PRESS ROOM
Current Book Project:
"IMPRESSIONS OF SPRING: Wildflowers of the West on Our Public Lands"
To best view a virtual copy of our work in progress paste this url www.blurb.com/books/1474020 into another window.
We have been in touch with a
number of writers to find those whose values, style and knowledge will best
compliment these beautiful images, and clearly articulate the purpose and
meaning of the book as put forth in the various chapters it will contain.
Please feel free to leave us comments or connections to nature/conservation writers at the blurb site or through this website.
Current Exhibits:
***Rob Badger and Nita Winter are featured in
Unveiling: Twelve Artists to Watch in 2011
Exhibit from Aug 4- Aug 28, 2010
Reception Aug 13, 6-8pm
MARIN ARTS GALLERY
HOURS: Wed – Sat 11am -6pm
906 4th Street, San Rafael CA 94901
www.MARINARTS.org
More information about the show at Marin Arts Scene has Zing!
We are also featured artists at Roots Collaborative for the month of AugustMill Valley's new arts and crafts boutique featuring artists who live within 50 miles of the store.
You will find our fine art prints and notecards available for sale.
RooTs primary purpose is to support community, encourage creativity and get back to the grass ”roots” of supporting local art and craft.
84 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley 94941
Mon - Sat: 11 - close & Sunday: noon - 5 ish
Tel: 415.388.RooT(s) www.rootscollaborative.com
Past Exhibits, Awards and Articles:
at the G2 Gallery in Venice, California
March 23, 2010 – May 2, 2010.
For a full view of the G2 Gallery site visit: http://www.theg2gallery.com/exhibits/wild_things_grow/index.html
***Rob Badger's Environmental Images at the Marin Community Foundation.
March 22 - July 15, 2010
Start right "where you are..:" be it sweeping the sidewalk in front of your house or tending a watershed not far from where you live.
It's 40 years since the first Earth Day and the news remains daunting. But, if we each begin with a personal action, the accumulation of small deeds turn despair to hope and real change.
Experience this celebration of artists and organizations that have added Revision to the familiar Reduce, Reuse Recycle. A testimony to the power of the imagination.
Join us for a reception for the artists and 40th anniversary celebration of Earth Day on Thursday, April 22, 4:30 to 7:00 pm. For more information on this show please call 415-464-2500
***"Wild Places" Award Recipient from Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition sponsored by the BBC and British Museum of Natural History.Rob's "50 Year Bloom in Peace Valley, Gorman, CA" is part of an international traveling exhibit featuring the 96 award winning images chosen from over 43,000 entries from 94 countries. Images can be seen at:
www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/photo.do?photo=2532&category=12&group=1
***2009 Avanti Award Recipient of $10,000 Artist Award***
Awarded to Rob Badger to pursue his artistic passion in the field of photography. We are grateful to the Brucia Family for their generous support of the arts.
****Master Artist: Marin Independent Journal Feature****
Nita Winter is featured as the Master Artist at the Marin Art Festival at the Civic Center Lagoon in "Marin Art Festival: The face behind 'Faces' project" in Marin Independent Journal on June 11, 2008.
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_9554120?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com
****American Photo Magazine Feature:****
Nita Winter and Rob Badger are featured green photographers in "Inside the Green Studio: Being eco-conscious can also be good business" in American Photo Magazine's September 2007 issue.
http://www.popphoto.com/americanphotofeatures/4536/inside-the-green-studio.html
****Natural Home Magazine Feature:****
Nita Winter and Rob Badger are featured green photographers in a two page spread: "Focus on Sustainability" in Natural Home Magazine's May/June 2007 issue.
****Marin Independent Journal, March 24, 2007****
Nita Winter and Rob Badger are featured green photographers in a
"Green Plan-it: Shutter Out the Pollution with Eco-friendly Photography"
Follow this link to view this article:
http://www.marinij.com/fastsearchresults//ci_5507381
by Deb Fellner for Teaching Tolerance Magazine Fall 2002 (web exclusive)
"The town of Novato, Calif., was long known to outsiders as a white, wealthy community nestled in the hills above San Francisco Bay.
Nonresidents may have missed the changes that communities like Novato have experienced in recent years ............"
Imagine you are four years old again – little, unsure and a bit shy. You live in a city that’s getting a bad rap from its neighbors. It’s too poor, they say. Too black. There’s too much crime, reports the local media. Given the circumstances, you feel quite small. Now imagine ........... (see full story below)
"Nita Winter Wins a Commission"
studioNOTES, the journal for working artists, issue no. 24, March - May 1999
by Benny Shaboy for Studio Notes
Nita Winter's banners celebrate Marin's diverse communities.
By Stephanie Hiller for the North Bay Bohemian
“When people come here, they fall in love." Jeannette Sotomajor has set aside her lunch to talk with me at the front desk in the Pickleweed Community Center in San Rafael, where she works as an administrative assistant. "Sometimes people ask me if it is safe here. But once they're here, they fall in love."
It's true… The Canal District of San Rafael ………..”
"The Faces of Marin City"(full version)
by Deb Fellner for Photo District News (PDN) April 2000 issue (c)2000
Imagine you are four years old again – little, unsure and a bit shy. You live in a city that’s getting a bad rap from its neighbors. It’s too poor, they say. Too black. There’s too much crime, reports the local media. Given the circumstances, you feel quite small. Now imagine seeing a 5-foot tall photograph of yourself. Your name is printed in bold letters across the top. The portrait is on display at your local shopping center, along with dozens of other photographs of people you know - your babysitter, grandmother and classmates. They seem larger than life. You feel larger than life.
Through her art, photographer Nita Winter is transforming the image of her hometown. Her project, "The Faces of Marin City," sheds light on an economically and ethnically diverse community within the affluent suburbs of San Francisco. To most people living outside of the Bay Area, Marin City would appear to be a haven of financial normalcy amid a sea of multi-million dollar homes and Land Rovers. Yet the town is mostly avoided or ignored by its neighbors. There’s only one shopping center, visible public housing, and (gasp) ethnically mixed families live there.
Winter moved to Marin City three years ago, at first attracted by the affordable housing. But it didn’t take long for her to grow attached to the town and its residents, and subsequently, become disheartened by its false reputation as a gang-laden, crime-ridden community. "The city had an inaccurate image that kept people away. It was unjust - and I wanted to change it." So, Winter mustered her professional skills and impenetrable will to create "Faces" - a photographic exhibit that’s breaking down stereotypes and bringing the community together.
Beginning in April 1999, Winter took more than 4,000 photographs of 500 of her neighbors over the course of five months. The images are now on display on storefront windows, outdoor light boxes and banners all over the one commercial center in town. Instead of movie posters, Blockbuster’s walls are adorned with images of local celebrities such as 80-year-old Nora Lee Condra, one of the city’s most famous quilt makers, and Mitch Woods, a blues musician. A banner of a 4-year-old girl, Janelle, flies 30-feet high from a light post in the middle of the parking lot. A portrait of the Pillado family - Sara, Carlos and 5-year-old Josephina, replaces one of eight, faded corporate images in a 4x4-foot light box outside of Long’s Drugs. There are 135 images in all with portraits of 300 people, plus dozens of 4x6 color prints displayed on the outside windows of Winter’s studio, a donated empty storefront.
"My family tree is right there in the middle of the city!" noted Condra, who’s lived in Marin City for 50 years and has five generations of family there. "Now when other folks look at all these faces - black and white - they see we are all human just like they are." Condra is one of the many town elders featured in Winter’s exhibit, carefully selected to reflect the town’s diversity and to teach newcomers about its history.
Marin City was established in the 1940s to house the Marinship shipyard workers during WWII. Many blacks from the South were recruited to build ships, and Marin City became the first racially integrated federal housing development in the U.S. When the shipyards closed after the war, the black families were expected to return to the south but many blacks remained in Marin City and raised families there. What has resulted is a community filled with generations of warm, Southern-hearted people such as 94-year-old Flossie Berry.
"Nita has captured the essence of Marin City," remarked Wyna Barron, whose father, Theo, a former ship worker, is also featured in the exhibit. "She conveys a kind of aura of acceptance of all people." Not only did Winter enlist residents as subjects, she involved the community in all aspects of the production.
During shoots, local middle school kids helped Winter interview subjects and select pictures for the window display. Four elders from the local grandparents support group, including Condra, created quilts using photo transfers of the portraits. Residents organized bake sales and pizza parties to spread the word about the project. Winter herself went door-to-door to churches, schools and community centers to find subjects. To select the final portraits, San Francisco Examiner photographer Kim Komenich, fine art photographers Keba Konte and Rob Badger, her partner, helped edit hundreds of images down to 135. Such involvement brought the community, newcomers and long-time residents alike, closer together.
"It’s easy to block out your neighbors," remarked Sara Pillado, 36, who has lived in Marin City just three years. "But the photos don’t allow for it. Even though I don’t know many of these people, you become friends because you see their faces every day."
"Faces" is Winter’s largest public exhibit to date, yet much of her work reflects her commitment to challenged communities such as Marin City. She’s documented children and families in San Francisco’s inner city and volunteers and clients at a local soup kitchen for two past projects, "The Children of the Tenderloin" and "In the Soup."
"Nita is one of those people who doesn’t just say she believes in community. She shows it," remarked Sharon Farrell, Winter’s neighbor featured with her partner, Sue, and son, Kyle, in “Faces.”
"I choose communities that need the positive press – the ones where there can be the greatest sense of achievement," said Winter.
Starting this spring, selections from "The Faces of Marin City" will travel throughout Marin County, first to the Falkirk Cultural Center in San Rafael, and then to the Marin Community Foundation and Jewish Community Center. Winter says the original exhibit was scheduled to end in March, but residents and local business owners are enjoying the outdoor display so much, nobody wants the photographs to come down.
Until then, and hopefully thereafter, the residents of Marin City - young or old, black or white - will continue to see themselves larger than life.
Contact Nita Winter at 415-339-1310 for permission to reproduce this article.