Catherine Wagner: American Classrooms
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Moss Landing Elementary School, 7th & 8th Grade Science Room, CA, 1984
© Catherine Wagner
A few weeks ago, David Hilliard wrote down a few photographers for me to look up. I neglected to really look into the names on list until recently and rediscovered Catherine Wagner’s American Classrooms (photographs from 1984-1987), which has turned out to be a real inspiration for a project that I’m working on.
Other projects of hers can be seen here.
If you’re wondering, David also recommended that I look at the work of Matthew Monteith, a Yale graduate who has spent some time photographing at schools. However, I’ve found myself a bit more drawn to his landscapes and portraiture—many of which are in his new book Czech Eden (which will be coming out in May thanks to Aperture). Keep an eye out for this one.
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March 13th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Shane.
I have been enjoying the blog, thanks. I thought I’d leave you a link from a body of work I did while living in Minnesota. I was working for a website company, and was creating 360 degree panoramas. This gave me access to these schools, where I pretty much had free reign. Do not under any circumstances comment on the 3 year old web design!
http://justinjamesreed.com/schools.html
Best.
Justin
March 13th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Justin,
I’m really glad you shared these with me. You have some really powerful images in the series. Just one question for you—why aren’t these photographs on your current website? Also, I’m very happy with your newer ‘Westward’ edit. Again, thanks for writing.
Best,
Shane
P.S. I’ll respect your request about the web site. Mine has changed more times than I can count.
March 17th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Shane.
Thank you for the kind words about the work. It is not on the current site because I do not feel that the series was thoroughly explored, and hence not brought to fruition. I left for Idaho not too long after I started the project, which resulted in Westward. Take care.
Best.
May 17th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
[...] in March, I made a post about David Hilliard referring me to the work of a few photographers, one of them being Matthew [...]