The Art Institute of Portland Gallery presents “In House”, an exhibition of photography from our own Photography Department faculty. Six different visions through the lens see the trail of manifest destiny, conversations among tribal trees, an architectural of sweep bone, utopian community building, an intensive purity of expression, and a past process drawn into a digital future.

Featuring works by Alexis Abrams, David Brunn, Russ Dodd, Shawn Linehan, Paul Thacker, and Julie Verdini.

Alexis Abrams is an arts educator and documentary photographer, currently based in Portland, Oregon. Her recent work looks at the Western United States from an Easterly vantage point, drawing out the sense of promise and purpose invested in the geologies and histories by two centuries of romantic frontierism. Most recently, Abrams’ images have been featured in exhibits at the Black American West Museum in Denver, CO, and published in The Elements of Photography by Angela Faris-Belt.

David Brunn’s wide-ranging career has allowed him to become an expert in all aspects of photography. He is currently working on the development of a modern process daguerreotype using the traditional silver plated copper and incorporating digital pigment printing in pursuit of the correct density and exposure for a contemporary "mirror with a memory". Brunn’s work is included in many public and private collections including the George Eastman House, Apple, and the Portland Art Museum.

Russ Dodd, a native of Colorado and transplanted to the Pacific Northwest 30 years ago, is a painter, illustrator, printmaker, and photographer. His current body of work stems from a curiosity for the comparative anatomy of canines. As a serious dog trainer and student of canine behavior, Dodd found himself accumulating a variety canine skulls and utilizes photography as an avenue to explore the architecture of the bones. Dodd's fine art prints and paintings are in numerous private collections as well as art museums including the Portland Art Museum and the George Eastman House Museum of Photography.

Shawn Linehan is a North Carolinian native, who now calls Portland, Oregon her home. Her photography focuses on organic farming, sustainable businesses, and eco-friendly subjects as a means to examine habits of consumption in the community and in her own life. Linehan's career in the arts has included stints as an elementary school art teacher, commercial photographer, and Graphics Specialist at specialty lens manufacturer LensBaby.

Paul Thacker lives and works in his north-light studio on his Sauvie Island farm. From behind the lens he strives to home in on the primary elements of a subject, to listen to the core resonance of a composition and to essentially "get out of the way" of the truth of the moment. Thacker began as a professional photographic printmaker he has built a successful career in documentary photography, commercial work and editorial portraiture. In October 2011, Paul will travel as an invited guest lecturer to Photo District News' Photo Plus Expo 2011 in New York City.

Julie Verdini is originally an East Coaster transplanted many years ago to live in and photograph the majestic Pacific Northwest. Verdini’s preferred subjects are the modern landscape, processes of healing, narration and symbology often binding these elements together in her photography of trees. Verdini has worked as a camera technician under award-winning camera engineer Bernie O’Doherty as well as an assistant to Fredrick Goodich ASC, a Senior Lecturer at AFI.

When: August 4 – August 27, 2011
Opening Reception
Thursday, August 4, 6-8pm

Where: The Art Institute of Portland
1122 NW Davis Street

Contact: Caitlin Moore
cahmoore@aii.edu
503/382.4843

Alexis Abrams Dad, Yosemite National Park, 2010, 13" x 19"