The Texas Photographic Society recently announced that Odessa College photography instructor Gwen Davies won the First Place Award for her entry, “Stitched Memories,” in its 2023 By Hand: Alternative Processes Competition.

The exhibit, consisting of 50 images, opened at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Abilene Dec. 7, 2023, and will run through Feb. 3, 2024.

“It is very special to win this award,” Davies said in a news release. “While I have won awards and recognition in the past, never first place. So, to win it for a project I have put so much time and work into is amazing.”

For the competition, which was open to artists of all levels internationally, “676 images were submitted by 121 artists, which meant the selection process was extremely competitive — around a 7 percent chance of being selected for exhibition,” said Juror Christine Z. Anderson, acclaimed artist, educator writer and editor.

When asked what was her inspiration to create the piece, the OC instructor said, “‘Stitched Memories’ is a contemplation on how our environment, physical, social, political, health, etc. impacts our understanding of our identity. This project grew out of a large project reflecting on how the COVID-19 pandemic was impacting us. Quilting is a memory keeping device, often created to celebrate or commemorate significant life events and these squares are a reflection of that. Each square is made from 1-inch strips cut from one-of-a-kind Lumen prints. They are then pieced and stitched together in the Log Cabin Quilt Pattern. Half of each square is fixed and half is unfixed, meaning it will continue to change over time.”

“Stitched Memories” is a piece in transition which has taken years to create and is not finished, according to the artist. The images used in the squares were created in 2020 and 2021, and she began stitching them in the spring or summer of 2022. Each square takes about 14 hours of labor from piecing to sewing. Currently she has roughly 35 squares completed, of which 25 will be on display at the exhibit in Abilene. She added that she is constantly making additional squares, and she curates a display of squares based on the requirements for each time it is displayed.

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Entering the glass doors of the Harvard Ed Portal gallery on Nov. 29, one could hear traditional Chinese folk music permeating the atmosphere of the room.

Yun Thwaits, a graduate of the Harvard Extension School, opened her newest exhibit, “A Journey in Images: The Photography of Yun Thwaits,” showcasing her life’s journey through photography. Her exhibit included stunning natural landscapes, mystical wildlife, and snapshots of everyday ordinary street life.

Thwaits was raised in Inner Mongolia, China, and immigrated to the United States where she worked as a Commercial Loan Approval Officer for Bank of America. After working for 27 years, she retired in 2017 in pursuit of her lifelong dream and hobby, photography. After decades of corporate burnout, Thwaits’ interest in photography led her to take photography courses at Harvard Extension School. Thwaits’ passion for photography enabled her to travel across the world photographing wildlife and landscapes, traveling as far as Australia, South Africa, Europe, China, and Japan.

The gallery was structured with white walls that transformed the small gallery space into a portal full of Thwaits’ golden-framed photographs.

“When I was thinking about the design of the exhibition, I also wanted to take visitors on a journey through the exhibition itself,” said Brian Hone, the exhibit’s gallery curator.

Many of Thwaits’ photographs featured were still-lifes, including a photograph titled “Harvard Montage,” which depicted a translucent glass pane with two halves of different faces in front of what looks to be one of Harvard Yard’s gates. Similarly, “Weirdness at MIT,” a black-and-white photograph of the MIT Strata building, gazed up at the geometric forms on the side of the building. Thwaits’ still-life photography enticed viewers into her world of ambiguity, inducing one’s mind into a state of mystery and intrigue.

Furthermore, the gallery’s deliberate use of grayish-purple backgrounds behind gold-decorated frames, as well as the pairings of solid black frames with black-and-white photographs, mirrored the marriage between gallery background, frame, and photograph.

Thwait’s gallery was grouped thematically, with certain black-and-white photographs assigned in one area of the gallery, drawing distinction from her landscape photographs that highlighted natural viewsheds and animated wildlife in their native habitats. For instance, “Rolling a Fireball,” a snapshot perfectly aligned with an elephant’s tusk at the border of the glowing setting sun that appears to be “rolled” by the elephant, is featured at the very end of the gallery walk-through, compared to some of Thwaits’ landscapes positioned at the start that picture everything from mountains peaks beside sapphire-blue river deltas to smooth mounds of impeccably white snow.

“I like almost every category: landscape and wildlife and even street photography,” Thwaits said.

Thwaits’ photography lured viewers into fantastical realms that she captures from her snapshots of beauty found in the mundane to her photographs of the majestic.

“It takes a lot of patience. Many times you have to go to a site, you have to wait til the lighting is good,” said Alan Thwaits, her husband of 28 years.

Alan went on to comment on Thwaits’ extreme dedication to photography.

“For instance, some of the birds [she photographed], she had to wait for hours for the birds to come, or for them to take off right. There’s a lot of serendipity involved in taking good photography.”

Thwaits’ journey with photography has driven her journey with life, revealing her timeless experiences with nature and beautiful sights that have touched her heart.

As Mei Zhang, a good friend of Thwaits from the Boston Chinese Photographers Association, said: “this [exhibit] is just an accumulation of her knowledge and hard work.”

Ultimately, Thwaits’ exhibit is the embodiment of her journey with photography, as well as her journey through life so far — from her appreciation of unnoticed everyday sights in city life as a corporate loan officer to her love for grandiose and elegant forms in nature as a traveling photographer. Thwaits’ photography is a testament to her life and her journey through it, hence the exhibit’s fitting title: “A Journey in Images.”

Looking forward, Thwaits hopes to continue traveling the world alongside her husband with her camera in hand. In particular, Thwaits and her husband are looking forward to their trip to Japan in March.

“Through the lens, you can see the different world,” said Thwaits.

This story originally aired in the Dec. 10, 2023 episode of Inside Appalachia.

Roanoke photographer Chelse Warren is documenting Roanoke’s thriving hardcore scene under the name “Openhead Takes Photos.”

The Virginia city’s burgeoning DIY music scene is growing, based around Flying Panther, a venue that doubles as a skate shop. Its two-day festival called The Floor is Gone featured music, a local zine, an underground book distro, skateboarders and a local punk podcast. Warren was in the middle of it all, shooting photographs and dodging flying bodies in the mosh pit.

Inside Appalachia Host Mason Adams reached out to learn more.

The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.

Adams: Chelse Warren, thank you so much for coming on Inside Appalachia today.

Warren: Thank you for having me. I’m happy to be here. 

Adams: For people who’ve never been, can you set the scene and describe a Flying Panther show?

Warren: Flying Panther is a warehouse and skate shop in northwest Roanoke. The owners, who are fantastic, decided to turn the warehouse area into a mini-ramp and a venue. It’s all ages, they allow anyone to come. I’ve never felt so safe before at a venue. You go there, [and] everyone’s there for the right reasons. It’s a sense of camaraderie, and it’s always a fun time.

It’s mostly punk and hardcore music, but they’ve had country artists, they’ve had bluegrass artists, they have a goth night every month. So you can pretty much guarantee a full spectrum of music at some point.

During the month at Flying Panther, there are a ton of different people from all walks of life that come to shows. They’re there every show. You have your alternative and your punk kids, but you also have what I would describe as normal people that you wouldn’t expect to see at these shows. It’s nice to all inhabit the same space for music.

Adams: When I first went to that show, there’s people jumping around, the singers jumping around and you’re right there in the middle of it shooting photos. What’s that like?

Warren: I’ve seen a trashcan thrown, I’ve seen chairs, I’ve seen a couch pushed in the pit, rolling chairs, pillows thrown — you name it, I’ve seen it. That’s something that I always have to take into account, is I’m constantly aware of my surroundings. I’m looking at my peripherals.

That is hard, because I have to focus a manual lens and plan my routes. I’m very, very lucky to have the vast majority of those people always looking out for me, and I find comfort in that. I’ve had a lot of close calls. On day two of The Floor Is Gone. I got tackled. I saw it, and it was just so fast happening that I couldn’t move. I came like an inch away from banging my head on the floor. But my camera went up, it’s fine, I’m fine. And I just got up and laughed it off. Because that’s just part of hardcore and punk. It’s just something to expect.

Adams: So what’s your strategy when you go into these shows, when you walk in and see the stage and crowd there? How do you approach that as a photographer? It seemed like you had a system.

Warren: Yes. I try my best to get there early, which doesn’t always work, because I’m usually late. I plan my route as best as I possibly can. Within reason, I try my best to do one side and then the other side. I’ve had to perfect taking a photo as I’m walking right across the stage. I’ve gotten some of my best photos just from doing that.

I mentioned the focusing thing — like, okay, I want to go there. Next I need to focus my lens to that point. So when I get there, it’s in focus, and I can get the photos. But because it is like punk and hardcore, you never know when someone’s going to jump or do something else bizarre that you want to document. I try really, really hard to always get jumps, because those are what the people in the band want. I try to listen to the music and try to map out, do I think they’re going to jump? I may be right once out of every five times that they might jump, but I still try my best to get it no matter what.

Adams: How did you get into this culture?

Warren: My friend in probably sixth grade showed me a band on Napster, if that tells you my age. Which spiraled to another band, and then another band, and just kind of snowballed after that. I would say I was around like 15 when I started going to DIY shows that really helped broaden my spectrum and idea of heavy music. And it all just branched into like hardcore punk.

I suppose what really fed the fire and started it all in the early 2000s was my friends playing music. Watching them play music and doing what they love inspired me, who already loved taking photos, to start documenting shows. DIY is so, so important, and it’s important to document it so that it lasts longer than us, and people can look back and see a history on how things were.

Adams: What keeps you in this? You talked about getting tackled at a show, and that’s a deal breaker for a lot of people. What keeps you coming back? What keeps you so engaged? 

Warren: It’s just exciting. It’s exhilarating. It pushes me and my art to new levels every time, because no situation, even if it’s at the same venue, is the same. Even if I’ve shot the same band five times. It’s been different every single time, and I just love the music, and I love our scene here, and it’s important to me to make sure that it’s documented. 

Adams: You’ve been doing this for awhile and you’ve shot all these bands. What have you learned from all this? 

Warren: It’s definitely pushed me past my limits of what I thought was possible. Several years ago, my goal was, I want to shoot bigger bands, bigger venues. I just took pictures of [bassist] Victor Wooten at the Jefferson Center this past weekend. That was amazing and incredible that I got the opportunity to do that, but it’s nothing like DIY music. I really think DIY seems like a critical part to communities. It offers a safe space for people who feel like they don’t fit in elsewhere, or feel like they have no friends like them, a space where they can feel loved, welcomed and accepted, and witness music that they love. It’s really important.

Many camera companies do charitable outreach work, including sponsoring photo contests, offering scholarships, and doing grassroots projects. Canon does a bit of everything, and the company’s work with the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts is a significant way for the camera company to support the next generation of photographers and videographers.

The Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts provides hands-on opportunities for Kentucky’s talented high school students to hone their creative talents and add new skills to their repertoire. Students include dancers, actors, instrumental and vocal musicians, writers, future architects, and most importantly to Canon, visual artists.

PetaPixel spoke with one of the campers from the most recent GSA summer program for visual arts, Eva Carias from Louisville.

Carias was a natural candidate for the program, having been interested in photography since childhood.

“I have always been in love with photography since I was little. My mom would let me claim her old Canon cameras as mine, as I would take pictures of everything I saw. I used to just see it as a hobby and something I couldn’t do as I would be teased at school for always carrying a camera around,” Carias tells PetaPixel. “It wasn’t until I took a Photo 1 class my sophomore year of high school that I fell back in love with the art and realized that I could follow my passion and potentially do it for a living.”

The GSA program is an intensive three-week summer program, and each day is full of valuable learning opportunities for budding artists. As part of the film and photography program, Carias says her daily morning studio work was focused on photography, and her afternoon classes were centered on videography.

On some days, the students would enjoy a performance following dinner. The performances would be from one of the other art programs, so it could be a musical performance or a dance workshop. Other evenings include post-dinner studio work, sometimes until 11 PM. Carias says her night studio time allowed her to finish up on her homework, whether it was editing photos or working on her documentary assignment.

“GSA is truly a bonding experience as you spend all day every day with students who are equally as passionate about art as you. The bonds that you create during these three weeks last a lifetime,” she explains, adding that she still talks daily to the friends she made at GSA and plans to spend time with them over the holidays.

The GSA is currently accepting applicants for the 2024 program, and Carias cannot recommend it enough.

Driven to succeed and improve, Carias spends a lot of time taking photos of school sports. “I started taking pictures of every sports team at my high school, learning and growing with each sport I photographed. I started to work very closely with the athletic department and was able to take photos at more than five state championship games. I also was then able to help not only my school’s athletic department, but I was able to help my school’s marketing department as I would go to events and help take promotional pictures to use for prospective students and parents. I was also able to work with another local high school and photograph the biggest football rivalry in the state two years in a row, as well as have the opportunity to take photos and become the social media manager for the boys’ wrestling team.”

Carias says that her experience playing sports has helped her with her photography. “As an athlete myself, I was able to use my knowledge of how each sport worked and use it to decide where I wanted to stand, what angle, and what shutter speed I needed in order to achieve the perfect shot.”

As a junior, the year before attending GSA, Carias branched out into portrait photography. Her friends helped by being willing models, and she also shot senior pictures for her friends who were about to graduate.

“I love how taking senior photos is a little more relaxed and at a slower pace than sports. I enjoy being able to have conversations with my clients and be able to capture genuine emotions. Sports and senior portraits are my favorite as I am able to capture people’s true emotions. I love being able to notice the small details like the ring a senior is wearing or the reaction of a fan in the stands after their team scored a touchdown or just won the game,” Carias says.

“I love being able to showcase how I work and function just by publishing my work. I love how I am able to see the world so differently just by zooming in or out of your camera or even just by changing the angle and showcasing that to others.”

While she has done considerable work to learn and improve independently, Carias says the GSA program was highly beneficial. She was able to continue to grow as a photographer and learn much more about filmmaking.

“I was able to learn about the rule of thirds, RAW images, masks, and different editing styles, backing up photos to an external hard drive, the importance of clearing your SD card after different shoots, the importance of background knowledge, how to edit, how to light an interview properly, and what a Kelvin is and why is it used during filmmaking,” she explains. “The most important lesson I learned was about the importance of telling a story in both photography and throughout films.”

Using her improved skills, Carias says that she can show more details from a sporting event and tell a more cohesive, compelling story through her images. “I am able to notice my surroundings and realize that the small details will help me tell a story and show people why they should care and why my photo or film is important.”

Currently a senior, Carias is preparing for the next step in her educational journey. She plans to attend college and major in sports marketing and communications, and intends to volunteer for her school’s athletic department, “specifically in the media team.”

“I want to be able to take photos for their sports teams as well as help with any promotional shoots for the college. I plan to take multiple internships similar to the ones that I already have had,” the photographer says. “I’ve job shadowed and had an internship with a photographer from the University of Louisville as well as my high school’s sports photographer. I hope that I will be able to have an internship with an NFL, NBA, or any other professional sports photographer. I also would like to venture out and have an internship or job shadow with a concert photographer and get more involved in the entertainment industry. Ultimately, I want to be able to use my skills and love for photography and videography and use them to promote a team, person, product, or company.”

Eva Carias is well on her way to achieving her artistic and professional dreams thanks largely to her experience at the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts. Carias is active on Instagram and she also has a general portfolio and a collection of work made during her GSA program.

She was far from the only student in the program, and many of them have positive things to say about their time in the program.

“Thank you so much for generously allowing us to use your cameras and lenses. Getting to use professional equipment allowed me to explore my ideas and familiarize myself with essential skills in film and photography. It was amazing to experiment with such high-quality tools and my growth at GSA wouldn’t have been the same without them,” one student told Canon.

Another added, “Thank you so much for all you have donated for us to use here at Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts! It truly was a privilege to get to use these cameras and lenses. It gave us an opportunity to capture great moments around Kentucky — a county fair, a walk downtown, the tracks at Keeneland, and more. Having access to these cameras, and learning so much about them in just three weeks, gave each of us great experience that we can use in our careers in the future. I had an amazing time at GSA and it wouldn’t have been the same without the help of the equipment that Canon provided to us. Thanks again!”

A common thread throughout many of the quotes is that most campers do not have regular access to professional-grade equipment, which is unsurprising given that cameras are very expensive and most high school students are not flush with cash. The opportunities to not only learn from professionals in the industry but also gain experience working with high-end gear is invaluable.

“Thanks for all the gear you sent to GSA. At home, I don’t have any professional camera gear accessible for me so it was difficult to get a grasp of more modern cameras. The gear you sent helped me understand cameras so much better, finally being able to grasp the differences between lenses and aperture. Again, thank you so much for sending this gear. It helped to further my knowledge on this art form that I love so much,” adds another student.

Each camper’s portfolio is available on the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts website: Session One and Session Two.

Image credits: All images courtesy of Eva Carias