artist-IN-RESIDENCE
July 9 – 25, 2024
Jonathan Gitelson
Jonathan Gitelson received his MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago in 2004 and is a Professor of Art and Design at Keene State College in NH. He works in a variety of mediums that include photography, artist books, video, installation, and public art. Jonathan is a member of the Cake Photography Collective and his work has been exhibited at institutions throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe including MASS MoCA, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and Galerie f5,6 in Munich.
Jonathan has received public commissions from the Chicago Transit Authority, the deCordova Sculpture Park, For Freedoms, and more, and his artwork is in the permanent collection of numerous institutions, including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Fidelity Investment Collection. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, Art in America and Art New England. Jonathan’s recent project, Sonic Blanket, received grant funding from the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arts Council of Windham County, and a Keene State College Faculty Development Grant.
Artist Statement
I plan to spend my residency creating and editing photographs for my new photographic series, “The Sky for the Forest” (a reference to the expression, “cannot see the forest for the trees”). This series is based on photographs taken from the perspective of looking up through tree canopies from below. The project is a metaphor for the way the immediacy of everyday anxieties can distract one from viewing the bigger picture.
The images created from these photographs are abstractions created by digitally removing the leaves and branches, leaving only small abstract patches of sky that show through the leaf cover. I am very early in the process; I’ve spent the past year photographing several hundred source images in preparation for a period of intense editing. I envision the final pieces as abstract forms that do not appear photographic at first glance.
The process of creating these images is very labor intensive, properly masking the trees is slow and tedious (but I love it). Each image can take up to 40 hours of work. Some of the ways I’m considering printing these include large prints (approximately 40”x90”), smaller screen prints, darkroom contact prints based on transparencies, and as pages in an artist book.
I plan to spend my residency creating new source photographs, spending long hours editing in front of my computer, and experimenting with scale, design, and potentially, medium.
Community Engagement
