Beyond the Lens XII: A juried photography Exhibition

An exhibition of photographic works in all disciplines.

Featuring photographs by the following artists:

Ruth Ann Bauers	Coleen Breen	Timothy Michael Burns	Christine Casten
Ross Clark	Bill Coatney	Molly Coatney	Tricia Coyle
Michael Daft	Darrel Eaton	Steve Femmer	Julie Ferguson
Susan Garrett	Marcia Gay	Rich Gordon	Beth Goyer
Mary Alice Gunsten	Douglas G. Hart	Lois Ingrum	Pat Jackson
Tom Kennedy	Kelly Kloda	Greg Kluempers	Gordon Kummer
Wanda Parsons	Jazmine Poblette	Ginger Repke	Holly Ross
Jennifer Sarti	Linda Schellenger	Christy Schneller	Christopher Seep
Joyce Sheldon	Steve Stuller	Bill Tayon	Carl Valle
Barbara Zucker

Beyond the Lens XII
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE EXHIBITION ALBUM

See the past 11 Beyond the Lens exhibits through our Past Exhibits page!

1st Place "Cuban Refugee Raft" by Susan Garrett	Second Place "Antarctica I" by Carl Valle	Third Place "Pagoda" by Barbara Zucker	People's Choice Award "Sunrise in Yellowstone" by Gordon Kummer
Honorable Mention: "Ancient Books Missouri Botantical Garden Library, 2017" by Michael Daft	Honorable Mention "Saguara Cactus" by Steve Femmer	Honorable Mention "Steel Waves" by Christine Casten

Juror's Statement:
I’d like to thank Sarah and Framations for giving me the honor to juror this year’s Beyond the Lens XII: A Photography Exhibition. The opportunity to view and contemplate photography created by many Artists in the region was a great pleasure and privilege. I was impressed by the amount of work which was submitted for the show, continually putting your work out into the world is drastically essential to having a sustainable creative career. I applaud everyone that sent work into this show you all have a boldness that many artists may not grasp. If your work was not selected this time, please continue to work with your passions, please keep to putting your work out into the world, I guarantee there is an audience for your creative endeavors, and there will always be a place for conversation around art.

I’d like to address the selection process. As an Art consumer, I consider craft and technique, presentation, and subject matter in the context of living at this time in history to be paramount. When viewing this year’s photographs I was interested in how images were created through the lens, processed and finally printed. What has the artist chosen as subject matter, is it surprising, is it revealing, does it allow me to take pause? Has the artist used the camera adjustments correctly not detract the viewer's experience? How has the photographer used post-production to enhance or hurt the visual elements within the frame? Did the artist compose the subject in a way that can hold the viewer attention? And finally, how is the image presented needs to be considered, what media was used and what framing solution makes the most conceptual and aesthetical sense?

The works selected for awards are all photographs that stuck out almost immediately for me. They all share common traits in excellent craft with camera control and post-production printing methods. I enjoyed their clean framing presentation that allowed time for contemplation without distraction. Each photograph was formal in construction that allowed the viewer to read the composition slowly. These subtle visual formal qualities were a welcomed reprieve from a chaotic and saturated world, but these images are about that very same world with a global refugee crisis, warming oceans, and a diverse cultural heritage. These are the types of images that just don’t tell you something; they allow a moment for you sit and ponder. ~David Johnson

Juror: David Johnson is an artist, educator, and curator based in St. Louis, MO. He received an MFA in Visual Art from Washington University in St. Louis in 2007 and earned his BFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Photography from Texas Christian University. In 2011, David was awarded the Great Rivers Visual Arts Award from the Gateway Foundation. This biennial award culminated with his 2012 exhibition institutional etiquette and strange overtones at the Contemporary Art Museum in Saint Louis. His photographs have been exhibited internationally, including the Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis, Mildred Lane Kemper Museum, Fort Wayne Museum of Art and National Building Museum in Washington D.C. His work can be found in the collection at The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. Don’t Take Pictures, the Humble Arts Foundation, and Lenscratch have featured his work online. David has curated exhibitions for Center of Creative Arts, Paul Artspace and the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum. Currently, Johnson is a Lecturer at Saint Louis University and Washington University in St. Louis.