Megan Baker photography at AJ Kane

Megan Baker, a Chicago Photographer, has a show opening Friday at the new AJ Kane Gallery at 119 N Peoria. I met with Megan to see her work and talk about her process as well as her relationship to photography; how it has evolved, and her plans for continuing to hone that relationship.

To look at Megan's work you wouldn't know she is only eighteen. Her imagery references dystopian films and the decay of small towns in the United States. The light in Megan's photographs remind me of the calm before a storm, thick and filled with potential. Her skies are often dense with cloud cover, and although they are only photographs, each one seems to have a soundtrack of either rustling leaves, wind, or the creaking boards of a ramshackle house. These soundtracks come from dozens of movies, performers, and paintings where Megan is informing her imagery, and although we very well may have seen this before, I think the work has a special quality all its own.

I was surprised to here that Megan only takes photos she thinks will work with her process. Not mucking about with dozens of photos that she knows won't work is probably a great time saver. Normally, I wouldn't think this to be a great idea, but it seems to work wonderfully for Megan as all of her photos are top notch.

As I spent time with Megan's photos they did speak to me, but they did so as paintings. I talked with Megan about her process and she references manipulating colors. As she sits with her photos she works with them, just like a painter would work with a canvas, building her composition with color and toying with mood and exploring the image. That sort of care for every pixel is the future of image manipulation in art, and I can only hope the Megan keep making great work and pushing herself and her art to new levels.

Pop Up Goes the Galleries

Hey, check it out, it's winter in Chicago during a shaky economic time. How many of you can recall a time when there have been so many vacant storefronts in your neighborhood? Have been downtown recently and seen the spaces waiting for some enterprising boutique, or another Starbuck's to move in? I can recall when all of Fullerton from Halsted to Pulaski was boarded up, but that was a long time ago, long enough in fact that we don't just board everything up anymore. Pop up galleries are the new busy bee board up, the idea is too keep the building viable, while owners can find suitable tenets.

Artists around the country are benefiting from these vacant store fronts by being able to show work in high traffic areas. The Chicago Loop Alliance, who a few years ago brought us Looptopia is now offering Pop Up Galleries one which features the work of Sara Schnadt. "Inspired by the idea that we simultaneously live in a real and virtual world, and that the virtual is infinitely expansive, Network uses large quantities of electric yellow twine and mirror to suggest a virtual network landscape cutting through an otherwise ordinary space". Sara's Pop Up Gallery is called Network and can be seen throughout December at 220 South Wabash.

What the Fuck is PechaKucha?

I attended my first PechaKucha night at the Hackerspace known as Pumping Station: One, last night. If you are anything like I was before I went to this, you will have no idea what any of that means, and that's okay.

Lets start with PechaKucha; the name is based on the Japanese word for "chitchat", it was originally devised in Tokyo as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has evolved into what almost seems like a party game for the both creative and tech savvy, although neither of these are prerequisites. PechaKucha is essentially a speaker series, for instance, I saw seven different speakers talk about things ranging from the history of metal music to geology. Presenters have to follow some simple guidelines that limit their time, and the way they might decide to present, mainly, 20 images x 20 seconds. Each talk is then limited to 400 seconds (6 min 40sec) and hilarity ensues as the speakers try and fit, and fill information for each image.

Next we tackle the age old question what is a Hackerspace. These are community-operated places, where people can get together to work on projects, simply stated a hackerspace is a geek headquarters. Pumping Station: One, on north Elston, is Chicago's hackerspace, and I encourage you to check out an event at some point, especially if you are someone who has projects. Word of warning, this is not your typical stitch and bitch.

Pumping Station: One is a member based non-profit, but that non-profit status seems to only ensure that there is a space to house something as unique as this is. Okay it might not be a unique as all that, but I do have to say that within an environment such as this it is hard to imagine most people having this sort of experience.

Production is infectious and PS One, having 40 some odd active members, is a snowballing mountain of productivity. That sort of environment can make a huge impact on a person, even a single visit by a less than inspired tinkerer may yield a lifetime of change.