“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
And oh, what a weekend it was! The Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA hosted its annual Focus Awards, cleverly disguised as two parties. It worked, we all had a blast and it didn’t hurt that during the Friday dinner bash, disguises were the order of the day. On the gallery walls, “Horace and Agnes”, “Bridget and I”, “Sisters of the Commonwealth” and “Burlesque and Cabaret” were all sporting costumes and we got to play around, masquerading as our favorite animals in the photo booth.
There was some planned enlightenment: Dr. Francine Weiss gave a captivating talk on Animals and Allegory and Horace and Agnes gave us an amusing behind-the-scenes look at their production secrets. But mostly it was fun and games.
Then there was the actual Focus Award ceremony on Saturday morning. Being the recipient of the Scribe Award meant that I couldn’t really concentrate on anything, let alone partake of the Mimosa Brunch, until my little speech was over. In fact, I tried a Mimosa, but it didn’t do a thing to allay my nerves. Nonetheless, I was still aware of all the good things going on around me. For example, a lot of my favorite people showed up, an honor in itself.
Actually, I can tell from the clothing that this is Friday night. But still, favorite people showed up.
On Saturday, Lou Jones served as MC and first one up was Larissa Leclair, who won the Spotlight Award for founding and running The Indie Photobook Library in Washington, D.C.(http://www.indiephotobooklibrary.org/) Dr. Laura Wexler introduced Larissa for her award.
Then it was my turn. Photographer extraordinaire – and even more importantly, friend extraordinaire – Rania Matar said a lot of very sweet things in her introduction – could she really be talking about me?
Somehow I must have managed to stand up and say something, because here I am, standing up and saying something. As you know, pictures never lie.
Next, Becky Senf, the Norton Family Curator at both the Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson (their archives are one of my favorite places on earth) receives the Rising Star Award. Frankly, she’s already a star and I feel incredibly honored to be in the same award ceremony with her. On top of that – you guessed it – she’s wonderfully human.
Finally, Jim Dow received the Lifetime Achievement Award. His longtime friend, neighbor and collector Eric Almquist introduced him, just to be even handed about things, because Jim Dow was about the last person in the room who needed an introduction. He wasn’t even being recognized for his photography, since the purpose of the Focus Awards is to laud the people who elevate photography. Jim Dow is one of the most gifted educators any of his students can ever recall. In a video about him, Syb Smith eloquently explained why “beloved” was too weak a word to describe the impact he’s had on her and his other students. It was truly moving.
After that, we could all relax again. Okay, I was able to relax again. I even enjoyed hamming for some pictures.
I know the Griffin had this entire event filmed, because I saw videographer Justin Ziebell behind his camera the whole time. Eventually, clips of the proceedings will be available on the Griffin Museum Focus Award website (http://www.griffinmuseum.org/blog/focus-awards-2014/).
But in the meantime, if you’re at all curious about why they gave me a Scribe Award, this 4 minute video that was shown at the Focus Awards should put all those nasty rumors to bed: https://vimeo.com/108634394