"New book on 4-H kids who don't win the blue ribbon,” feature with Chris Hrapsky, NBC KARE-11 TV, original live air date August 27 at the Minnesota State Fair, St. Paul, MN. Special thank you to Chris Hrapsky for producing this segment. Watch below or linked here.
"New book on 4-H kids who don't win the blue ribbon,” RJ Kern interview with Chris Hrapsky, NBC KARE-11 TV, original air date August 27
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 >>
Moments after this photograph was created on July 16, 2022, Michael Tauer (right) was declared Supreme Champion Showman at the 2022 Redwood County Fair in Minnesota. This was the last year of 4-H showing for the family, a bittersweet experience, according to Michael’s mother, Kris. Left to right: Morgan, Jeff, Kris and Michael Tauer.
The photograph was published recently in the exhibition, Time, juried by Michael Behlen, and featured in Analog Forever magazine (online). View the works here >>
This tintype photograph serves as homage to Nadar (Adrien Tournachon, French, 1825 - 1903) who photographed prizewinning animals at the agricultural competitions in the late 1850s, early 1860s. The photographs serve both artists and breeders, as they document fine specimens of horses, cattle, etc.
"The Tauer Family, Redwood County Fair, July 16, 2022" by R. J. Kern. Unique tintype, 8 x 10 inches, 2022.
Twin Cities Live, KSTP-TV feature with Kelli Hanson, June 29, 2022. Watch below orlinked here. Special thank you to Kelli Hanson for producing this segment.
On newsstands in China, the June 2022 issue of National Geographic Traveler with a selection of 11 photographs from The Unchosen Ones project. Thank you to Freya Zhang for inviting me to be apart of this feature.
Shangtuf Creative Photo Talk hosted by Guo Jing, streamed May 2nd, 2022, with Michael Pritchard, Leslie Sheryll, and Owen Harvey. (Mandarin Chinese translated)
This video is edited from a recording of the Shangtuf Creative Photo Talk streamed on May 2nd, 2022. In this episode, a panel of expert and photographers share their experience on International Photography Exhibition by Royal Photographic Society, including Dr. Michael Pritchard, Programms Director of the Royal Photographic Society, R. J. Kern, a photo artist from the United States, Leslie Sheryll, a visual artist from the United States, and Owen Harvey, a photo artist from the United Kingdom.
“Summer is a great time to visit art museums, which offer the refreshing rinse of swimming pools - only instead of cool water, you immerse yourself in art,” writes Jerry Saltz.
Dip your toes into the art pool back room at Burnet Fine Art and you’ll find to two special photographs from 'The Unchosen Ones' series special— exhibition prints from juried shows. Exhibitions and curation form the backbone of photographic art. These framed photographs have earned frequent flier miles:
"Anna and Helen, Blue Earth County Fair, 2016" (right), exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery (London, UK), below.
Exhibition print from the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2017 Exhibition, National Portrait Gallery, London, England, 2017
And "Carlana, Pastoral Study, 2020" (left) at Photographic Center Northwest (Seattle, WA) from the exhibition "Time Capsule," Juried by Shamim M. Momin, 2021.
Exhibition print from "Time Capsule," Juror: Shamim M. Momin, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA , 2021
A thought to ponder as you float in the art pool from Jerry Saltz: "Billions of photos are shot every year, and about the toughest thing a photographer can do is invent an original, deeply personal, instantly recognizable visual style.”
Join me at Burnet Fine Art on Thursday, June 16th from 6-8pm to view the exhibition and chat. I will have the three editions of my newest book, The Unchosen Ones, on display and available for purchase and signing.
Burnet Fine Art, 775 Lake St. E, Wayzata, MN 55391
I’m pleased to announce dates for my third solo exhibition held at Burnet Fine Art & Advisory (Wayzata, MN) opening May 21 (I”ll be there 4-7pm). The Unchosen Ones features a selection of photographs from the series of the same name, presented in archival pigment prints, tintypes, and toned silver gelatin prints.
“(Kern’s) work is about people and animals, but it is also very much about a world in which people and animals continue to coexist, and the ways a childhood experience may or may not shape a later life,” writes Alison Nordström, Independent Curator, in her essay in the The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral (MW Editions, 2021).
Exhibition review by Victor Vela in El Norte de Castilla, the newspaper of Palencia, Spain on May 2. Special thank you to Anne Morin for supporting this project.
R. J. Kern’s exhibition review by Victor Vela in El Norte de Castilla, the newspaper of Palencia, Spain on May 2, 2022.
The Unchosen Ones exhibition, Plaza de la Inmaculada, Palencia, Spain through May 29, 2022.
The Unchosen Ones exhibition, Plaza de la Inmaculada, Palencia, Spain through May 29, 2022. This site-specific public art exhibition consists of 15 photographs by R. J. Kern displayed on five cubes (70 x 70 x 70 inches).
I’m proud to share my work is exhibited as part of the International Photography Festival of Castilla y León, curated by Anne Morin and supported by Century Foundation for Tourism and the Arts of Castile and León. Photographs: Tessa Demichel. More information: www.fifcyl.com/en
As part of the International Photography Festival of Castilla y León (Palencia, Spain). Alison Nordström and I shared in a virtual conversation in April 2022. We spoke about The Unchosen Ones project, my roots as a photographer, and what’s next for the creative project. Special thank you to Anne Morin for her support, as well as the Century Foundation for Tourism and the Arts of Castile and León. More information: www.fifcyl.com/en
Float photo magazine review’s R. J. Kern’s monograph, The Unchosen Ones (MW Editions, 2021).
"In the end, when we look at these images, we are faced with both the feeling of disappointment, but we are also able to share the joy that these youth brought for taking care of their animals in preparation for this show,” writes Float photo magazine’s Dana Stirling in her book review, published April 24, 2022. The book, “deals with the notions of failure, disappointment, childhood, aging and in a way this is also a story of American history, culture and future.” Stirling considers Richard Avedon and Myoung Ho Lee in consideration of the formal use of the backdrop, “a powerful statement and it breaks the fourth wall that photography often creates.”
A special thank you to Ibarionex Perello for his podcast interview on The Candid Frame, Episode 581, released on March 22, 2022. You can download the latest episode by clicking here >>
On March 12, join me for BookEnds Online Edition, a book talk sponsored by the Wadena County Historical Society in collaboration with the New York Mills Cultural and Historical Center and the Five Wings Art Council. The goal: a monthly literary event connecting readers and writers. I enjoyed the Q&A engagement with those who joined us. Special thank you to Lina Belar for inviting me to be apart of this wonderful group supporting my creative practice. We enjoyed an hour-long conversation, and you may listen in to our conversation, available below.
BookEnds Online Edition, a virtual book talk recording with R. J. Kern, The Unchosen Ones book, Wadena County Historical Society in collaboration with the New York Mills Cultural and Historical Center and the Five Wings Art Council. Recorded: March 12, 2022.
Book review of The Unchosen Ones (MW Editions, 2021) by W. Scott Olsen in Frames magazine, published February 21, 2022.
Writes W. Scott Olsen in Frames magazine:
"We have all been there. Hope. Ambition. Dreams. Hard Work. The Moment. And then, disappointment. For whatever reason, sometimes justly and sometimes not, we did not get selected, recognized, rewarded. We didn’t do anything wrong. We simply did not do something right enough.There is nothing tragic in these moments. They are necessary for growing up, for developing humility and empathy, for becoming humane. But that does not mean they are easy. For photographer R. J. Kern, these are moments of compassion and sympathy. Revisited four years later, they are moments of illumination.”
"Kern’s book, The Unchosen Ones, is a collection of compassionate, insightful, beautiful portraits. And the book is made even more striking because of a second look.”
"The images in this book are pairings. And if one image opens a window, the pairing walks us outside. Two insightful images, and the implied/perceived distance between them, make this, frankly, an important book.”
…
Thank you, W. Scott Olsen, for your insight and thoughtful words. I’m appreciative we connected last September at Concordia College. Always nice to see interdisciplinary writing and photography talents merge in the photo book world.
“To find the wealth of information trees have to share,” writes paleoclimatologist Dr. Valerie Trouet in Tree Story, “we must simply learn how to look.”
From February 5 – July 23, 2022, the Center for Creative Photography (CCP) and the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) will stage installations together that follow historical, cultural, and scientific narratives inspired by trees.
With more than 75 images and objects assembled from CCP and LTRR’s collections, trees stir in their leaves creates a multilayered experience with photography and dendrochronology (the study of annual rings in trees) in CCP’s Alice Chaiten Baker Interdisciplinary Gallery.
My work from Truffle Dogs will be installed along with works by Ansel Adams, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Barbara Crane, Kozo Miyoshi, Doug and Mike Starn, Aaron Siskind, Rosalind Solomon, John Yang and more.
Trees, Community Art Installation, Alice Chaiten Baker Interdisciplinary Gallery, Center for Creative Photography, Tuscon, AZ
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:
Detail of blind embossing on cover of R. J. Kern, The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral.
“This coming-of-age process, set in the rural environment of Minnesota, is effectively and elegantly narrated in this photobook by R. J. Kern. One is also reminded of similarly noble and historically valuable rural documentation projects by Disfarmer and others…. A spellbinding presentation.”
— Gerhard Clausing, Associate Editor of the PhotoBook Journal
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.
