Conference 2005: “Proof”
- Download Conference Program [PDF, 4.93MB]
What is the role of a conference theme? As Chair of this year’s Society for Photographic Education Mid-Atlantic conference, I asked myself that question last year. Almost immediately, Proof came to mind—Proof, a word so multi-referential yet, common and familiar to all photographers. It“s meaning “the evidence or argument that compels the mind to accept an assertion as true.” Through out photography’s history, the camera has been valued both as a recorder of reality and a fabricator of new information—a device capable of making visible the invisible. Photography provides us with visual documents of what is past and absent, what is personal and private, and what is fictional and non as well as discourse about reality and representation. Photography presents us with Proof to be pondered, discussed and debated as evidence, representation, fact, verification, confirmation, and trace.
Although I serve as Chair for this conference, many people have assisted in bringing it to fruition. I quickly discovered the incredible capabilities of SPE-MA’s board members. I am indebted to our Chair Colette Copeland, whose experience and expertise proved invaluable to a fledgling organizer and for organizing our portfolio reviewers, video screenings and grad presenters.Thank you Colette! Thank you to Sonya Lawyer, who has done a Herculean task creating and maintaining our website, organizing the conference exhibition, and designing its fabulous card. Thank you to Nancy Breslin for writing and mailing the correspondence to our members. Thank you to Lynn Estomin for coordinating our student volunteers. Thank you to Anita Allyn for handling registration, assisting with the video screenings and overseeing the design and printing of our program. A special thanks to Anita’s student at The College of New Jersey,Wendy Hu for designing our program. And thank you to all student volunteers, without you we’d definitely have to clone ourselves!
Enormous thanks to our Keynote Speaker, Gary Schneider and our Honored Educator, Sandy Skoglund for taking time out of their hectic schedules to join us and present their thoughts on Proof. Thank you to all our presenters and portfolio reviewers, who have also given generously of their time to share their images, words and insights with us.
Thank you to our sponsors for their continued support of SPE and the Mid-Atlantic Region: Karen Sweet with Kodak, Max Zweig with Penn Camera Exchange, Marlaine Noel with Sprint Systems, Stacie Errera with Tamron, Richard Newman with Calumet Photo, Harris Fogel and the University of the Arts, and Patrick DelliBovi with Freestyle Photo. To our raffle donators: Leslie Martin with Aperture, Inc for donating two of Gary Schneider’s Aperture publications, “Nudes” and Tricia LaFauci with Focal Press for donating two of Martin Evening’s book Adobe Photoshop CS 2 for Photographers.
Lastly, thank you to my Department Chair, Harold Linton for his assistance and support with this conference, to Paula Crawford, our Gallery Director for her assistance with the Proof exhibition and to Soloman Wondimu for his installation expertise and finally thanks to all my colleagues in the Art and Visual Technology Department at George Mason for your continued support.
Let’s process and proof!
Peggy Feerick
Conference Chair, SPE Mid-Atlantic Region
