Jamie Hahn Artist Statement:
Figure Ground Rhythm is a concept I’ve developed in my research of making interdisciplinary time based media. My artist books, prints and video installation room reflect focused studies on sequential imagery found in the foliage of my backyard. My work has become a repetitive and performative analysis of details of these forms and the spaces between them. In “figure ground rhythm” I am using a camera to record specific views in a time based sequence at a particular time of day and year. As I walk through the field, the viewfinder mediates a space of interpretation and the recorded image shifts in and out of focus. Responding to the atmospheric elements, I ask questions of figure ground relationships as a challenge to perception arises.
In print and book form, the work is a reflection of how time and light affect a familiar place within a landscape. I am drawn to texture, color, atmosphere, and movement as they interact with light and time and offer subtle differences. The shooting sequence of still images is directly placed into an artist book. The photographic images are not altered and relay the information as it happened in real time. I am interested in the similarities of each photograph from one page to the other and how drawing comparisons between them can become a meditation on the moment.
In my video work I am interested in merging still and moving images to further investigate figure ground rhythm in time and in spatial relationships. The figure in the ground is the viewer in the space of an installation room. The video installation room is designed to be intimate and offer a personalized view of a subtlety changing landscape. From Romantic ideas of the figure facing the sublime of nature and the awe inspiring scale of landscape paintings, to the self-reflexive relationship to a cinematic screen and internal spaces of contemplation, the projected image on the screen offers a meditative moment and recalls images found in the books and prints outside of the room. Aesthetic pictorial perspectives relate a transient consistency on how one moment contrasts with the next in a rhythmic landscape.
BIO
Jamie Hahn is a lens based media artist working in still and moving images. Receiving a MFA in Electronic Integrated Arts from Alfred University in 2010, her work has been shown in a variety of screenings and (solo, two-person and group) exhibitions nationally and internationally: Squeaky Wheel, Buffalo, NY (2009), The Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China (2008-2010), the LOOP Video Arts Festival in Barcelona (2009, 2010), Alfred University, Thesis Exhibition (2010), Saranac Gallery, Spokane, WA (2011), Rochester Contemporary Art Center (2012), Cite’ Internationale Paris (2012), Eastern Washington University Art Gallery (2011, 2013), University of Oklahoma (2017), CICA Museum, South Korea (2017), Spool Contemporary Art Space, NY (2017), the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands (2015, 2017, 2018, 2020,2023) and Kent State University Art Gallery (2021/23).
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
Master of Fine Arts in Electronic Integrated Arts
Alfred University New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred, NY
Bachelor of Fine Arts Photography and Art History
Anderson University, Anderson, IN
Selected EXHIBITIONS
2023
“Wish You Were Here: Part 1, 2 & 3”, printed media, fabric, newspaper takeaway, and site specific print project, Biennial, National Gallery of the Cayman Islands
“Surface Meditations”, single channel video, Faculty Art Show, KSU
2021
“Where I walked”, silver gelatin photographs (3), 11×14, Faculty Art Show, Kent State University
2020
“Alson’s Garden, Part 1”, single channel video, Biennial, National Gallery of the Cayman Islands
2018
“Atmospheric Modulations”, archival print installation, Biennial, National Gallery of the Cayman Islands
2017
“Interior Repetitions: I”, single channel video, Transient Visions: Festival of the Moving Image, Spool Contemporary Art Space, NY
“Within A Reverie”, large format print, National Weather Biennial, University of Oklahoma
“Surface Reflections”, single channel video, Maritime Exhibition, National Gallery Cayman
“Interior Repetitions: II”, single channel video, Landscape, CICA Museum, South Korea
2016 “Upon the Seas”, a single channel video, National Gallery of the Cayman Islands 2015 “Between Home & Time: Part II”, large format print installation, National Gallery of the Cayman Islands
2013 EWU Faculty Exhibition, Cheney, WA
2011
“Mirage”, Single Channel Video, Cite’ Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
“Scapes”, Single Channel Video and Archival Inkjet Print Installation, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, NY
2010
“Water Trinity”, Archival Inkjet Print, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA
“A Figurative Ground: Meditations”, Print and artist book installation, Saranac Art Gallery, Spokane, WA
“Figure Ground Rhythm”, artist books, print and video installation, MFA Thesis Exhibition, School of Art and Design, NYSCC at Alfred University
“One Reflect One”, Single Channel Video, Loop Festival, Barcelona, Spain
Converge, Artist Book, SPAS Gallery, RIT, Rochester, NY
“Landscape”, Single Channel Video, The Museum at Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, Shenyang, China
“Central Isolation”, Single Channel Video, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
2009
“Ocean Cloud”, Video Installation, John Woods Studio, School of Art & Design, Alfred University
“Within”, Single Channel Video, Les Voutes, Paris, France
“Screens from the Centrally Isolated”, Single Channel Video, Squeaky Wheel, Buffalo, NY
2008
“Borderedrob”, Video Installation, Central Academy of Fine Arts Media Lab, Beijing, China
2007
University of St. Francis Invitational, Archival Inkjet Print, Jeffery R. Krull Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN
ACRES, Archival Inkjet Print, Performing Arts Center of Fort Wayne, IN
Regional Interpretations, Archival Inkjet Print, LaFontaine Arts, Huntington University, IN
Horizons, Archival Inkjet Print, Orchard Gallery of Fine Art, Fort Wayne, IN
Movement, Archival Inkjet Print Installation, Artlink, Fort Wayne, IN
Photography Now, Archival Inkjet Print Artlink, Fort Wayne, IN
2006
University of St. Francis Invitational, Archival Inkjet Print, Jeffery R. Krull Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN
“A Landscape”, Print Installation, Langhrichs Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN
Landscape Investigations, Print Installation, Orchard Gallery if Fine Art, Fort Wayne, IN
“Northeast”, Archival Inkjet Print, Best of Show, Huntington University, IN
Regional Invitational, Archival Inkjet Print, Artlink, Fort Wayne, IN
2005
“Red”, Archival Inkjet Print, Avante Garde Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN
“Mono-Tone”, Archival Inkjet Print, Orchard Gallery of Fine Art, Fort Wayne,IN
“Self Portrait”, Archival Inkjet Print, Artlink, Fort Wayne, IN
“Landscape & Place,” Archival Inkjet Print, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, IN
2004
Photography Now, Archival Inkjet Print, Artlink, Fort Wayne, IN
University of St. Francis Invitational, Archival Inkjet Print, Jeffery R. Krull Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN
2003
Landscape Revisited, Silver Gelatin Print Installation, The Photography Gallery, Indianapolis, IN
Nature in Black and White, Silver Gelatin Print Installation, Uptown Gallery, Holland, MI
Liquid Landscape, Alternative Process Print Installation, Orchard Gallery of Fine Art, Fort Wayne, IN
2002
“Nature in Contrast”, Gelatin Silver Print Installation, Gallery Sklo, Atlanta, GA
“Complimentary Tonality”, Gelatin Silver Print Installation, Orchard Gallery of Fine Art, Fort Wayne, IN
“Constant Nature”, Gelatin Silver Print, Lexington Art League, KY
LECTURES
2015 Artist Talk, “Contemporary Photography”, The National Gallery of the Cayman Islands
2010 Lecture, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA
Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, School of Art and Design at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, “Figure Ground Rhythm: Electronic Meditations on Time” Thesis
2006
Grant Panelist: Visual Arts & Photography
Indiana Arts Commission
Panel Lecturer
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
Photography Past/Forward: Aperture at Fifty
PUBLICATIONS
2010 Figure Ground Rhythm, MFA Thesis Scholes Library, Alfred University.
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
2020-present Adjunct Faculty in Photography
Kent State University, Kent, OH
2015 Special Lecturer: Contemporary Art
National Gallery of the Cayman Islands
2010-2015 Lecturer in Photography and Digital Media Arts
Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA
Art of Photography I / Art of Photography II & III
Digital Art I & II / BFA Senior Exhibition
Intermedia: Video & Performance
Art in the Humanities / Basic Design I
Darkroom Manager/Work Study Supervisor
Large Format Print & Digital Lab Manager
BFA Senior Art Committee Member
Creative Works Research Symposium Mentor (2011-2013)
2010 Adjunct Faculty
School of Art and Design, Alfred University, NY
Intro to Black and White Photography I
2009 Adjunct Faculty
School of Art and Design, Alfred University, NY
Intro to Black and White Photography I
2009 Team Instructor
School of Art and Design, Alfred University, NY
Time Based Media Foundations
2008 Teaching Assistant
School of Art and Design, Alfred University, NY
Alternative Processes Advanced Photography
2007-2008 Adjunct Faculty
Huntington University, Huntington, IN
Black and White Photography I
Advanced Black and White photography II
RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2000-2009 Owner/Director
Jamie Hahn Photography Studio and Gallery
Weddings, portraits and fine art
Huntington, IN
2000-2007 Owner/Co-Director of Exhibitions, Director of Marketing
Orchard Gallery of Fine Art, Fort Wayne, IN
Jamie Hahn 