FotoFest 2020 highlights

It’s been over six weeks since I returned from FotoFest in Houston, (pre-COVID shutdown). I had a wonderful time and rank it among my top portfolio review experiences. It was well-organized and I enjoyed the “flow” of the four-days of intense reviews, networking, sharing, and camaraderie. I feel fortunate that photographers have portfolio reviews to share work with collectors, curators, editors, and book publishers sitting across the table. My outcomes are still in fruition, however the investment was fully realized before I returned home (on a pretty much empty airplane). I come for the opportunities and stay for the friends.

Aline Smithson shares on Lenscratch (READ HERE >>) one of the highlights of FotoFest, being shadowed by a student from Lamar University, Brandi Hamilton who shares what she learned from the Houston experience . Aline had asked me to share a few photos from my experience to accompany the article, which I much obliged.

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Carlos De Santos enjoys acquiring prints and limited edition books during the reviews.

Carlos De Santos enjoys acquiring prints and limited edition books during the reviews.

Mary Stanley gets the award for the most colorful fun attire!

Mary Stanley gets the award for the most colorful fun attire!

Audrey Sands from the Center of Creative Photography enjoys smelling a salt print folio varnished with lavender oil and white beeswax.

Audrey Sands from the Center of Creative Photography enjoys smelling a salt print folio varnished with lavender oil and white beeswax.

Carey Russell, Susan kae Grant, And Robert Langham III taking a break from reviews and sharing work at The Whitehall hotel in Houston.

Carey Russell, Susan kae Grant, And Robert Langham III taking a break from reviews and sharing work at The Whitehall hotel in Houston.

DM Whitman gets her first museum acquisition with support of Malcolm Daniel and Anne Tucker, after the reviews.

DM Whitman gets her first museum acquisition with support of Malcolm Daniel and Anne Tucker, after the reviews.

After hours portfolio sharing, until midnight, a the Whitehall hotel in Houston.

After hours portfolio sharing, until midnight, a the Whitehall hotel in Houston.

Group dinner, perhaps one of the last before the COVID+ social distancing became commonplace.

Group dinner, perhaps one of the last before the COVID+ social distancing became commonplace.

AINT BAD

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I met Taylor Curry and Carson Sanders (Co-Owner / Publisher of Aint-Bad) at FotoFest last week, just before it was cancelled due to COVID-19. They enjoyed The Best of the Best and gave it some love and shared on their social media channels. Thanks, gents! Here’s the profile >>

Supreme Champion Stock Dog Male / Female Pair, 2018 Minnesota State Fair, salt print over archival pigment print, Edition of 5 sized 20 x 24 inches , Edition of 10 sized 8 x 10 inches.

Supreme Champion Stock Dog Male / Female Pair, 2018 Minnesota State Fair, salt print over archival pigment print, Edition of 5 sized 20 x 24 inches , Edition of 10 sized 8 x 10 inches.

Love, Minnesota - group exhibition

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What makes Minnesota so unique? Is it its people? It’s weather? Its landmarks? Minnesota has helped give rise to some amazing talents - from The Replacements, Judy Garland, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, Prince and now Lizzo - and is consistently ranked in the top states to live in in the US. Minnesota is diverse, accepting, thriving, colloquial, and proud. 

This show brings together a dozen Minnesota-based artists in an exhibition to celebrate Minnesota. From distinctive landscapes and portraits, abstract paintings and figurative works, each artist will present art that captures how Minnesota has inspired them, whether it be its people, places, icons or animals. The exhibition will be hosted at the Kristi Abbott Gallery & Studio in Minneapolis.  Big thanks to Kristi for inviting me to join in this ‘collaborative exhibition.’

Exhibition Dates:
Opening Reception - March 5th, 2020 - 7pm - 11pm
Closing Party - April 10th, 2020 - 5pm - 9pm

Exhibiting Artists:
Kristi Abbott, Ta-coumba T. Aiken, Shane Anderson, Linda Clayton Behr, Christina Rossi Hankins, Coreen Johnson, R. J. Kern, Sue Mooney, Alison Price, Heather Renaux, Greta Kusilek Sandquist, and Adam Turman.

A group exhibition of Minnesota-based artists, Kristi Abbott Gallery & Studio, March 5 - April 10, 2020.

A group exhibition of Minnesota-based artists, Kristi Abbott Gallery & Studio, March 5 - April 10, 2020.

FotoFest 2020

I’m excited to participate in FotoFest 2020, one of the largest portfolio reviews in the world for photographers. While this is my first time to this particular review with an international emphasis, it will be my seventh multi-day portfolio review since 2015. I look forward to connecting with photography curators: Anne W. Tucker and Malcolm Daniel (The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston), Gregory Harris (High Museum of Art), Jessica S. McDonald (Harry Ransom Center), and Natasha Egan (Museum of Contemporary Photography), Marta Weiss (Victoria & Albert Museum). I also look forward to connect with gallerists Laura Noble (L A Noble Gallery) and Douglas Marshall (Marshall Contemporary) and meeting lots of new collectors and photography friends.

I’ve created this little portfolio leave-behind specific to the event which will also serve as a memorable marketing piece for collectors of my work— they can tape it to the back of the framed print for a full overview of the work in a tidy document. Have a look:





United Nations of Photography {Podcast Interview}

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In episode 89, UNP founder and curator Grant Scott interviewed me in his podcast, A Photographic Life. In the podcast, he talked about the purpose of a photo book, the pressure put on photographers, and the rise of the ‘photo-entrepreneur’. In the podcast, he asked for an audio response to the question: ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?’ CLICK HERE TO LISTEN >>

Grant Scott also directed one of my favorite recent films about photography, a documentary film, Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay which features folks I adore such as Magnum Photographer David Hurn and photo consultant Mary Virginia Swanson. Stream the documentary on YouTube here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd47549knOU&t=3915s.

Grant Scott interviews R. J. Kern in the podcast, A Photographic Life, on January 8, 2020.

Grant Scott interviews R. J. Kern in the podcast, A Photographic Life, on January 8, 2020.

Acquisition: Fidelity Corporate Art Collection

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An outcome from attending PhotoNOLA portfolio review (Dec 2016), I am proud have my work acquired by the Fidelity Corporate Art Collection (Boston, MA). Thank you Alexandra Sullivan for helping to make this possible! The photograph, Rylee and Nelly, Clay County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 from the series The Unchosen Ones was published in National Geographic (Nov 2017).

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Awarded: 2020 Artist Initiative Grant

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I was awarded my third Minnesota State Arts Board grant (2016, 2018, 2020). With the support of a 2020 Artist Initiative Grant, I look forward to creating new work for my project, The Unchosen Ones, documenting adolescent subjects four years later and plan to continue my visual storytelling with the introduction of audio and video documentation (VR tools, perhaps). I am curious to document how values and attitudes have been retained and maintained in the lives of these 70+  adolescents. In addition, a traveling exhibition of the subjects photographed four years prior will introduce the project to Minnesota county fair audiences.

Riley Poppel summed it up well at the Clay County Fair in 2016 when asked what life skills she had learned and how those skills shaped her life:

I’ve learned the importance of never giving up, always helping others learn, and the importance of teamwork when working with my animals. It has taught me about the goodness of hard work and how to care for others through love.

Marcus and Sheep, Mahnomen County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 from the series The Unchosen Ones.

Marcus and Sheep, Mahnomen County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 from the series The Unchosen Ones.

The Unchosen Ones — A Community Exhibition of Photography, Mahnomen County Fair, 2018

The Unchosen Ones — A Community Exhibition of Photography, Mahnomen County Fair, 2018

InsideHook Feature

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Photographs from the series the Divine Animals: The Bovidae and The Best of the Best were featured by InsideHook “No One Shoots an Animal Quite Like Photographer R. J. Kern” by Elyssa Goodman on December 6, 2019. I enjoyed meeting Elyssa at the Center for Photography at Woodstock Auction in New York in October and appreciate her writing on photography and the arts.

She writes: “As much as Kern’s work is about analyzing part of a cultural landscape, it’s also an internal exploration. One of the ways he does that is by looking at what he calls beauty ‘in the common’ — or at least what is common to him, among the bucolic landscape he now calls home.”

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CPA 2019 International Juried Exhibition -

A print from my series The Best of the Best was chosen among 90 of 2200 photographs submitted from around the world by juror, Paula Tognarelli, for the Center for Photographic Art 2019 International Juried Exhibition. I’m super happy to be among the 45 submissions selected for the online gallery.

On Saturday, November 2, 2019, 4:00-5:00 pm there will be a curator led walk-through by Ms. Tognarelli in the CPA Gallery, Sunset Center, Carmel, CA. An opening reception, catalog sales and the announcement of winning entries will immediately follow from 5:00 - 7:00 pm in the CPA Gallery.

I’m honored to have work exhibited at CPA and appreciate the support of both Paula Paula Tognarelli and Ann Jastrab.

CPA 2019 International Juried Exhibition entry by R. J. Kern, from The Best of the Best series.

CPA 2019 International Juried Exhibition entry by R. J. Kern, from The Best of the Best series.

Honorable Mention: A Smith Gallery

Juror Fran Forman selected Supreme Champion Swine Male/Female Pair, 2018 Minnesota State Fair for the “Red” exhibition at A Smith Gallery in Johnson City, Texas running October 26 - Nov 30. My work was awarded Director’s Honorable Mention by gallery directors Amanda Smith and Kevin Tully. I’m excited to have work chosen by Fran Forman and exhibited along with my friends Melissa Lynn and JP Terlizzi.

This work represents the first framed work exhibited without glazing to emphasize the white beeswax and lavender oil finish which offers a “historically relevant” fragrant experience when viewing in person. In this work, I pay homage to the salt printing as an important historical process. I use the exact finish commonly used during the 1840-1860s for salt printing to preserve the work and bring out the best tonality in the salt print as taught to me at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY.

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MPR News feature

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As a long-time listener and support of NPR, I am excited to share Tim Nelson’s article: “Say cheese curds! State Fair champion animals celebrated with fine art photograph” published by MPR News on August 30, 2019. I enjoyed my time at the fair with Tim!

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Here we are at the “selfie” wall at the MPR booth at the 2019 Minnesota State Fair:

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Legacy Matters podcast interview

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Thank you to Sam Devine, James Holmberg, and Sarah Anderson for hosting me on Episode 48 of the Legacy Matters podcast which went live this week. We spoke about tricks behind the Commemorative Artwork for the 2019 Minnesota State Fair, inspirations from the history of photography and animal husbandry, and why legacy matters (the title of the podcast, of course). The four of us had a wonderful conversation, filled with lots of good laughs as well as insight into my fine art practice.

Listen to this Legacy Matters podcast interview, Episode 48: R. J. Kern, for a few good laughs and insight into my working process as a fine-art photographer in MInneapolis.

Listen to this Legacy Matters podcast interview, Episode 48: R. J. Kern, for a few good laughs and insight into my working process as a fine-art photographer in MInneapolis.

Critical Mass 2019 Top 200

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I’m honored to be among Photolucida’s Critical Mass 2019 Top 200. The group of fine-art photographers juried in this group celebrates the pursuit of creative photographic excellence while engaging new audiences.

Supreme Champion Chicken Male / Female Pairing, 2018 Minnesota State Fair from the series The Best of the Best. Salt print over archival pigment print, 20 x 24 inch sheet size, Ed of 5 + 2 AP.

Supreme Champion Chicken Male / Female Pairing, 2018 Minnesota State Fair from the series The Best of the Best. Salt print over archival pigment print, 20 x 24 inch sheet size, Ed of 5 + 2 AP.