Society for Photographic Education
41st National Conference – March 25-28, 2004

Photography and Place:
Home-Neighborhood-Nation-World

Newport, Rhode Island at Hyatt Regency Goat Island

The place for SPE is Newport and it is spectacular. Founded in 1639, this colonial town of 30,000 winter residents occupies a rocky promontory at the confluence of Narragansett Bay and the open Atlantic Ocean. This year we're offering some exciting tours and seminars starting on Thursday, so register to come early and enjoy the region's gorgeous landscape and architecture (before we lock you into dark rooms with slide projectors).

The 2004 conference will examine what "Place" means in its broadest sense. We'll look inside our homes and outside ourselves to our neighborhoods and natural environment, and further outward to those nations overseas or across borders where we have lived or visited. The programming promises to be exceptionally strong as we've received a record 158 proposals this year. The Keynote Address by photographer Frank Gohlke will take place Thursday night in a beautiful historic "art church." Mark Sealy, Director of Britain’s Autograph: The Association of Black Photographers, will speak Friday evening as Featured Speaker, followed by Honored Educator Jerome Liebling. Jerry will be introduced by his renowned student, filmmaker Ken Burns. On Saturday we'll gallery-hop across town to a magnificent oceanside mansion for a reception hosted by Salve Regina University. And each day there are loads of talks, tours, special events, meetings, portfolio reviews and mentoring, anchored by an expanded exhibits and publishers fair.

Bring your foul weather gear, walking shoes, cameras, and binoculars. See you at the lighthouse!

Sandy Sorlien, 2004 Conference Chair

Speakers

Mark Sealy, the director of Autograph: The Association of Black Photographers in London, will be the featured speaker on Friday night. As previously announced, Frank Gohlke will be delivering the keynote address, and SPE’s founding member Jerome Liebling will be speaking as the honored educator after an introduction by his renowned student, the filmmaker Ken Burns.

Visit our Speaker Bio Page for more detailed information about conference speakers.

In addition to the main speakers, a dynamic line-up of presentations will be given by Barry Anderson, Walter Bodle, Dan Burden, Christopher Burnett, Laura Burns, Chan Chao, François Deschamps, Steffi Domike, Jennifer Dorsey, Michael Ensdorf, Christa Erickson, Vincent Feldman, Paola Ferrario, Ann Fessler, Gretchen Garner, Amy Holmes George, David Gissen, Christine Gorby, Susan kae Grant, Nancy Whipple Grinnell, Andy Grundberg, Muriel Hasbun, Andrew Hershberger, Darius Himes, Jeffrey Hoone, Keith Johnson, Randy Juster, Daniel Kariko, Dean Kessmann, Joan Klatchko, Gary Kolb, Julieanne Kost, Katharine Kreisher, Marie-Susanne Langille, Laura Larson, Liz Lee, James Lerager, Janice Levy, Lydia Lunn, Joan Lyons, Stephen Marc, Lawrence McFarland McFarland, Gary Metz, Therese Mulligan, Zoeann Murphy, Kenda North, Robert ParkeHarrison, Shana ParkeHarrison, Janet Pritchard, Lisa Quinn, Susan Ressler, Kathleen Robbins, E. Brady Robinson, Meridel Rubenstein, Dan Schlapbach, Rachel Schreiber, Lauren Shaw, Marni Shindelman, Monique Silverman, George Slade, Rod Slemmons, Nancy Stuart, Mary Virginia Swanson, Teresa Tamura, Joyce Tenneson, Anthony Thompson, George F. Thompson, Nick Tobier, Alejandro Tomas, Anna Tomczak, Toshi Ueshina, Liz Wells, Deborah Whaley, Ken White, William Williams, Michelle Woodward, James L. Yarnall and Janet Zandy.

Presenters in the Graduate Student Track are: Joy Christiansen (Texas Woman’s University), Maria Colón & Jules Keith (University of Florida), Sarina Finkelstein (School of Visual Arts), Christopher Jordan (Rochester Institute of Technology) and Tarrah Susan Krajnak (University of Notre Dame).

Registration

*Member conference rates require a 2004 membership. If you are not currently a member or your membership has expired, please include the appropriate membership fee to be eligible for the members’ rate. Please note that non-member rates are more expensive than membership + member rate.

Day and Session Passes

Day and session passes are available during onsite conference registration only. Daypass holders have unlimited access to the presentations for their respective day. They are however excluded from participating at the formal portfolio reviews, seminars and workshops.

Only full registrations include the option to participate in the Adobe seminar, the Ilford seminar or the one-on-one portfolio reviews.

Conference Hotel

SPE’s 2004 national conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency on Goat Island in Newport, Rhode Island.

Hyatt Regency
1 Goat Island,
Newport, RI 02840
401-851-1234
1-800-233-1234
www.newport.hyatt.com

The Hyatt Regency Room Block is sold out. There may be a few full-priced rooms available.

Alternate Lodgings

Transportation

If you are flying, we suggest coming in through Providence (TF Green Airport). (This is NOT near Amtrak Providence station or RIPTA bus stations.) The conference hotel in Newport is about a 35-minute drive away from the Providence airport. If you are planning to take a shuttle to Newport, please be advised that there is only one shuttle service. The shuttle company STRONGLY RECOMMENDS THAT YOU MAKE RESERVATIONS (24 HRS) IN ADVANCE. Reserved passengers are given priority seating over walk-on passengers. Cozy Transportation Services state that they are not responsible for failing to pick-up any passenger who fails to make a reservation. To make a reservation, please call 1-800-846-1502 or (401) 846-1500. Fare is $20 per passenger each way for the estimated 35-45-minute ride to Newport area hotels.

For those coming in by train we suggest Providence station unless you have someone meeting you in Kingston or don't mind paying $38 for a cab. Kingston is closer to Newport, but you can take RIPTA from Providence to Newport. This is more frequent and faster (even at 60 minutes), than any bus from Kingston station, and a lot cheaper than taking a cab or van, even a shared van. RIPTA is $1.25 one way (bring exact change). Details available at www.ripta.com. The bus route in question is #60, and printed bus schedules are available at the Newport Visitors Center or from Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence. The Providence stop is just a couple of blocks from RISD.

If you are taking the train to Kingston Amtrak station, please be advised that taxis and vans must be booked 24 hours in advance. Taxi and rental car info from Kingston station: http://www.trainweb.org/kin/

If you are coming to the conference by car and need instructions, get a start at the Newport website at http://www.gonewport.com/gettingaround.

New England regional travel by bus is cheap and convenient; the Bonanza Bus Lines Terminal is a short walk from the Hyatt.

PARKING AT THE HYATT: Parking is available for OVERNIGHT GUESTS ONLY at the Hyatt for $5 a day. Day visitors or those staying at other lodgings may use the public lot at the Vistors Center, a 6-8 minute walk from the Hyatt. Those staying at the Marriott may use the Marriott lot and walk over to the Hyatt.

PARKING IN DOWNTOWN NEWPORT: If you drive to restaurants and the evening talks in the church, be warned that although on-street parking is free this time of year, it is in short supply. Use the RIPTA map in your conference packet to find public and private lots. The closest free public lot to the church is the Gateway Visitors Bureau lot. WE ADVISE WALKING TO DOWNTOWN EVENTS, RESTAURANTS, AND GALLERIES unless it is sleeting heavily. Or take RIPTA trolleys until 8 PM (9 on Saturday).

Exhibitors and Sponsors

SPE would like to thank our generous 2004 sponsors, exhibits fair participants and advertisers.

Students

Students planning to attend the conference have the opportunity to become an SPE volunteers in exchange for a conference fee waiver. Volunteer responsibilities include helping out at the lectures, conference auction, portfolio sessions, registration, etc. Each volunteer is required to work eight hours (spread over the conference) and must attend one of the training session on Wednesday, March 24, 2004 in the afternoon (4-6 pm) or evening (9-11 pm). All volunteers need to pre-register for the conference and be current, 2004 SPE members. Postmark deadline is Feb. 14, 2004.
Newport volunteers and scholarship recipients are invited to participate in a half-day Student Seminar on Thursday morning, March 25, 2004 with presentations by Susan kae Grant, Mary Virginia Swanson and Keith Johnson. This seminar is sponsored by Hasselblad and Oriental.

Volunteer Opportunities (PDF)
Registration deadline: Feb. 14, 2004

Portfolio Reviews

We will be again offering one-on-one portfolio review sessions for registrants attending the full conference. (Sorry, no daypasses.) Educators from a range of institutions along with curators, gallery directors, critics and other photographic professionals will be available to look at your art work. Early registration is advisable, as the sign-up order will be influenced by the order of conference registrations. We will also have open portfolio sharings on Thursday and Sunday, so please bring your images. Complete sign-up guidelines (pdf).

The tentative list of portfolio reviewers includes Barry Anderson, Catherine Angel, Anthony Aziz, Wendy Babcox, Darryl Baird, Tulu Bayar, Walter Bodle, Michelle Bogre, Steve Brown, Monica Chau, Ann Chwatsky, Gary S. Colby, James Colby, Colette Copeland, Alma Davenport, Sylvia De Swaan, Rick Dingus, Susan Dunkerley, Dennie Eagleson, Christa Erickson, Cass Fey, Harris Fogel, Diana Gaston, Judy Gelles, Arlene Gottfried, Richard Gray, Jessica Todd Harper, Phil Harris, Susan Issacs, Tom Jimison, Lisa Jones, Scott Jost, Daniel Kariko, Perry Kirk, Joan Klatchko, Mark Klett, Katharine Kreisher, Scott David Laird, Marie-Susanne Langille, James Lerager, Susan Lipper, Fern Logan, Joan Lyons, Annu Matthew, D. John McCarthy, Gary Metz, Gary Minnix, Rebekah Modrak, Brian Moss, Rebecca Nolan, Marisa S. Olson, Stephen Perloff, Janet Pritchard, Jim Ramer, Neal Rantoul, Kathleen Robbins, Jan Roddy, Karen Schwenkmeyer, Ariel Shanberg, Naomi Shersty, Monique Silverman, Jane Alden Stevens, Stan Strembicki, Andrew L. Strout, Mark Taylor, Anthony Thompson, Nick Tobier, Andrea Wallace, Greg Watts, David Wells, Liz Wells and Cheryl Younger. Please see bios to find out if the portfolio reviewers will be looking at student work or professional artists’ work only.

Portfolio reviewer bios

Career Placement

The conference includes a career placement service. As part of this, we have a room set aside for companies, especially universities, to post job openings, accept resumes and schedule interviews. Tables will be provided for interviews. You are welcome to bring flyers or job descriptions to the conference and set these out in the Job Room free of charge. If you are advertising or posting your job opening in our SPE newsletter, we will automatically post your information at the conference and on our website. Visit current career listings here.

Job listings may be placed in the SPE Members' Newsletter and on SPE's website. See rates.

Gallery Tour/Photography Shows

The Newport Gallery Tour will be an enjoyable, mostly walkable tour. Barbara Shamblin from our institutional host Salve Regina University is coordinating the Saturday Gallery Tour through Newport, which will be followed by a reception in the splendid Ochre Court mansion on the Salve Regina campus on Newport’s Cliff Walk.

Photography Shows in Rhode Island

Special Tours

Special tours will be offered throughout the conference. Most require preregistration. Costs vary. Tours include a trip to Providence and RISD, seal watching on Narragansett Bay, a morning run and photography tour at Beavertail Point State Park, a boat ride to Rose Island for birdwatching and photography and a Primitive Landscape workshop. Walking tours are also available. Visit the tour page here.

Mentoring Program

SPE is pleased to announce an expanded format of the Mentoring Program at the Newport conference. The program supports MFA Photography and New Media graduate students through career development. Requests to participate must be made by January 15, 2004. Detailed description. More information on the mentoring program here.

Seminars

Ilford Seminar: Ilford will be offering a free seminar titled "Ink Jet Technology for the Artist," taught by Randy Juster. The seminar is scheduled 1-2 pm on Thursday. The Ilford Seminar is full.

Adobe Seminar: Adobe is offering a free workshop titled "Teaching Adobe Photoshop" on photoshop and other Adobe software. It is led by Julieanne Kost. The seminar is scheduled 2-4 pm on Thursday. The Adobe Seminar is full.

Deadlines

Please mark your calendar with these important dates:

Questions

For general questions, please contact:
SPE National Office in Oxford, OH
phone 216/622-2733
fax 513/529-1532
or email speoffice if you have any questions or if you require special assistance during the conference.