Announcements
Join me April 25, 2024 from 6:30-9:30pm in Old Town San Diego for Medium Photo’s Community Pop-Up Fair. I’ll have books and prints available to view and acquire. Free to the public.
Marriott Courtyard Old Town
2435 Jefferson St, Old Town San Diego, CA
R. J. Kern will attend Medium Festival Community Pop-Up, April 25, 2024 from 6:30-9:30pm.
North Dakota Museum of Art acquired two works currently in Divine Animals at Veronique Wantz Gallery up through April 13, 2024. I am excited for these handmade works from my series The Best of the Best to be enjoyed by the public in its permanent collection thanks to patron Bruce Gjovig and curator Matt Wallace.
Installation view: Divine Animals at Veronique Wantz Gallery, salt print over archival pigment prints added to the permanent collection of the North Dakota Museum of Art (Grand Forks, ND).
Supreme Champion Chicken Male / Female Pairing, 2018 Minnesota State Fair, salt print over archival pigment print, 2019, Edition 2/5, 20 x 24 inches, from the series The Best of the Best.
Supreme Champion Llama Male / Female Pair, 2018 Minnesota State Fair, salt print over archival pigment print, 2019, Edition 2/5, 20 x 24 inches, from the series The Best of the Best.
What’s the best 68 cent investment?
Answer: a postage stamp on a hand-written thank you note!
We mastered this art in kindergarten, yet many have lost the skill. Grab a stamp and postcard and write (with your handwriting) someone that helped you recently.
This little reminder brought to you by my virtual workshop, Business Practices for Fine Art Photographers, hosted by Maine Media College, running April 2-18, 2024. I hope you can join me.
Empower your artistic journey with the essential skills needed to thrive in the competitive world of fine art photography with me. Gain invaluable insights on marketing strategies, licensing, contracts, pricing your work, and building a sustainable business model in this immersive and practical online course.
The workshop will be held in a live, online format on Zoom. Class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays 12-2:30 pm ET.
We will discuss how the 11 PILLARS of SUCCESS can help you sustain your creative practice. Over the six virtual classes (recordings made available), topics include:
ART | Lifecycle of projects: The Idea, The Planning, The Fun Part, and The Fermentation Process (April 2)
PROMO | Self-Promotion 101: Branding, Marketing, Newsletters, and Social Media (April 4)
PRINTS | Print Sales & Working with Galleries (April 4)
EXHIBITS | Exhibitions: From Coffee-Shops to Paid Museum Bookings (April 9)
BOOKS | Publishing Books (April 9)
GRANTS | Extending Support for your Creative Practice with Grants, Sponsorships, Commissions, and (Gasp!) Public Speaking (April 11)
COLLECTORS | On Delivering Value to Collectors (April 11)
PORTFOLIO REVIEWS | Identifying and Hitting Goals (April 16)
NUTS & BOLTS | The Nuts & Bolts of Staying Organized: Computer Stuff, Workflow, Hard Drives, and… Your Archive (April 16)
10 RULES | Ten Commandments to Fine Art Photographers on Business (April 18)
MENTAL GAME | Mastering Your Mental Game (April 18)
Can make a class? I got you. Recordings made available for attendees for 30 days :)
I’m excited to share work at the debut photography exhibition at Veronique Wantz Gallery (Minneapolis, MN), running March 8 - April 13, 2024. I’ll present highlights in a mini-retrospective format since 2012 with projects including: Divine Animals: The Bovidae; The Unchosen Ones; The Best of the Best; and my newest series, The Last Fair.
OPENING RECEPTION Friday, March 8th, 4-7PM, free and open to the public.
On Thursday Jan. 25 at 4:00 pm PT, I will offer an artist talk hosted by CWU Museum of Culture & Environment (MCE) discussing the process of composing the portraits for the exhibition of photography, The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral, and what we can learn by paying attention to the shifting landscapes of rural life. I promise a few photo bombs by chickens and barn cats.
I'll appear virtually but the talk will be held virtually and in-person. To attend, in person, come to room 104 in Dean Hall on the CWU campus (1200 Wildcat Way) and to attend virtually, register HERE >>
For questions, email museum@cwu.edu or call (509) 963-2313. The MCE is open Wednesday – Saturday from 10:00am - 4:00 PM.
Mable, Pastoral Study, 2020 from the series The Unchosen Ones.
Mable and Stella, Isanti County, Minnesota, 2020 from the series The Unchosen Ones.
Mable and Stella, Isanti County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 from the series The Unchosen Ones.
To kick off the new year, I'll share all the nuts and bolts of how I booked (in a matter of months) over 12 exhibitions for my photographic project, The Unchosen Ones. Traveling exhibitions support my creative practice, keep my books alive, and create predicable income.
Hosted by the Colorado Photographic Arts Center (CPAC), I’ll be presenting at PhotoVox January 2024, sharing answers to the following questions and more during this virtual event: Once your solo exhibition comes down, how do you keep the show on the road? What practical constraints make it easier to earn a “yes?” What does an exhibition proposal look like? What does a written agreement look like? What factors go into the decisions of exhibiting completed work in a space (framing, mounting, transporting)?
Webinar Fee: $10 (Free for CPAC members)
Preview of custom framing for touring exhibition.
Tonight is the longest night of the year in our home. Each day will bring more light until summer. I love this metaphor as I move through the remaining days of 2023, a time for rejuvenation and reflection. I appreciate health, friends, and family… and a good dose of humor. Cheers to 2024!
Year 13 of the Tomte series has arrived, offering a glimpse of our family antics. In this “lucky 13” year, an odd event occurred while traveling in Norway. We received a phone call after visiting a real tomte house: my wallet had been found before I knew I lost it! The location? In a bed with a dozen tomtes! The watchful creatures have picked up a few creative tricks: watching how to make culture boxes, embracing a Santa wishlist, battles with Lego Star Wars, football battles with the Pumpkin People (while embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion), while indulging in Mema’s holiday cookies! Ruby the beta fish— our newest edition to the family— tends to the alpha side when confronted by tomte. And even one has learned to fly!
From November 17-27, 2023, I will make available new work from my series, The Last Fair (read about the series here >>) Prints sized 9 x 11.5 inches are individually signed on verso, accompanied by a unique certificate of authenticity. For $50, you can include a hand-made polio by R. J. Kern!
Limited time to acquire prints from The Last Fair series— starting at $99!
Meet Blackjack. He’s not the smartest in his class, nor the best looking. Although, he can do an amazing impression of The Thinker with profound pondering. Enter the "Office Ten.” Office Tens make our work lives more interesting— they’re desires we fabricate, romanticize. I ask myself: What would this look like in the animal kingdom, specifically Highland cattle in northern Norway?
Balancing the 'real with the ideal' is one theme in my work which usually starts with a question. It might take me a year to create a photograph that hits this theme. I do a little happy dance on the way to the framers when I find it. Yes, this all goes through my head when selecting work for exhibition and sale.
Blackjack, archival pigment print mounted on dibond, 39 x 52 inches, Edition of 3 + AP
This week starts the “Great Minnesota Get Together” aka the Minnesota State Fair, a special place in my heart since my wife brought me there on a date in 2011. We enjoyed the animal and people watching and loved the creative activities building and fine arts exhibition. A few years ago we entered a friendly competition of entering the events. She won a blue ribbon for her pickles. And this year, I won mine.
R. J. Kern and Juror Kristine Heykants at the 112th Fine Arts Exhibition at the 2023 Minnesota State Fair with the First Place photograph.
I’m proud to share this blue ribbon (first place) photograph, Live Action Role Players, Blue Earth County Fair, Minnesota, 2022, at the 112th Fine Arts Exhibition at the 2023 Minnesota State Fair— the largest art exhibition in the state. Kristine Heykants, the photography juror, writes in her criteria statement:
I am looking for images that give witness to the breadth and depth of human experience in a way that is unexpected, with the desire to assemble a collection of images that represents photographic practice in Minnesota in 2023 in a holistic and inclusive way. Within the context of the State Fair where artists are limited to one entry, there is the added challenge of creating a statement or narrative in one image. I am excited to see pictures that make me want to learn more about the subject and the photographer.
Special thanks to juror Kristine Heykants, the participants who offered trust in front of my camera, The Photo Touch for printing, Jim Ross framing, Penn Barnes for transportation, Matt Steaffens for lighting assistance, Zach Rinehart’s leadership at the Blue Earth County Fair, and the support of my family— all essential ingredients required to create this photograph:
Live Action Role Players, Blue Earth County Fair, Minnesota, 2022, archival pigment print, 31 x 41 inches framed, Edition 2/7 SOLD.
About the series:
The Last Fair showcases summer animal contests, aspiring to enhance awareness in the changing face of American pastoral life. “If this was the last year of your county fair, what would you miss most?” I asked this question at over a dozen fairs, in response to the Ramsey County Fair (Minnesota, USA) remaining canceled since 2019. “The kids with their animals,” I heard. I considered how joy isn't fully appreciated until gone. Small agrarian communities in the U.S. are changing, and the county fair isn’t necessarily the highlight of a kid’s summer the way it used to be. The 360-acre family farm has grown to over 10,000 acres, which has had a huge impact on rural America. County fairs are among the casualties. Although there is evidence that this way of life is disappearing as kids leave the farm, the crisis of climate change and a concern for both sustainability and stewardship of the land point to a path for survival for agricultural practices and traditions. Using a large format camera with studio lighting, I follow a photo documentary approach, not allowing myself to composite images, remove elements, or rely on artificial intelligence (AI). Orchestrating a photograph requires months of planning— and a hefty dose of patience and a sense of humor.
This week I shared the second in a three-part series of helping fine-art photographers grow.
Portfolio reviews have been an important part of my career development. Lots of questions you should consider when planning your portfolio reviews: Which ones to choose? How to select reviewers? How do you create memorable leave-behinds? What questions do you want to ask? Recommendations for follow-up from portfolio reviews. How important is networking? What type of networking do you recommend? I also shared actionable tips for building a photographer’s fine-art network specific for those who don’t like to ‘network.’
Like what you are learning? Reach out and learn more about 1:1 mentoring >>
A year after the Oklahoma State University Museum of Art booked my touring exhibition, I reached out to the curator, Carla Shelton, and offered her an upgrade to the exhibition of eight silver gelatin prints. She obliged. Since the loan fee was higher than the original budget, I offered to donate my artist proof silver gelatin print (printed by Keith Taylor). She said yes!
What a nice set of Walker Evans prints the OSU Museum of Art has! Wonderful that they made their collection digitally accessible and searchable, too. I stopped dead in my tracks seeing Marion Post Walcott’s "Children of Tenant Farmer, Younger One with Rickets on Poor Eroded Land, Wadesboro, North Carolina” Seeing that poor child with rickets made me just think how appreciative I am for healthy children.
I’m excited to be a part of Hennepin Theatre Trust's It’s The People 2023. This public art project, made in collaboration with Clear Channel, highlights members of the community in the theme of “Network of Mutuality.” This year’s project will also launch alongside the first Minnesota Triennial. The portraits will be displayed on billboards and large-scale banners across Minneapolis this summer, and the Minnesota Triennial will be hosted by Public Art St. Paul June 24 – September 16.
In collaboration with Sachidanandhan Venkatakrishnan, President of the Tamil Association of Minnesota (Minnesota Tamil Sangam, or MNTS, a non-profit organization), I will create one large-scale tableaux photograph depicting MN artists performing Tamil dances and traditional music instruments rooted in southern India and Sri Lanka.
As a portrait photographer since 2006, I am interested in sharing stories of the Minnesota community, especially those underserved in the arts. Lighting, styling and a formal approach elevate my subject out of the ordinary, telling a visual story of strength, character, and confidence.
I was intrigued with the theme, “Network of Mutuality” phrase drawn from the 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. quote: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
R. J. Kern selected as a portrait photographer for the “It’s the People” commission by Hennepin Theater Trust.
The DELUXE PORTFOLIO EDITION of The Unchosen Ones (edition of 10 + 2AP, $5500) was acquired by the Gorman Rare Art Book Collection at the University of Minnesota. Special thank you to curator Deborah Ultan and Jennifer Phelps (Burnet Fine Art & Advisory) for making this happen!
Photo by O. Kern
Year 12 of the Tomte series is here, chronicling on-going Kern family antics.
CLICK HERE FOR THE BLOG POST >>
Warmth and humor lurks beyond the home, extending to school and the sledding hill. We have another cousin to feature, as well as evidence of intergalactic alien visitation (all welcome here) documented by my son and his first Nikon DSLR camera, gifted by my Dad. Witness homemade ginger-bread houses, a candy home, and a Lego battle while cookies cool. New to this holiday series? Discover the antics from 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Enjoy!
Business Practices for Fine-Art Photographers by R. J. Kern, Santa Fe Workshops, January 10 - 26, 2023.
The act of photographers helping each other builds community and results in a better, more robust art world. From this foundational premise, I will be offering my help to other photographers as they navigate the business of fine-art photography. In this online workshop, I will impart essential career tips that allow emerging fine-art photographers to grow creatively while also growing their business. Hosted by Santa Fe Workshops, this virtual experience runs January 10 - 26, 2023.
“Dumb and Dumber, Freeborn County, MN” found a new home at the Center for Art and Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art, in honor of my friend Greg MacGregor (not dead yet). Greg recommended I reach out to them about a touring exhibition, for which they politely declined (this time). However, one thing lead to the next and the museum was interested in acquiring my work, thanks to the efforts of William L. Fox and Sara Frantz.
What really excites me is the trapezoid created between artist, collector, curator, and museum thanks to my friend, Jamie Siller, who donated the COLLECTOR’S EDITION’s of “The Sheep and the Goats” (Ed of 50) in honor of her late husband, Gino Siller. Gino and I used to photograph weddings together, and were in Ireland in 2012 when I created the first photograph for the project. Lots of warm fuzzies to know the book art project he acquired in 2017 will be given a new home in a public museum collection.
Jamie Siller holds the Collector’s Edition of The Sheep and the Goats, donated to the Nevada Museum of Art in honor of her late husband, Gino Siller.
R. J. Kern and the late Gino Siller, Denver, CO, circa 2008
Once your solo exhibition comes down, how do you keep the show on the road? What factors are most important? What practical constraints make it easier to earn a "yes?" What elements are most important in creating a touring exhibition? What does a successful exhibition proposal look like? How does a touring exhibition keep your book alive? How do you manage shipping costs and logistics for shows booking 3-4 years out? How much should you charge? What about a retainer? What does a written agreement look like? How do you identify and approach potential venues while keeping your i's dotted and t's crossed?
In my first SPE presentation, “Get the Show on the Road! Tips for Creating and Booking Traveling Exhibitions,” I am excited to share the nuts and bolts of how I was able to book (in a matter of months) over 12 PAID solo exhibitions from my photographic project, The Unchosen Ones. Traveling exhibitions support my creative practice, keep my books alive, and create PREDICABLE income, unlike gallery print sales or grants. I'm eager to share my enthusiasm and lessons learned with a goal of expanding your audience for your photographic projects.
Friday, October 07, 9:00am
2022 MWSPE Conference, Cincinnati, OH
This year's theme highlights works concerned with the ebb and flow of social, political, and artistic trends and how these tropes and themes can return with differing focus and intensity. Learn more and see complete list of of speakers here >>
Authentic Portraiture featuring Painterly Lighting (Outside the Studio)
Thu Feb 3, 2022 3:00pm - 4:00pm ET (Recorded)
How do you create a signature style with lighting? What is your go-to travel kit when traveling? Why is hiding your main light with your fill light important? How does color add to a painterly aesthetic? What is the value of a leaf shutter and shooting medium format? I will answer all these questions and more, as I teach you my approach to painterly portraiture.
This session is recorded and you may watch here:
Here is the recorded virtual book launch and artist talk with the Center for Photographic Art (Carmel, CA) as part of their lecture series held on January 13, 2022. Thank you to Ann Jastrab for the invitation and the 50 participants in the presentation. You may watch the show below.
