At the March General Meeting, our speaker will be Mary Jo Hoffman who is an artist-photographer renowned for her unique and personal engagement with the natural world. Best known for her project, "STILL” where every day (every single day) for over a decade, she took a photograph of found nature –no subject too small or too ordinary. For Hoffman, a former aeronautical engineer, this daily ritual cracked open profound revelations about the connectedness of all things, the importance of place, and the creative life. Her book, STILL: The Art of Noticing features 275 of the most stunning photographs the author-artist has accumulated over thousands of consecutive days of daily shooting accompanied by perceptive, deeply felt, and often humorous essays illuminating the insights gained through this daily creative practice. Hoffman lives in Shoreview, Minnesota, on Turtle Lake, with her husband, Steve, a food writer and author, and her indulged puggle, Jack, who accompanies her on her daily foraging walks to find new subjects.
Join Hoffman as she shares her artistic process, approach to noticing, and the concept of micro-seasons, inspired by a Japanese approach to seasons, which divides the year into 72 five-day bursts. There will be time for Q&A if anyone has questions about Mary Jo's flat-lay techniques or photo editing process.
The presentation take-aways will be:
- The Transformative Power of Dailiness
- Placefulness as an Antidote to Online Placelessness
- The 72 Micro-Seasons of the North
- Noticing as an Act of Honoring Place
