APEIRON WORKSHOPS REUNION
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Closed
and again
And yet eternally closed
My town was closed. Systems were already in place and if you had any sense you would follow the rules. It was personal. These are just
reactions people had to me, nothing more. However the feeling was real, where I was from rejected who I was. It’s something you just know.
You are not one of us, you are not becoming one of us. Each person as they mate up or finds a set of friends is starting a new society, I was
searching for such a group. If you’re a freak who are they? Even my friends, the oddest the town had to offer, still had hopes of normalcy.
When at 18 I asked Andy Bush, the owner of the Bronxville camera shop and one time boy friend of my sister, about photo schools, Andy
said there was a workshop upstate. He flipped open the film cabinet door and on the back was the first Apeiron poster. Andy, son of a
Hollywood movie producer, was more than weird enough to recognize a perfectly odd direction when he saw one.
The people Apeiron attracted were already searching.
Experienced in the way the world was expected to look.
They shed layers quickly. I loved this so much.
I felt guilt about how easy this was in the world of a workshop.
Mark was one of the few workshop instructors that would allow
students to watch him photograph. This was at some hazard to himself because
Millerton was his territory. Looking back on it, Mark would go about his routine
3 or 4 of us in tow and somehow the people being photographed
didn’t notice. He may have had the whole town hypnotized.
Judy Dater divided the workshop into pairs. The exercise was to feel your partners face,
concentrating on bone structure.
I was pretty virginal and uptight, far from touching or being touched.
She was older, making it more awkward.
I managed to give my self to it without laughing.
This is all I learned from Judy. I don’t remember her voice the way she looked, nothing.
When keeping a personal notepad,
thoughts may turn to the fathers influence.
You need discipline to avoid following voices of the past that don't serve the release of your spirit.
The subject at Apeiron may have not been photography.
The rolling fields absorb a boys energy.
I didn’t know Jim all that well at Apeiron.
Only later after Jim and Nina moved to Hillburn did
we start to hang out.
Apeiron was over, the people who
were close in distance found each other.
The thing I loved so much
about Jim was he could free associate.
The conversations where kaleidoscopic with
real depth to the endless descriptions and
stories. Beyond the thinking. I always felt
comfortable around Jim as if he was my true
found brother.
Bill starts on an assignment
Things turn serious
People were always coming and going at Apeiron. It seemed everyone was welcome.
Absolutely no concern over meals, who stayed where or why.
So far as I could tell all switches were flicked to open.
I didn’t know Charlie for another five years and it is amazing to see him crossing
my path in this archived negative.
Charlie was fierce in his methods and alliances. Eventually cutting many of his ties to non Armenians. It was a blow he was a great guy
Every Person at sometime needs a little still water, a place one can become more themself.
Barbara on a field trip site
Eric photographing Sybil making a call. Temple prostrate in background.
It's important to name the game your playing.
The old cut off pole where are the wires line up game
Field trip destinations were not disclosed, early in the morning, dark, no food it was a bit
like being kidnaped except we were on some unexplained mission. Tanya!
Paul would say enough photographs have been taken.
There is a lot of open space around Apeiron. As new thoughts and experiences came
it was easy to feel yourself becoming part of the land.
Judith came out only for the Gibson, Mary Ellen Mark workshop.
Judith had a burning sun of enthusiasm.
Our thing was the dissection of photo books. One workshop participants
were more desperate, there was only one week to climb
completely through the hatch. Those who stayed
for multiple workshops were likely to be sleep deprived, losing
weight, and generally suffering from mania.
Judith, for all her energy, was dead 4 years later.
Bill engaging in shark like behavior
The conditions were humble. They did a lot in a little space. The dorms were almost always empty except to change or sleep.
Frank moves into the morning light with Strider.
Silver Mountain felt like home.
Strider would go with you on
a walk or run as if he was your dog.
He was old, stiff and covered
with battle scars. Despite his
arthritis, the local farm dogs
were terrified of him.
Fred photographs a darkness.
Ann at a critique. Not so easy to explain yourself every two days.
Sybil escapes four leaf cloverism.
Larry listening to Temple.
Bush
Sara Les
Fred
Barbara
Frank
Larry
Sybil
Sue
Temple
Eric
We crawled streets and backyards like ants, to make sense of your old car, clothesline, birdbath.
Dreams are precious, the dreamer may only have the dream once wishing to remember more grabbing for pieces before they dissipate into
the ether. Because the dream is singular and rare, many of the dreamers have speculated about the dreams creator. That’s right, it’s a group
dream. The first time I saw Peter he drifted into the kitchen wearing a motorcycle jacket. He was clear eyed and curious about us. He came
off as a friendly biker. Peter was fun. He claimed the ability to describe a person in purely automotive terms. He had that mechanical aspect.
Peter was looking for the parts to put together in some meaningful picture. I imagine the task of maintaining a dream occupied by so many
dreamers to be a burden. The best thing Peter did was he didn’t try to be everything to everyone. I found Peter to always be open, to listen,
to always be a friend. I don’t know how long Apeiron existed. I wasn’t there in the beginning only at the end perhaps a decade, not long
enough to ever have a stable period or to become an institution. I have trouble paying my bills. Apeiron, the craziest contraption you ever saw,
flew, yes soared for 8 maybe ten revolutions around the sun!
Driving was important to Apeiron. I once spent a week with Lawrence out on Long Island. It surprised me he rarely got out of the car
to photograph. So many of the photographs had a sweeping through the landscape feel.
What was, the purpose of Apeiron?
Kimball had a unique disposition.
It's not that he wouldn't get mad, it's by the time this occurred you'd be exhausted.
I never before had met anyone like this.
I admired him for it.
Larry White, who along with being my teacher, once gave me and Cathy the fastest ride to a train we will ever have.
It gave us a little more time on some last day.
SILVER MOUNTAIN MEMORIES
PICTURES #2
Mark Goodman
Robert Minden
Per Brandin
Claude Rie
Sharon Smith
Nancy Gonchar
Branko Lenart
Dennis Church
Group Show
SX–70's