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Breaking Barriers Photography Workshops for Veterans

Breaking Barriers is an annual series of photography workshops provided free of charge to veterans in the USF and Tampa Bay Community. Each multi-week series of workshops is designed for veterans to explore the tools and processes for creating their own photographic imagery. Each series concludes with a personal project and portfolio review. A special showing of curated works from each workshop and participant is exhibited at USF Contemporary Art Museum.

 

 

Upcoming Programs

 


Breaking Barriers - SUMMER 2024
Photography Workshops for Veterans

6-Week Artist-Led Online Workshop Series
July 12 – August 16, 2024 - Register by June 25

<Download Press Release PDF> 

Breaking Barriers is free to military veterans and their families. No previous experience is required for Beginning. Previous Breaking Barriers or photography experience is requested for Advanced. 

BEGINNING
Dressing the Table - A Brief Look into Still Life Photography
July 12 – August 16, 2024
Fridays, 8am-12pm

Join artist and photographer Christian Cortes for a series of online cellphone photography workshops designed for beginners. During this workshop participants will learn photography fundamentals to successfully create still life photographs that tell strong stories. The workshop will explore the importance of still life photography in history and how participants can use symbolism to convey concepts and other important issues. Participants will learn the principles of lighting, composition, and color, and how to use tools and techniques to elevate the quality of their photographs to achieve the best possible image. To amplify thinking and seeing, participants will be exposed to contemporary artists such as Damien Hirst and Yayoi Kusama who use objects and are renowned for their provocative artwork.
No Previous Photography Experience Required
Equipment: Cellphone with camera and iOS or Android operating systems
Other Optional equipment: A cellphone tripod or device that will serve as a stand and stabilizer is highly recommended.

ADVANCED
Bringing Objects to Life - Examining Our Fascination With the Object
July 12 – August 16, 2024
Fridays, 1pm-5pm

Join artist and photographer Christian Cortes for this advanced online series of photography workshops. The advanced workshop will explore the relationship between objects and how they are used to create well-composed photographs with striking narratives. Throughout history, objects have been used to represent morality, social standing, and identity. Participants will explore the conceptual potential of the still life and review photography fundamentals and good post-production practices. The workshop will focus on advanced studio skills such as lighting, composition, and visual storytelling. Participants will be exposed to contemporary art references and participate in critique sessions that will enhance the workshop experience and artwork created.
Prerequisite Required For Advanced: Breaking Barriers Beginning workshop or equivalent photography experience.
Equipment: Cellphone with camera and iOS or Android operating systems
Other Optional equipment: A cellphone tripod or device that will serve as a stand and stabilizer is highly recommended.  

Registration is open through June 25! Please email Amy at amyallison@usf.edu to register, or for more information.

Accessibility: The University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum (USFCAM) strives to make all programming accessible to visitors with disabilities. Please email Amy Allison or amyallison@usf.edu five days in advance of programming to request accommodations and for accessibility questions. 

Breaking Barriers 2024 is a program by USF Contemporary Art Museum in collaboration with the USF School of Art & Art History, is supported by the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, USF Office of Veterans Success, Community Arts Impact Grant of the Hillsborough Arts Council, Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, Love IV Lawrence, USFCAM ACE (Art for Community Engagement) Fund Patrons, and the Florida Department of State, Florida Arts & Culture.

 

 

Past Programs 

 


Breaking Barriers: PORTRAIT

May 14 – 18, 2024
USF Contemporary Art Museum

Reception + Artists Panel - May 17, 7-9pm

The USF Contemporary Art Museum is pleased to present the exhibition Breaking Barriers: PORTRAIT as part of its arts programming for military veterans. Breaking Barriers: PORTRAIT brings together the art of twenty-two U.S. veterans and their family members. The exhibition includes a selection of sixty-six photographs from two intensive artist-led photography workshops. These workshops, titled The Formation of a Smile: Breaking Down the Portrait and An Indulgence in Portraiture, employed cell phone cameras, empowering the artists to discreetly explore and expand the boundaries of portraiture. Participants ventured beyond conventional candid and selfie imagery, striving for diverse technical and conceptual approaches to capture more than just a person’s likeness or a surrogate representation. PORTRAIT offers glimpses into intimate worlds, invoking both bitter and sweet humor while evoking generations of memories. Through a diverse range of human stories, this collection of artworks broadens the parameters of the portraiture genre and contributes to our understanding of the human experience. 

The artists featured in the exhibition include Crimi Arrieta, Manfedo Bobadilla, Pat Colbert, Agustin Collazo Jr., Gail Cross, Amanda Dodd, Dr. Charley Ferrer, Evan Fountain, Janine Hargrett, Derek Hopkins, Valerie Larson, Kevin Lipton, Mikko Maki, Dolores Matteo, Alicia Morales, Karidad Ramis-Hartman, Chris Smith, Kimberlee Nicole Smith, Roger St. Julian, Monika Sutton, RaeAnne Swanson, and Viana L.M. Tavares-Fischer. We extend our deep gratitude to all the veterans and family members who were courageous and persistent enough to engage in the workshops and create their own photographic images. Their artwork serves as a visual platform, transforming the perception of the "silent veteran" into that of a storyteller and witness, amplifying the veteran voice within the larger community.

Breaking Barriers is a program by USF Contemporary Art Museum in collaboration with the USF School of Art & Art History, is supported by the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, USF Office of Veterans Success, Community Arts Impact Grant of the Hillsborough Arts Council, Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, Love IV Lawrence, USFCAM ACE (Art for Community Engagement) Fund Patrons, and the Florida Department of State, Florida Arts & Culture.

 

Breaking Barriers - SUMMER 2023
Photography WorkshopS For Veterans

6-Week Artist-Led Online Workshop Series
July 7 – August 11, 2023 - Register by July 1

<Download Press Release PDF> 

Breaking Barriers is free to veterans and their families. No previous experience is required for Section A (Beginning). Previous Breaking Barriers or photography experience is requested for Section B (Advanced). 

SECTION A (BEGINNING)
THE FORMATION OF A SMILE, BREAKING DOWN THE PORTRAIT
July 7 – August 11, 2023
Fridays, 8am-12pm
Join artist and photographer Christian Cortes for a series of online cellphone photography workshops designed for beginners. Participants will learn how to define portraiture by exploring different ways of recording someone’s likeness. Our participants will use their resourcefulness and their imaginations to create portraiture that goes beyond the familiar candid and selfie imagery. In this workshop we will learn to recognize the elements of good portraiture and use them as leverage when making photographs. The workshop will discuss the history of portraiture photography from a broader point of view by including historical figures like Francis Benjamin Johnson, Dorothea Lange, and Diane Arbus, as well as more contemporary figures like John Edmonds, Shizuoka Yokomizo, and Elle Perez. Participants will learn photography basics such as fundamentals of lighting, composition, and color, as well as how to use their camera and its special tools to create their own photographs. NO PREVIOUS PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE REQUIRED.
Equipment: Cellphone with camera and iOS or Android operating systems
Other Optional equipment: cellphone tripod or grip  

SECTION B (ADVANCED)
AN INDULGENCE IN PORTRAITURE
July 7 – August 11, 2023
Fridays, 1pm-5pm
Join artist and photographer Christian Cortes for this advanced online series of photography workshops. Going beyond the definition of portraiture, this workshop will explore tools used by artists to push portraiture to its limits. Should a portrait always include a person's face? Can objects stand in place for our subjects? Artists like John Edmonds challenge portraiture ideas and expose the way we relate clothing items —such as hoodies— to race and culture. Series like Edmonds’ Hoods will inspire participants to explore different artistic tools to create meaningful portraiture that expresses more than the preservation of a person's likeness. The workshop will deep dive into meaningful and compelling themes to create powerful imagery. Participants will learn advanced photo editing techniques to create conceptually and technically sound photographs. PREVIOUS BREAKING BARRIERS OR PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE IS REQUESTED.
Equipment: Cellphone with camera and iOS or Android operating systems
Other Optional equipment: cellphone tripod or grip. Other lighting and photographic equipment are welcome but not required.  

Registration is open through July 1! To register, or for questions or more information, email Amy Allison at amyallison@usf.edu.

Accessibility: The University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum (USFCAM) strives to make all programming accessible to visitors with disabilities. Please email Amy Allison or amyallison@usf.edu five days in advance of programming to request accommodations and for accessibility questions. 

Breaking Barriers 2023 is a program by the USF Contemporary Art Museum, and is supported by the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, Love IV Lawrence, Hillsborough Arts Council, USF Office of Veterans Success, USF School of Art & Art History, and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. The USF Contemporary Art Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

 

 

Breaking Barriers: Through Our Lens

December 8-9, 2022
USF Contemporary Art Museum and Online Presentation

USF Contemporary Art Museum is pleased to present the exhibition Breaking Barriers: Through Our Lens as part of arts programming for military veterans. Breaking Barriers: Through Our Lens brings together the art of sixteen U.S. veterans and family members. The exhibition includes a selection of forty-seven photographs from two intensive artist-lead photography workshops, including both a beginning and an advanced section. Through the artist’s lens, we are offered an intimate and close look at the quotidian, personal places and spaces, memories, and narratives by means of objects and landscapes. The artwork represents a vast range of photographic experience, from learning to use a camera, to professional photographers accomplished with film but starting fresh with digital technology, as well as those who have no prior art experience at all. Unique to this exhibition is the fact that all the photographs were created and edited with the artists’ own cellphone cameras. 

Artists in the exhibition include Jarrett Gafford, Dawn S. Hargrett, Rebekka Huneke, Ramonita Rosa, Kimberlee Nicole Smith, Monika Sutton, and Karl Young II from the beginning section, and James Alexander, Manfredo Bobadilla, Wildalys Class, Agustin Collazo Jr., Amanda Dodd, Evan Fountain, Mikko Maki, Alicia Morales, and RaeAnne Swanson from the advanced section. We are deeply grateful to all the veterans and family members who were courageous and persistent enough to engage in the workshops and create their own photographic images. Their artwork creates a visual platform that changes the culture of the “silent veteran,” into a storyteller, a witness, and amplifies the veteran voice within a larger community.

Breaking Barriers is a project by USFCAM in collaboration with the USF School of Art and Art History, with Support from the USF Office of Veterans Success, Community Arts Impact Grant Program of the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, Love IV Lawrence 2020 Waves of Change Grant, and additional support from the ACE Arts for Community Engagement Fund and the Florida Department of State. 

 

 

Breaking Barriers - SUMMER 2022
Photography WorkshopS For Veterans

6-Week Artist-Led Online Workshop Series
July 8 - August 12, 2022 - Register by July 1!

Breaking Barriers is free to veterans. No previous experience is required for Section A (Beginning). Previous Breaking Barriers or photography experience is requested for Section B (Advanced).

SECTION A (BEGINNING)
SEEING LIKE A CAMERA,WORKING LIKE AN ARTIST
July 8 - August 12, 2022
Fridays, 8am-12pm
Join photographer Selina Román in a series of inventive online photography workshops designed for beginners. There’s an old saying that the best camera is the one you have with you. Never has this been truer since the advent of the cellphone camera. With the ability to take unlimited photographs, the exciting challenge becomes creating thoughtful, meaningful, and high-quality photographs with your cellphone camera. The powerful technology and effects continue to wow us with each new update. But even with all that technology, the camera itself can never “see” like an artist. This workshop is for photography enthusiasts who want to learn how to create beautiful, thoughtful and engaging photographs. Participants will expand their approach to picture making through various photography exercises and by looking at the work of historical and contemporary photographers. Participants will learn photography basics such as fundamentals of lighting, composition and color, as well as how to use their cameras and its special tools like a pro. NO PREVIOUS PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE REQUIRED.

SECTION B (ADVANCED)
OUT OF THE BOX — NEW WAYS OF SEEING & MAKING PHOTOGRAPHS
July 8 – August 12, 2022
Fridays, 1pm-5pm
Join photographers Selina Román and Christian Cortes in this advanced online series of photography workshops. In an age where we create and consume images daily, creating a beautiful photograph is one half of the equation. It is when we create thoughtful and compelling images, that the photographs have substance and allow for greater understanding and meaning. In this workshop, students, already armed with the skills to create technically sound cellphone images will go a step further and create photographs that give the viewer pause and offer new ways of seeing, understanding, and expression. Through exposure to various types of art photography, peer reviews, and practice, participants will mine their own lives, beliefs, experiences, and interests to create meaningful artwork and good photographs. This will be accomplished through hands-on exercises, visual experimentation, class reviews and in class and out of class practice. Students will learn advanced photo editing techniques, create engaging and technically sound photographs, primarily via cellphones, learn contemporary approaches to photography such as thematic, narrative, conceptual, staged and documentary approaches, how to create visually compelling photographs that have meaning and substance and learn to use writing as a means of inspiration and self-expression in order create a personal narrative. PREVIOUS BREAKING BARRIERS OR PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE IS REQUESTED.

Registration is open through July 1! To register, or for questions or more information, email Amy Allison at amyallison@usf.edu.

Download the 2022 Breaking Barriers PDF Flyer to Print or Share!

Accessibility: The University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum (USFCAM) strives to make all programming accessible to visitors with disabilities. Please email Amy Allison or amyallison@usf.edu five days in advance of programming to request accommodations and for accessibility questions. 

Breaking Barriers 2022 is a program by the USF Contemporary Art Museum, and is supported by the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, Love IV Lawrence, Hillsborough Arts Council, USF Office of Veterans Success, USF School of Art & Art History, and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. The USF Contemporary Art Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

 

 

Breaking Barriers: Still in Motion

December 9-10, 2021
USF Contemporary Art Museum and Online Presentation

USF Contemporary Art Museum is pleased to present the exhibition Breaking Barriers: Still in Motion as part of arts programming to military veterans. Breaking Barriers: Still in Motion brings together the art of seventeen U.S. veterans. As a result of two intensive artist-lead photography and video workshops, the exhibition includes a selection of thirty-seven photographs and nine videos. Through the artist’s lens, we are offered an intimate look at the quotidian, personal places and spaces, memories, and narratives by means of objects and landscapes. The artwork represents a vast range of photographic experience, from learning to use a camera, to professional photographers accomplished with film but starting fresh with digital technology or video, as well as those who have no prior art experience at all. Unique to this exhibition is the fact that all the photographs and videos were created and edited with the artists’ own cellphone cameras. 

Artists in the exhibition are James Alexander, Roxi Cato, Wildalys Class, Agustin Collazo Jr., Michael Congdon, Giovanna Delacruz, Amanda Dodd, Dwight English, Loretta Fields, Dawn S. Hargrett, Evan Fountain, Mark Freeman, Robert Kidney, Mikko Maki, Matias, Alicia Morales, and RaeAnne Swanson. We are deeply grateful to all the veterans who were courageous and persistent enough to engage in the workshops and create their own photographic images. Their artwork creates a visual platform that changes the culture of the “silent veteran,” into a storyteller, a witness, and amplifies the veteran voice within a larger community. 

Breaking Barriers is a project by USFCAM in collaboration with the USF School of Art and Art History, with Support from the USF Office of Veterans Success, Community Arts Impact Grant Program of the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, Love IV Lawrence 2020 Waves of Change Grant, and additional support from the ACE Arts for Community Engagement Fund and the Florida Department of State. 

 

 

Breaking Barriers: Me, Myself and Eye

2020 Online Presentation

Me, Myself and Eye is an online presentation of sixty-seven photographs created by twenty-three military veterans who participated in the Breaking Barriers 2020 photography workshop. The educational workshop, led by artist Selina Román and assisted by artist Christian Cortés, focused on memory and personal experiences that were expressed through a broad interpretation of self-portraiture. Artists include: Michael Ball, TC Bryant, Larry Busby, David Canaday, Michael Congdon, Brandie Dziegiel, Loretta Fields, Jeaniel Image, Douglas Eric Jordan, Valerie Larson, John Leduc, Jason Lind, Mikko Maki, Alex Martinez, Matias, Noemys McConnell, Megan O’Connell, Robert Ortega, Adaina Plaza, Pat Randall, Heather Rivera, RaeAnne Swanson, and Michael Webb. 

Breaking Barriers 2020 is supported by the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, Love IV Lawrence, Hillsborough Arts Council, and the Florida Department of State.

 

 

Breaking Barriers: Photography & Memory

December 11–12, 2019
USF Contemporary Art Museum

Breaking Barriers: Photography & Memory presents a selection of artworks created by USF and Tampa Bay military veterans in a workshop led by photographer Forrest MacDonald. The photographs present reflections on the essence of memory, people, and place through their orchestration of light, creation of small sets, and use of a variety of lens-based and digital techniques. Artists include Larry Busby, Chris Camplin, Michael Congdon, Loretta Fields, Evan Fountain, Isabella Guevara, Chris Hardin, Jason Lind, RaeAnne Swanson, Andres Villa Hurtado, and Rachel Westphal.

Breaking Barriers is a project by USFCAM in collaboration with the USF School of Art and Art History, with the Support of the Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, and sponsored by Sue Mayo and Andy and Bea Shultz.

 

 

Breaking Barriers: Selected Work

December 12-13, 2018
USF Contemporary Art Musuem

USF Contemporary Art Museum is pleased to present the exhibition Breaking Barriers: Selected Work as part of arts programming for military veterans. Breaking Barriers: Selected Work brings together the art of thirteen U.S. veterans and creates a visual platform that changes the culture of the “silent veteran” into that of a story teller and a witness, and which serves to amplify the veteran voice within a larger community. The twenty-six photographs focus on themes of portraiture and personal identity. They were created in an intensive photography workshop led by artist James Reiman (see below), and represent a vast range of photographic experience–from beginners learning to use a camera, to professional photographers accomplished with film but starting fresh with digital technology. Artists in the exhibition are Amy Bagley, Deighton Saint-Cyr, James Alexander, Jayme Williams, John Enderton, Kayla Smart, Larry Busby, Mark Freeman, Mark Giddarie, Marty Kledzik, Matt Dawson, Michael Congdon, and Travis Pendergrass.

Breaking Barriers: Selected Work was a partnership with USF School of Art and Art History and is part of a statewide initiative of museums, Museums on Call, to develop and present arts based experiences for military veterans and their families. Museums on Call is supported, in part, by State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, National Endowment of the Arts and University of Florida’s Art in Medicine program.