{"id":301,"date":"2017-12-09T18:55:20","date_gmt":"2017-12-09T23:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/memecorp.com\/bristolworkshops\/?page_id=301"},"modified":"2017-12-11T13:53:19","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T18:53:19","slug":"teachers-words-critics-reviews","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bristolworkshopsinphotography.com\/index.php\/press\/teachers-words-critics-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachers\u2019 Words and Critics\u2019 Views"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/i> Upon receipt of my first grant from the RI State Council on the Arts \u2013 1975, Ralph Hattersly in choosing my portfolio as the finalist wrote, \u201cStephen, I can\u2019t believe these pictures, they\u2019re utterly ridiculous and I love them\u2026 You are a fucking idiot!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Harry Callahan, my teacher at RISD upon considering me for the graduate program in 1974, \u201cI think you\u2019d do better at the Visual Studies Workshop\u2026 they can deal with heady people like you who like to talk too much\u2026 you know you\u2019re a god-damn blabbermouth\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Harry Callahan upon selecting my work for an NEA fellowship in 1978\u2026 \u201cI like what you\u2019re doing\u2026 It\u2019s like this fashion thing you have going\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Ciprianna Scelba, Director of the Fulbright Program in Rome, upon my request to abandon my documentary project in Orvieto and return to Rome to work in 1977, \u201cWe just want you to be happy\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Galway Kinnell, upon consideration of my angels and a collaboration wrote in 1982,\u00a0\u201cI like your angels, but they\u2019re not for me\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Robert Bly, in 1990 after taking five years to decide to work together on the Angels of Pompeii, \u201cI like these angels\u2026 I\u2019m ready\u2026 let\u2019s do it\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Malcolm Grear, in preparing me for the press run of Angels of Pompeii in 1991\u2026 \u201cDon\u2019t try to match the book to your prints, let the press show you what else is possible, it\u2019s another way\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Aaron Siskind, around 1975 in the company of two people of shared Jewish heritage turned to me and said, \u201cYou know you\u2019re a goy\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Aaron Siskind, in reviewing my graduate thesis, Women & Rope in 1976,\u00a0\u201cCan\u2019t you come up with a better title than that?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Minor White, in giving me a critique of my John Brown House series in 1976, \u201cInteresting but quite cynical\u2026 I don\u2019t think I can penetrate them\u2026they\u2019re too cynical\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Lisette Model, after looking at my photographs in 1975, with a saddened and sympathetic expression\u2026 \u201cI don\u2019t believe these photographs\u2026 you know you are out of place\u2026 you have I believe, a 19th century nervous system\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Ellen Edwards, The Washington Post in 1980 writes\u2026 \u201cBrigidi\u2019s nudes show no coyness, but rather an unblinking candor\u2026 the viewer is accepted, if not welcomed, with openness.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Edward Sozanski, critic in reviewing the solo Bristol Art Museum show in 1982\u2026 \u201cBrigidi is an artist who masters form has only won half the battle\u2026 unless he imbues that form with emotive power, he will have created little more than a permutation of Jayne Mansfield\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandi Fellman writing in Views in 1986, \u201cBrigidi\u2019s Hawaiian landscapes are fantastic in color and disturbing in form\u2026 he enhances the suspense created by the tenuous arrangement\u2026 amplifying the gentle disquiet\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Bill Van Sicklen, Providence Journal critic wrote in 1986 about the Hawaiian work\u2026 \u201cBrigidi\u2019s landscapes are about inner states as much as they are about outer realities\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Marcia Morse, Honolulu Star Bulletin, writes in 1984\u2026 \u201cBrigidi\u2019s portrait work continues to possess a visual tautness, suggesting that we need no more mask that our own skin-stretched over flesh and bone \u2013 to keep the human enigma intact\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Mary McCoy in writing about the Angels of Pompeii exhibit in the Washington Post in 1992\u2026 \u201cPhotographer Brigidi and poet Bly have created a fertile realm, where images and words invite reflection on the coming of the new year\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Richard Tsao, in the New York Times writes in 1993\u2026 \u201cStephan Brigidi\u2019s color image of an angel painted on a wall as a small print is like a fairy tale\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe Fuoco, The Echo in 1992\u2026 \u201cBrigidi\u2019s <\/em>Angels speak of a bonding, that connective tissue of familiarity, of some occult rapprochement that is perhaps inexplicable, but that is also contagious\u2026 for anyone of the \u201cblood\u201d who examines these photographs feels also a kinship with an earlier blood, a relativity with one\u2019s heritage\u2026 bonding with Pompeii thus becomes a natural experience\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Robert Doty writes in Art New England in 1984\u2026 \u201cStephan Brigidi\u2019s photographs provoke questions, doubts, anxieties\u2026 they present tension and conflict between desire and fulfillment\u2026 these are images about the emotions that transform ordinary lives, and that is what great art is all about\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Mario Giacomelli said to me in 1980\u2026 \u201cTu sei proprio Italiano\u2026 Facciamo una mostra insieme\u2026\u201d<\/em> (You are a true Italian\u2026 let\u2019s make a show together\u2026\u201d \u2013 Honolulu Academy of Arts, October 1984<\/p>\n

Manuel Alvarez Bravo in 1993 (in our two person show at the Witkin Gallery, as translated to me) \u2013 \u201cI like these gentle images (the angels)\u2026 I am pleased to show with you\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Carl Chiarenza, in showing with me at the Witkin Gallery in 1996 about my Carnevale series\u2026 \u201cBig, bold and beautiful\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Ivan Karp, long time owner of OK Harris Gallery in Soho, upon reviewing my Letters From Hana portfolio of slides in 1987 remarked \u201cThis is competent work, very competent\u2026 I could sell it\u2026 all of it\u2026 but you know, it\u2019s all paper and it wouldn\u2019t even pay my light bill\u2026 Bring me canvas or steel\u2026 I need canvas or steel\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Harry Callahan, Ralph Hattersly, Galway Kinnell, Robert Why,
\nAaron Siskind, Minor White, Lisette Model, Mario Giacomelli,
\nManuel Alvarez Bravo, Carl Chiarenza, Ivan Karp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Upon receipt of my first grant from the RI State Council on the Arts \u2013 1975, Ralph Hattersly in choosing my portfolio as the finalist wrote, \u201cStephen, I can\u2019t believe these pictures, they\u2019re utterly ridiculous and I love them\u2026 You are a fucking idiot!\u201d Harry Callahan, my teacher at RISD upon considering me for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":15,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-301","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bristolworkshopsinphotography.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bristolworkshopsinphotography.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bristolworkshopsinphotography.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bristolworkshopsinphotography.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bristolworkshopsinphotography.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/bristolworkshopsinphotography.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322,"href":"https:\/\/bristolworkshopsinphotography.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301\/revisions\/322"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bristolworkshopsinphotography.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bristolworkshopsinphotography.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}