STUDIO VISIT

Sandi Fellman

Fellman Synopsis

by Glenn Kawabata

The informal visit to Sandi Fellman’s SoHo studio began with the artist giving a bit of her personal history. She has known Cheryl Younger for many years, and has taught for several years at various institutions, including Bemidji State University, the University of New Mexico, and Rutgers University. Her career as a commercial artist began about ten years into her teaching career. It was one in which she was self-taught and therefore, forced to be innovative.

While passing around three portfolios of her commercial work and several books (including several of her own) for the audience to peruse, Fellman discussed some of the aspects of leaving academia for the world of commercial photography. Some issues discussed included the lack of security, which she felt was more than compensated for, both financially and creatively. Fellman views her commercial work as a way to support her other art. She also mentioned that commercial photography is suited better for some people than for others because of its difficulties, interpersonal requirements, and the dynamic nature of ever-changing jobs.

Fellman then talked about her book projects and discussed how she enjoys the design and flow of the printed form. She also referred to the democratized access of photography in this sense. She has produced several books, including “Open Secret”, “The Japanese Tattoo of 1999”, and “Baby in 2000”. She is currently working on another book entitled “Sometimes With Shadows”. The conversation then segued into a discussion of how computers and digital technologies have changed the nature of commercial portfolios by making it easier to have immediate images to insert into her portfolio, as well as making it possible to remove text and copy where necessary from the images.

The question was asked whether Fellman spent more time working on commercial projects or personal ones. She replied that because her commercial work funds her personal work, she has to give the commercial work precedence. Fellman allows the commercial work to form her schedule and confessed that the hardest aspect of working in both worlds was having to change gears from one form to the other.

Her book “The Japanese Tattoo” was discussed next. Fellman mentioned the sponsorship of the project by Polaroid, who provided both a twenty by twenty-four inch camera as well as film. Incidentally the book is still in print and Fellman exhibited the work at the American Museum of Natural History in the exhibit entitled “Body Art”. As an aside she mentioned an incident whereby some of her images had been reproduced by the gift shop museum without her permission. The items were eventually available for sale to the public. Her conclusion was that ultimately, that situation was part of what happens when ones work enters the mainstream. Fellman then briefly described her involvement with the decorating of the Shoreham II Hotel in NYC, which led to a discussion of her personal work, described as the opposite of her commercial work. Described in opposing terms, Fellman felt her commercial work could be described as frenzied, built, and used, as opposed to her art, which she described as Zen-like, natural and found. She mentioned that she writes a lot of letters to people (her MFA thesis was a documentary of the prostitutes at Mustang Ranch in Nevada) including one most recently to the poet Charles Wright, whom she describes as one of her favorite poets and someone who she gains inspiration from.

Concluding with audience questions, Fellman fielded inquiries regarding her position on her role in projecting female images into the commercial and public arena. Although she admitted it is an important issue and has even sent away models that she thought were too thin, Fellman said that perhaps she doesn’t have such intense or militant integrity as she could, but that she does her best to be responsible. Another question asked addressed who controlled the photo shoot. She said that generally it was the client or client representative if they are present—otherwise she is in control of the shoot.

Fellman ended with a discussion about her involvement, along with Shelley Rice, in creating a woman’s photography collection for the Avon Corporation, which contains the work of a veritable who’s who of women involved in photography.


	STUDIO VISIT Sandi Fellman Fellman Synopsis by Glenn Kawabata The informal visit to Sandi Fellman’s SoHo studio began with the artist giving a bit of her personal history. She has known Cheryl Younger for many years, and has taught for several years at various institutions, including Bemidji State University, the University of New Mexico, and Rutgers University. Her career as a commercial artist began about ten years into her teaching career. It was one in which she was self-taught and therefore, forced to be innovative. While passing around three portfolios of her commercial work and several books (including several of her own) for the audience to peruse, Fellman discussed some of the aspects of leaving academia for the world of commercial photography. Some issues discussed included the lack of security, which she felt was more than compensated for, both financially and creatively. Fellman views her commercial work as a way to support her other art. She also mentioned that commercial photography is suited better for some people than for others because of its difficulties, interpersonal requirements, and the dynamic nature of ever-changing jobs. Fellman then talked about her book projects and discussed how she enjoys the design and flow of the printed form. She also referred to the democratized access of photography in this sense. She has produced several books, including “Open Secret”, “The Japanese Tattoo of 1999”, and “Baby in 2000”. She is currently working on another book entitled “Sometimes With Shadows”. The conversation then segued into a discussion of how computers and digital technologies have changed the nature of commercial portfolios by making it easier to have immediate images to insert into her portfolio, as well as making it possible to remove text and copy where necessary from the images. The question was asked whether Fellman spent more time working on commercial projects or personal ones. She replied that because her commercial work funds her personal work, she has to give the commercial work precedence. Fellman allows the commercial work to form her schedule and confessed that the hardest aspect of working in both worlds was having to change gears from one form to the other. Her book “The Japanese Tattoo” was discussed next. Fellman mentioned the sponsorship of the project by Polaroid, who provided both a twenty by twenty-four inch camera as well as film. Incidentally the book is still in print and Fellman exhibited the work at the American Museum of Natural History in the exhibit entitled “Body Art”. As an aside she mentioned an incident whereby some of her images had been reproduced by the gift shop museum without her permission. The items were eventually available for sale to the public. Her conclusion was that ultimately, that situation was part of what happens when ones work enters the mainstream. Fellman then briefly described her involvement with the decorating of the Shoreham II Hotel in NYC, which led to a discussion of her personal work, described as the opposite of her commercial work. Described in opposing terms, Fellman felt her commercial work could be described as frenzied, built, and used, as opposed to her art, which she described as Zen-like, natural and found. She mentioned that she writes a lot of letters to people (her MFA thesis was a documentary of the prostitutes at Mustang Ranch in Nevada) including one most recently to the poet Charles Wright, whom she describes as one of her favorite poets and someone who she gains inspiration from. Concluding with audience questions, Fellman fielded inquiries regarding her position on her role in projecting female images into the commercial and public arena. Although she admitted it is an important issue and has even sent away models that she thought were too thin, Fellman said that perhaps she doesn’t have such intense or militant integrity as she could, but that she does her best to be responsible. Another question asked addressed who controlled the photo shoot. She said that generally it was the client or client representative if they are present—otherwise she is in control of the shoot. Fellman ended with a discussion about her involvement, along with Shelley Rice, in creating a woman’s photography collection for the Avon Corporation, which contains the work of a veritable who’s who of women involved in photography.