in juried exhibitions at the DeVos Art Museum in Marquette, Michigan; Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota; The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado; Concordia University in Saint Paul, Minnesota; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota Center for Photography, and Minneapolis Photo Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Brighton Photo Fringe; University of Sussex, Brighton, Great Britain and others.

I am very glad to be able to include Philip's work in this project. Philip's contribution for the  exhibition is a copy of his book
 "The Changing Face of a Nation".

In correspondence I asked Philip if the book was for handling or for display, his eloquent reply says it all really:

"My book is for handling. The preciousness of my book isn't in the materials it is made out of; it's the personal stories, the collaboration with such good people, and the sense of accomplishment I felt in being able to carry out such a project."

A detailed explanation about Philip's project appears below:

This was a project that my adult English students and I took up. They wrote a story about their lives based on an example I had created.  They made the story fit their lives, and we helped each other refine their writing.  I made some photographs of the students using an old Yashica twin lens reflex camera. I made a few mistakes by metering for 100 Iso film when I had 400 Iso and then others when processing it.  The project culminated in a published book with a forward by Cate Vermeland and piece about language that I wrote.  The book's title is as written above.

A Word to the Wise

I am probably preaching to the converted here and I know it's very early to start talking about delivery of works but I just want to point out

 - long before people start compiling their artworks -

when thinking about the structure and materials for your book please bear in mind possible strictures with postal carriers or customs importation for materials such as plant/organic materials, bones, metals etc. etc.

I would hate to think of anyone's books languishing in customs or artists suffering the frustration of artworks being refused delivery. 

If anyone has any customs or postal carrier experiences/knowledge to share it would be fabulous to hear from you so others may be aware to avoid any related pitfalls.