PhotoNOLA 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Jennifer Shaw
PhotoNOLA Coordinator
504-269-9740
info@photonola.org

PhotoNOLA 2012
The Seventh Annual Festival of Photography in New Orleans November 29 - December 2, 2012

(New Orleans, Louisiana) The seventh annual PhotoNOLA takes place November 29 - December 2, 2012 with a broad range of photography exhibitions on display throughout the month of December. During the Festival, more than 40 exhibitions will feature work by Shelby Lee Adams, Deborah Luster, Louviere + Vanessa, Keith Carter, Kathleen Robbins, Steve Pyke, Aline Smithson, Priya Kambli, and an Indie Photobook Library pop-up, among others.

Workshops, gallery talks, and lectures are also included in the schedule of events. Other independently produced events take place before and after the four-day festival lineup. Most events are free and open to the public.

PhotoNOLA festivities kick into full gear on Thursday, November 29, with two daytime workshops led by Aline Smithson and Lori Waselchuk. The evening features the PhotoGALA Benefit Party & Print Auction at the Musée Conti Historical Wax Museum, beginning with a Patrons' Preview Party at 6pm and general admission from 7-10pm.

PhotoNOLA's Education Day is Friday, November 30 and features a morning session focusing on the artist/gallery relationship and is led by Sasha Wolf, owner of the Sasha Wolf Gallery in New York's Chelsea district. Mary Virginia Swanson leads the afternoon session detailing new markets for fine art images and explains licensing and reproduction rights. In the evening, two museums will host photographic programming. The New Orleans Museum of Art offers a special photo-focused Where Y'Art, including a lecture by their curator of photography, Russell Lord. And the Ogden Museum of Southern Art opens CURRENTS 2012, curated by Richard McCabe and is followed with our keynote lecture by Shelby Lee Adams.

PhotoNOLA's portfolio review, with an international cast of more than 20 curators, editors, and gallerists, takes place December 1-2. On Saturday morning Deborah Luster will lead a walkthrough of her exhibition at the Arthur Roger Gallery and in the afternoon Jennifer Schwartz will present her Crusade for Collecting lecture at the Ogden Museum. Saturday evening's PhotoWALK offers a public peek at the work of 65 rising photographers from across the country, all of whom are participants in the Review sessions. Receptions follow at photography exhibitions across the city with particular concentrations along the Julia Street and Magazine Street corridors.

Sunday, December 2, will include a lecture by noted photographer Henry Horenstein at the Ogden Museum, a portraiture workshop with Steve Pyke, and a wet-plate collodion demo at Homespace Gallery using a tent as a camera. The Contemporary Arts Center will host talks with Larissa Leclair, founder of the Indie Photobook Library and featured artist Priya Kambli. That night, galleries in the St. Claude Arts District will open their doors for a Sunday evening art stroll.

A PDF of the PhotoNOLA 2012 festival guide is available for download on our website: http://photonola.org/calendar/ High resolution images for use in publications are available by sending an email to info@photonola.org. For more information please see www.photonola.org.

About the Photo Alliance: The New Orleans Photo Alliance (www.neworleansphotoalliance.org) is comprised of a diverse group of photographers who joined forces in 2006 to create unity and opportunity for photographers in the Gulf South. It is a volunteer run 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which currently includes more than 400 members from across Louisiana and the United States. Since its inception, the New Orleans Photo Alliance has sponsored numerous photographic exhibitions, workshops, and educational programs including PhotoNOLA, the annual photography festival in New Orleans. NOPA administers two $5000 annual awards, The Michael P. Smith Fund For Documentary Photography and the Clarence John Laughlin Award.

About PhotoNOLA: PhotoNOLA is an annual festival of photography in New Orleans, coordinated by the New Orleans Photo Alliance in partnership with galleries, museums and other venues citywide. The seventh annual festival takes place Nov 29 - Dec 2, 2012. Events include lectures, workshops, openings and a gala, with a broad range of photography exhibitions on display throughout the month, showcasing work by photographers near and far. PhotoNOLA draws hundreds of photography professionals to the city to partake in a variety of educational programming, and reaches broadly into the local community with exhibitions and events that are largely free and open to the public. Please visit www.photonola.org for more information.