University Art Museum to present Johnson City student photos

A photography project between the Binghamton University Art Museum and Johnson City High School will culminate in a Nov. 29 event showcasing student artwork.

The event, which will take place at 5 p.m. at the Art Museum, will feature the five winning photographs in the “Capturing Johnson City Today” competition.

“I hope that the (Johnson City students) feel empowered by this,” Museum Director Diane Butler said. “With instruction and guidance, they can take first-rate photographs – and they don’t have to go to exotic lands to do it. They can take interesting photographs in their own backyards.”

Butler said she sees the student artwork as a complement to the current “Urban Studies: Photographs by N. Jay Jaffee” exhibition that runs through Dec. 8 at the museum. Butler saw elements of Johnson City in Jaffee’s mid-century photos of the boroughs of New York City and reached out to the local high school about a possible collaboration.

“One of the art teachers at Johnson City High School – Eric Adolf – has participated for two years in our drawing marathon,” Butler said. “We contacted him and he and a colleague thought it was a great idea.”

Johnson City students toured the Art Museum, studios in the Department of Art and Design, and parts of the Theatre Department during a visit to campus in September. Butler and Costa Sakellariou, an adjunct art lecturer and photojournalist, visited Johnson City High School in early October to discuss how to take the best photos.

Four categories (Sense of Place, Things Around You, Environmental Portraiture and Embraces Ambiguity) were announced for photos taken with cellphones.

“It lends more spontaneity to the project,” Butler said of cellphone use. “On your way to football practice, you cut through an alley and then see a broken window and a baseball bat against the wall. That’s an interesting composition. You’re not going to go get a camera and come back. Young people always have their cellphones with them.”

The Johnson City students were both excited and nervous about the opportunity, Adolf said.

“The museum tour impressed upon them that they were being asked to participate in something special,” he said. “Several students bought into the idea right away. They were the ones who saw the project through.”

Students submitted photos to Adolf and fellow art teacher Chelsea Ingalls. They reduced the number of entries and sent the best photos to a jury comprised of Butler, Sakellariou and photographer Jon Plasse ’72.

“I’m pleased with the results,” Adolf said. “The students captured to the best of their ability the environment. This was their first assignment as photojournalists and I think the photos they submitted are interesting.”

The winning photographs will receive professional presentation, Butler said. The Department of Art and Design will print the photos, the Art Museum will mount them, while Plasse will pay for framings. Adolf said he expects an additional showcase at the high school to follow in the future.

“I believe the students enjoyed the project and I hope they will reflect on their experience,” Adolf said. “I hope they appreciate how difficult it is to capture the mood or feeling of a place. I’d love for them to continue to be thoughtful about their compositions and develop a project of their own.”

For Butler, the photo collaboration isn’t just about exposing the community or school groups to the museum. It is also about “capturing Johnson City at a moment in time” – as the environment is being transformed by University initiatives such as the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

“We don’t know what Johnson City is going to look like 10 years from now,” she said. “We know what happened when (the University) ventured into downtown Binghamton. The campus there has transformed downtown. What’s going to happen in Johnson City? It’s nice to have these young people feel like they were there at that turning point and recorded the Johnson City they knew.”