Artist Talk - Kevin Miyazaki

Kevin Miyazaki
Photographer
By: Kylee Diedrich

Recently Kevin Miyazaki spoke to students, faculty, and friends of UWM at the Artist Now! lecture series. Miyazaki discussed his fine art and commerce work from his beginnings to his current work.  I found the way he talked about his work to be inspiring.  His vision is extremenly refined and without the drama that young artists grapple with as they are learning.  Miyazaki is a talented photographer, with a lifetime of knowledge in the medium of photography.

The project I was drawn to the most was his project Perimeter.  I found the project particularly interesting because it loosely relates to my own senior thesis project.  He drove the scenic route around Lake Michigan photographing the people along the shores, as well as an image of the lake that day.  His approach is more narrow than my own concept, but I find his work to be one inspiration for where I could take my project in the coming years.  His photographs are beautifully quiet and thought provoking as they take the viewer along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Though Miyazaki's project was the result of a commission, I chose my senior thesis based on the connection I have to the lakes, and what I find so interesting about them.  Miyazaki's project shows the variety and connectedness between the populations and people who live and depend on the fresh water of Lake Michigan.  The images share the variety in the lake, as well as the variety of people who utilize it daily.  I look up to Kevin Miyazaki and use him as inspiration for my future as a graduating senior. 

Artist Visit - Barbara Miner

Barbara Miner
Photographer & Journalist

By: Kylee Diedrich

On February 20, Barbara Miner visited our class and discussed her work as a Photojournalist.  She went over her years as a photographer with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as well as the projects that she has completed most recently.  What I found amazing listening to her, was her approach to the medium.  She seems to always have a journalistic eye when she is photographing her subjects.  From her  53206MKE project to her Cuba project, she always found ways to use the camera to capture the subject, not just to capture it, but to start a discussion.  Each image she takes comes with a story, sometimes a story only she knows.

The project I felt most inspired by was the book she produced with her partner when they were at the Standing Rock Camp. The images spoke about an injustice many media news outlets were not and have not discussed. The images offer a view into the battles indigenous people's are having to fight, all because of greedy oil companies and politicians who have zero regard for indigenous rights. Miner's website does not show any of her Standing Rock photographs, but they live on in my memory. The signs posted around the camp, the many depictions of native culture and the sense of community within the photographs were inspiring. Miner brings people who could not stand with Standing Rock at the camp a way to be visually engaged and aware of the injustice.

I find Miner's work to be interactive. In her project Anatomy of an Avenue, she truly takes the viewer from the East Side of Milwaukee on a trip into the western suburbs beyond the city.  Block after block, she photographs what she sees, the people she interacts with and changes people often chose to ignore.  Her project shows a variety of social divisions over the entire stretch of the avenue across a city.

I encourage everyone to view Barbara Miner's work about Milwaukee, her photographs truly celebrate as they document the communities within Milwaukee. I am thankful for Miner's visit to class, and enjoyed hearing her talk about her process, photographic career and her inspirations as she moves forward in making new work.