'Whistler' By CB Adams Juried Into Prestigious Art Through the Lens Exhibition at Yeiser Art Center

Originating in 1975 as the Paducah Summer Festival Photo Competition, Art Through the Lens has grown from a fledgling contest into an international juried exhibition. Over the past 49 years this exhibition has become one of the Mid-South’s most prestigious annual photographic events at the Yeiser ARt Center.

This year, juror Philip McCabe chose Whistler by CB Adams as well as 61 other works from more than 500 submissions from35 U.S. states along with two other countries with an additional 36 that were juried into the Regional Salon.

Art Through the Lens runs from September 10 – November 9, 2024. Closing reception: Saturday, November 9, 2024, 4 – 6pm. Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm. 200 Broadway, Paducah, Kentucky 42001, 270.442.2453.

McCabe’s Juror’s State from the exhibition catalogue: “I am delighted to serve as the Juror for the Yeiser Art Center, Art Through the Lens exhibition in 2024. To all the artists who submitted to the exhibition; thank you for the opportunity to view so many distinctive works. To the artists selected for show, congratulations. As an artist, who works with photography and as a curator, who organizes exhibitions focused on imaging. I was very interested to discover what others are doing with this versatile medium. After careful consideration, I ultimately chose works that represented the traditional hallmarks of the photographic process. Whether that be a commitment to technical execution or works that represent the long history of image experimentation and manipulation in photography. I also focused on qualities that I believe revealed the thought process of the image creator. While this curatorial mindset framed my decisions, it should be noted, a different juror could have easily chosen other works for an entirely different and equally gratifying exhibition.

The works in the exhibition span the breadth of the photographic process and all that it may encompass. You will experience traditional photos right alongside experimental and even mystifying images, which I am uncertain of their origin and techniques of production. Please join me in the enrichment of Art Through the Lens 2024.

I Am A Fortunate (Artistic) Son of Missouri

St. Louis-based writer-photographer CB Adams

Missouri Arts Council Names Writer-Photographer C.B. Adams A Featured Artist

 I am blessed (and somewhat burdened) to be a hyphenated artist – a writer-photographer. Even when I was in high school and contemplating my career, I weighed whether to become a writer or a photographer. I chose writing as my career path – a career that began at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and comprised stints as a trade journal editor, feature reporter for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, publications editor at Washington University in St. Louis, creative director for a deluxe international travel company, and my day job today as a senior writer for a technology company – with other steps in between.

 As I progressed in the writing world, I also earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. My short stories have found homes in prestigious journals like River Styx, Zoetrope All-Story Extra, and Elder Mountain: A Journal of Ozarks Studies. In 1995, I was awarded the Missouri Arts Council’s highest (now defunct) literary award, the Writers’ Biennial. The Riverfront Times took note of my writing, dubbing me “St. Louis' Most Under-Appreciated Writer” that same year.

 I’ve also taught as an adjunct at a variety of writing and photography courses in the St. Louis region, including St. Charles Community College and Laclede Honor’s College at UM-St. Louis, Webster University. I also review local theater, musical theater, opera, dance/ballet and symphonic music for Poplife STL and KDHX radio.

“Glaring No Gazing” is a silver gelatin photograph from my decade-long project, True North, which has been exhibited in shows at St. Louis Artists Guild and Art Saint Louis.

 Throughout my adventures in the writing world, I never put down my cameras for very long. But approximately 15 years ago, after a serious health scare, I elevated my work and practice in photography. Since then, amidst the familiar sights of my own backyard, I've crafted a sizeable portion of my body of work that has been exhibited and celebrated across the country. My aim has always been to capture the essence of the universal within the local, to create art that speaks to a broader truth while rooted in the everyday.

 I approach photography as a medium to convey stories, using a diverse array of formats (35mm, 120, 4x5 and 8x10 film cameras) to capture moments that invite viewers to delve deeper. From the meticulous detail of large-format bellows cameras to the unfiltered authenticity of cheap plastic ones, each tool provides me with a unique perspective on the world around us.

 My work has been featured in more than 35 exhibitions nationwide, displayed in galleries from St. Louis to New York City, Paducah, Salt Lake City and New Orleans, and embraced by a small cadre of collectors. My photographs have been also published in esteemed publications such as Genre Urban Arts (twice), Midwest Review, december, Fatal Flaw, and Tiny Seed Literary Journal. I also write a lifestyle blog called Life On Snob Hill.

 Currently, I'm immersed in the development of "True North," a decade-long photographic exploration of North St. Louis, aiming to transform it into a captivating solo show and monograph. Through my work, I strive to invite others to see the world through fresh eyes, to find beauty and meaning in the everyday tapestry of life.

 In April of 2024, I was named a Missouri Arts Council Featured Artist. Most days I am content to quietly make a good photograph or produce a well-wrought sentence or two. But sometimes I am discouraged that all my efforts are no more than shouting into the void with no response. Recognition from outside, such as the MAC’s Feature Artist, is both encouraging and a relief. I don’t work for that recognition, but it’s sure nice when it happens.

“Black Matter” is a silver gelatin photograph that was included in 2021’s Missouri Art Now: A Bicentennial Celebration, a statewide traveling art exhibition. I photographed this scene just a few blocks from my home in St. Charles.

 I was born in Missouri and have lived here all my life. And even though I don’t believe this state’s government supports the arts enough (hint: it will never be enough), the people of this state indeed do support the arts in all forms. And for that I am grateful and encouraged. I took special delight when my silver gelatin photograph titled “Black Matter” was included in Missouri Art Now: A Bicentennial Celebration, a statewide traveling exhibition visiting: Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, Cape Girardeau; The Center for Missouri Studies, Columbia; Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin; Hannibal Arts Council, Hannibal, MO; and Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, St. Joseph.

 One of my favorite songs is Creedence Clearwater Revival’s song “Fortunate Son.” I sing along to the refrain, “…It ain't me, it ain't me / I ain't no fortunate one, no…” The reality is that that song ain’t me because I am a fortunate son, in more ways than one.

“Barn In Landscape” is a digital color photograph, made with a 20+-year-old digital camera, that has won awards at the Heartland Art Club and Framations Gallery in St. Charles.

Two CB Adams Color Photographs Juried Into Framation's Beyond the Lens XVIII

CB Adams answered the call for entry for Framations Gallery’s XVIII “Beyond the Lens” all-subject, juried exhibit of photographic works in all disciplines. The juror for this year’s exhibition is Michael C. Daft, who believes “Good images should speak for themselves in their own language.” This is the fourth time Adams has works juried into the annual “Beyond the Lens” exhibition.

Adams works primarily in film-based black and white photography, but his art practice includes a consistent amount of color photography, in both film and digital formats.

Such is the case with the two photographs that Daft chose for this exhibition — “Cottontail,” a 20x020 print made with a 1972 Nikon F2 Photomic, 21mm Nikkkor lens and Cinestill 400D film, and “Barn In Landscape,” a 16x20 print made with a Leica M8 and Summicron 50mm lens.

“Cottontail” by CB Adams. Archival photograph from film negative.

Adams often works with the F2, a camera he acquired used from Creve Coeur Camera while he was in high school. It took him close to a year working in the lumber department of Central Hardware to purchase the used body and a new 85mm Nikkor portrait lens, which he still has as well. “Cottontail” was taken during the 2023 Gay Easter Parade in New Orleans, one of Adams’s top-three favorite cities.

“Barn In Landscape” by CB Adams.

The M8 was Leica’s first digital camera, released in 2006. Adams works with the M8 because its sensor and software were designed to yield a Kodachrome-like image. “Barn In Landscape” is a dreamy, Todd Hido-like image of a Missouri barn on a story day.

September Song -- Photographs by CB Adams In Five Galleries Concurrently

For my day job, I work in the area known as “public sector,” which is to say, related to government — from local to federal. The last week of September marks the end of the year — the fiscal year — for the government, so there’s always a flurry of activity in the last quarter of the fiscal year, as our government officials dash to spend or encumber the funds for their budgets.

I realized today that this end-of-summer/start-of-autumn moment also feels like a more personal year’s end. I started off 2023 vowing not to answer as many calls for entry as the previous several years. I was going to “save” 2023 for the substantial work I still have to do for my two long-term projects, Wrought and My Life In A Dome. I had set my sights on landing my first solo show and to have at least a maquette prepared for one of the projects. Work has been progressing, albeit slower, as some submission opportunities kept appearing and I kept answering. My attention to the aspirations for a solo show and book created a separate “why not?” freedom to submit to the calls for entry that interested me.

The result has been — with one quarter of the calendar still to go — that I’ve had the opportunity to show more work this year than ever. And, right now, I have more work in more shows concurrently than ever — five. They are Angad Arts Hotel’s 8th Biannual, Heartland Art Club’s RepreSENSATIONAL, St. Louis Artists’ Guild’s Member’s Exhibition, Somerville Toy Camera Festival (Boston) and Art Saint Louis’ Creatures III.

I’ve also had works accepted into back-to-back exhibits at St. Louis Artist’s Guild and Art Saint Louis this year, and three published in print and online magazines. I won’t claim that this level of success was effortless, but it didn’t feel like nearly as much effort as having work accepted into just a single show 15 years ago.

I have feelings of both dread and gratitude, the former because I worry how I could ever top this year and the latter because I just have to make the work while others have to acknowledge and choose it. I feel like that Sinatra song “It Was A Very Good Year.” That sentiment is true whether I have any more work accepted (there’s a few calls for entry still hanging out there) until 2024.

I suppose this is either a harbinger of things to come or my swan song. Either way, I’ll keep making more photographs and enjoy this moment with true gratitude.

Barn Raisin'! Heartland Art Club Exhibits CB Adams Color Photograph, Awarded Judge's Merit

From Aug. 16 to Oct. 14, 2023, Heartland Art Club in Kirkwood, Mo. is displaying an archival color photograph by CB Adams titled “Barn In Landscape.” The exhibit, “RepreSENSATIONAL 2023” is the inaugural national juried exhibition by the Heartland Art Club. The opening reception is Friday, Aug.18 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm at 101A W. Argonne Dr., Kirkwood, MO 63122. The photograph was recognized with the Judge’s Merit Award.

The call for entry encouraged submissions by artists from around the country to submit their best representational artworks: painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, hand-created graphics, and mixed (traditional) media. Any subject matter holding to the broadly defined concept of representational art was acceptable. The show juror and judge was Patricia Watwood, a leading figure in the contemporary figurative realist movement.

Of his photograph, Adams says, “Black and white is my first love in photography, but I’ve recently been increasing the amount of color that I shoot, both on film and on film. Three of the last four shows that have accepted my work have all been color, so I’m on a bit of roll that way. I’m just grateful that my work is being shown.”

The Heartland Art Club describes itself this way: “America's heartland has many high-caliber fine artists who often do not receive the acknowledgement they have earned. Heartland Art Club exists to remedy this by promoting and encouraging the creation of quality, representational fine art through education, exhibits, and engagement. Our goal is to elevate representational art, its disciplines, and history.

For several years, a group of artists and supporters in the Midwest have been mulling over ways to engage and educate the community regarding the importance of collecting, preserving, and supporting traditional representational art. Although there are some outstanding organizations with similar missions on the coasts, little attention has been paid to the interior of the country—and the heartland region has so much to offer!”

Adams was inspired by the Club’s ethos and decided to respond to the call for entry for the “Represensational” show. “I often describe myself as a southern photographer, in part because St. Louis is the upper south, but it’s also firmly midwestern. I am from here, and I hope my work is also ‘by here.’ Based on some discussions I’ve had during openings in galleries on both the East and West coasts, and seeing my work from those perspectives, I have a newfound appreciation for how my work is influenced by where I was born and raised,” Adams says.

From Watwood’s website: “In her studio pictures, you’ll find women, nudes, allegories, and characters that incorporate myth and narrative to explore the universal themes of human life. In a style that is classical with subtle contemporary cues, she uses careful drawing, lively color and brushwork, with a sculptural sense of form to create highly realistic and palpably emotive works.

Her works have been seen at the Beijing World Art Museum, The European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM), The Butler Museum, and held in the permanent collections of The St. Louis University Museum of Art, The New Britain Museum of American Art, and The Salmagundi Club. Watwood creates commissioned portraits, which hang at institutions such as St. Louis City Hall, Washington University, and Harvard University.

Watwood is the First Vice President the Salmagundi Club of New York, a Signature member of the Portrait Society of America, and listed as a Living Master by the Art Renewal Center. Watwood earned her MFA from New York Academy of Art, and studied with Jacob Collins as a founding member of the Water Street Atelier. Her teaching includes video instruction courses, like Creating Portraits from Life, with Streamline Art Video, and Seven Days of Drawing, with platform Craftsy.com. She has written articles for American Artist, American Arts Quarterly, and Fine Art Connoisseur magazines, and she teaches online with Terracotta.art, and in workshops around the country.

Watwood’s first book is The Path of Drawing: Lessons for Everyday Creativity and Mindfulness, an instructional book on nurturing your creative self. With simple-to-follow lessons, this book offers a systematic approach that combines basic realist instruction with a focus on the common mental hurdles that can interfere with our work. By bringing awareness of our emotions and thoughts to our practice, the act of drawing builds within each person qualities of patience, confidence, gratitude, and bravery. Written for beginners, hobbyists, as well as more advanced artists, The Path of Drawing is the newest illustrated book from Monacelli Studio, and an elegant, yet practical workshop-in-a-book with the ability to nourish mind, body, and spirit.”

Angad Arts Hotel's 8th Biannual Exhibits CB Adams Color Photograph

From May through October, the Angad Arts Hotel is featuring 33 pieces of art from 29 artists, including “Jumpin’” by CB Adams, during its 8th Biannual show. The show features workd from CB Adams, Alexis Atkinson, Sarah Blumenfeld, Jaryn Bryant, Katie Chilman, Lisa Crisman, Dion Dion, Zac Farmer, Michelle Graf, TraNisha Herrington, Shawn Hoven, Yemane Hughes, Brian Lathan, Don Morgan, Mark Oakley, Susanne Paykowski, Lisa Nelson Raabe, Janice Rockwell, Adam Saligman, Paola Scharberg, Norman Spencer, Joanne Stremsterfer, Jay Thompson, Melissa Tychonievich, JT Walls, Cheryl Wassenaar, Christina Wuebbles, Paul Wyss and Zak Zych.

Visitors can view the show — no admission fee — on the hotel’s 12th-floor gallery. According to the hotel website: “Every space in the hotel is filled with artwork that is carefully curated to feature the breadth of creativity in the Saint Louis region. From our permanent commissions on view in our guest rooms to the quarterly and biannual exhibitions rotated through the public spaces, there is always new work to peruse. Every Wednesday at 11 am CST, take a curated art tour with our Arts Relations Manager and Curator, Vanessa Rudloff. She will give you the insider’s tour to the current exhibits, our colorful rooms, eclectic public spaces and end your tour with the rooftop skyline views from ART Bar. Learn the history of the building and the exciting exhibitions currently on display by local artists in this Grand Center Arts District destination.”

The Gallery at Scenic Regional Library in Hermann, Mo Accepts 4 CB Adams Silver Gelatin Prints

I gratefully announce that I have four silver gelatin photographs in the Black and White and Eight Shades of Gray exhibit. The show runs Friday, March 3, 2023 – Saturday, May 20, 2023, so if you're in the Hermann. MO area, check it out.

The third in a series of art shows, “Black and White and Eight Shades of Gray,” focuses exclusively on black and white photography.

“Pedal Another Cause” by CB Adams. 16x20 Silver Gelatin print from large format film negative. For Sale $350.

“Let Me Live!” by CB Adams. 20x16 Silver Gelatin print from large format film negative. For Sale $350.

“Waiting” 11x11 inch Silver Gelatin print from medium format negative and Holga “toy” camera.

New Adams Photograph In Yeiser Art Center's 2022 'Art Through the Lens' Show

This year’s Art Through the Lens juried exhibit at the Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, KY marks the third year that a traditional, analogue-created photograph from artist CB Adams has been included. Last year, one of two accepted photographs, “Checkerboards,” was awarded an Honorable Mention.

This year, Nashville-based juror and photographer/artist Carolyn Benedict Fraser chose 52 works for the Art Through the Lens exhibit, including Adams’ “Boyball,” from 598 submissions. Art Through the Lens will be open from Sept. 24 – Nov. 12, 2022 with a closing reception on Nov. 13, 2022 from 1-3 p.m. Yeiser Art Center is located at 200 Broadway, Paducah, KY 42001. Phone: 270.442.2453

“I’m grateful to have been chosen for the third time to be included in this show. Four years ag, one of my photographs made with a toy camera was included. That time, it was gratifying that such a traditional, low-fi photograph could hold its own among the others. Both last year and now, the work has been made with large-format cameras and film, and it’s just as exciting,” Adams said.

Originating in 1975 as the Paducah Summer Festival Photo Competition, Art Through The Lens has grown from a fledgling contest into an international juried exhibition. Over the past 46 years this exhibition has become one of the Mid-South’s most prestigious annual photographic events.

Music Review: Hard Bop Messengers

As a reviewer for PoplifeSTL, I have to date reviewed theater, usually but not exclusively of the musical and opera varieties. I have the freedom to review other arts, including music. In 2022, I begin reviewing select performances of the St. Louis Symphony.

One of the things I didn’t state in my review was how cinematic this album is. As good as Covelli’s lyrics are and as good as they are sung by Matt Krieg, the music stands alone. To sit back and listen, I know I could conjure short films about each of these songs.

Just today, PoplifeSTL published my first album review in quite some time. I am a music omnivore with iTunes playlists galore that range from classical to alt-country. I use music the way some folks use skin moisturizer — to soothe or enhance whatever mood I’m in.

Since my teenaged years, the two things I can’t pass up are albums (then CDs, then MP3s) and books. Based on recommendations from readings or from soundtracks in TV shows, films and commercials, I stumble across new music all the time.

I can’t claim to be a devoted jazz listener, though I’m told I know more and listen to more jazz than your average bear. The spectrum of my listening ranges from early Armstrong to Davis to David Sanborn (don’t judge). I happened upon the Hard Bop Messengers and their new, first album “Live At The Last Hotel” through the band’s leader, John Covelli. I knew he was creating the album during the past couple of years. When it was complete, he shared a copy with me. Whether I have a personal connection or not, I would have reviewed this album. It deserves to be heard — even more widely than it already has.

I was the photographer for a local folk/Americana band, and I know how hard it is to garner interest in a band. I attended a few performances with a only a dozen or so in the audience — and most of them were family and friends. This, after extensive “publicity” on social media and local arts calendars. It’s damn HARD to get people to show and/or purchase an album, no matter how good the band is.

This review is my humble way of helping to spread the word about a group of world-class musicians creating and performing work that deserves a wider audience. Read it here.

CB Adams Receives Honorable Mention at 2021 Art Through the Lens Exhibition at Yeiser Art Center

UPDATE to October 15, 2021 News:

At the closing reception for the 2021 Art Through the Lens exhibition at the @yeiserartcenter in Paducah, KY. juror Shannon Randol awarded “Checkerboards” by St. Louis area writer/photographer CB with an Honorable Mention. This year's show received 758 entries from 37 U.S. states along with three other countries. Forty-four pieces were juried into the International Exhibition.

Art Through the Lens Show Includes Two Prints by CB Adams

“Checkerboards” 16x20 silver gelatin print from large-format negative by CB Adams. This photograph received Honorable Mention and is for sale. Contact cbadams@qwerkyphotography.

Paducah, KY — Two 16x20 silver gelatin photographs by St. Louis-area writer/photographer CB Adams are featured in the 2021 Art Through the Lens international juried exhibition at the Yeiser Art Center. During the past 45 years, this exhibition has become one of the Mid-South’s most prestigious annual photographic events. This year’s call for entries received a record number of submissions — almost 800 submissions from 37 states and four countries.

Adams’s “Checkerboards” was selected by juror Shannon Randol, an Assistant Professor of Photography at Middle Tennessee State University and Curator for The Baldwin Photographic Gallery. Randol chose “Checkerboards” as one of 44 works from 758 submissions. The Yeiser Art Center staff juried 52 pieces into the Regional Salon and chose Adams’s “Pedal Another Cause.” Both framed (20x24) photographs are for sale through the gallery. This year’s exhibition marks the second time Adams has had work selected in this annual show. One of his toy camera-rendered photographs as selected in the 2019 Art Through the Lens.

Art Through the Lens is open Oct. 2 through Nov. 13 with a closing reception on Nov. 14 from 1-3 p.m. Yeiser Art Center is located at 200 Broadway St., Paducah, KY, 42001.

CB Adams, MFA, is an award-winning fiction writer and fine art photographer based in the Greater St. Louis area. Adams works with a collection of more than 60 film-based and digital cameras in a wide range of formats from 4x5 to 35mm and toy cameras to create images. Through his Qwerky Studio, Adams has had works accepted to more than 30 nationwide exhibitions, including “summertime” at A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, “Krappy Kamera” at Soho Photo Gallery in New York City, “American Conversations at Art Saint Louis, “Architectonic” at The Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO, RAW: St. Louis Presents Grandeur, ”Visions” at Sacramento Fine Arts Center, Sacramento, CA, “Somerville Toy Camera Show (2016, 2018 & 2019) in Boston, MA, and “Comestibles” at Columbia (MO) Art League. Recently, his photographs have been published in december, Midwest Review, Genre Urban Arts 7, Heirlock Literary Magazine and Tiny Seed.

Adams’s fiction has been published in River Styx (twice), Zoetrope All-Story Extra, Elder Mountain: A Journal of Ozarks Studies, Ponder Review, Conclave 2021, Vision Quest, Thoughtful Dog, The Distillery, and elsewhere. Adams is the recipient of the Missouri Arts Council’s highest writing awards, the Writers’ Biennial and Missouri Writing!. The independent weekly Riverfront Times named Adams, “St. Louis’ Most Under-Appreciated Writer.” Follow him at his website www.qwerkyphotography.com or on Instagram @qwerkystudio, Flickr @cbadams2, or Facebook @qwerkyphotography.

“Pedal Another Cause” 16x20 silver gelatin print from large-format negative by CB Adams. Available for purchase through the Yeiser Art Center.

In his artist statement, Adams said, “‘Pedal Another Cause’ and ‘Checkerboards’ were created from scenes rendered with a large-format 4x5 camera in New Orleans and St. Louis, respectively. In 2019, I was in New Orleans for the first time and noticed the mural on my way to the Lower Ninth Ward, and it was too interesting to pass up. I had exposed one sheet when I noticed a bicyclist heading toward me. I wanted to try and add an additional element to this scene. I strive to create images that require more than a passing glance or a swipe on a screen and offer a compelling ambiguity that invites the viewer to add their own experience or story to it. ‘Checkerboards’ is another example of this approach. I constantly seek access to places that are out of the ordinary and have a ‘what is that?’ quality that sets the photographs apart from the flood of images that bombard me -- us -- daily. As I work with each image in a wet darkroom, I discover elements that add complexity to the overall scene -- elements that were in my peripheral, but not conscious, vision.”

Picture credit: Katherine Dean- "plate no.1"

In 2013, Paducah was designated a member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Creative Cities Network in the area of Crafts & Folk Art. To embrace this international honor and reflect the international growth of the exhibition, the original Paducah Photo has taken on a new name, Art Through the Lens.

Juror Shannon Randol (1979) has served in various capacities in the Society for Photographic Education, most recently as Portfolio Coordinator for the annual conferences between 2009-2015. His work has been featured in national and international exhibitions and he is currently completing a body of work addressing boundaries in public spaces.

Art Through the Lens Show Includes Two Large-Format Photographs by CB Adams

Paducah, KY — Two 16x20 silver gelatin photographs by St. Louis-area writer/photographer CB Adams are featured in the 2021 Art Through the Lens international juried exhibition at the Yeiser Art Center. During the past 45 years, this exhibition has become one of the Mid-South’s most prestigious annual photographic events. This year’s call for entries received a record number of submissions — almost 800 submissions from 37 states and four countries.

Adams’s “Checkerboards” was selected by juror Shannon Randol, an Assistant Professor of Photography at Middle Tennessee State University and Curator for The Baldwin Photographic Gallery. Randol chose “Checkerboards” as one of 44 works from 758 submissions. The Yeiser Art Center staff juried 52 pieces into the Regional Salon and chose Adams’s “Pedal Another Cause.” Both framed (20x24) photographs are for sale through the gallery. This year’s exhibition marks the second time Adams has had work selected in this annual show. One of his toy camera-rendered photographs as selected in the 2019 Art Through the Lens.

Art Through the Lens is open Oct. 2 through Nov. 13 with a closing reception on Nov. 14 from 1-3 p.m. Yeiser Art Center is located at 200 Broadway St., Paducah, KY, 42001.

CB Adams, MFA, is an award-winning fiction writer and fine art photographer based in the Greater St. Louis area. Adams works with a collection of more than 60 film-based and digital cameras in a wide range of formats from 4x5 to 35mm and toy cameras to create images. Through his Qwerky Studio, Adams has had works accepted to more than 30 nationwide exhibitions, including “summertime” at A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, “Krappy Kamera” at Soho Photo Gallery in New York City, “American Conversations at Art Saint Louis, “Architectonic” at The Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO, RAW: St. Louis Presents Grandeur, ”Visions” at Sacramento Fine Arts Center, Sacramento, CA, “Somerville Toy Camera Show (2016, 2018 & 2019) in Boston, MA, and “Comestibles” at Columbia (MO) Art League. Recently, his photographs have been published in december, Midwest Review, Genre Urban Arts 7, Heirlock Literary Magazine and Tiny Seed.

Adams’s fiction has been published in River Styx (twice), Zoetrope All-Story Extra, Elder Mountain: A Journal of Ozarks Studies, Ponder Review, Conclave 2021, Vision Quest, Thoughtful Dog, The Distillery, and elsewhere. Adams is the recipient of the Missouri Arts Council’s highest writing awards, the Writers’ Biennial and Missouri Writing!. The independent weekly Riverfront Times named Adams, “St. Louis’ Most Under-Appreciated Writer.” Follow him at his website www.qwerkyphotography.com or on Instagram @qwerkystudio, Flickr @cbadams2, or Facebook @qwerkyphotography.

“Pedal Another Cause” 16x20 silver gelatin print from large-format negative by CB Adams. Available for purchase through the Yeiser Art Center.

In his artist statement, Adams said, “‘Pedal Another Cause’ and ‘Checkerboards’ were created from scenes rendered with a large-format 4x5 camera in New Orleans and St. Louis, respectively. In 2019, I was in New Orleans for the first time and noticed the mural on my way to the Lower Ninth Ward, and it was too interesting to pass up. I had exposed one sheet when I noticed a bicyclist heading toward me. I wanted to try and add an additional element to this scene. I strive to create images that require more than a passing glance or a swipe on a screen and offer a compelling ambiguity that invites the viewer to add their own experience or story to it. ‘Checkerboards’ is another example of this approach. I constantly seek access to places that are out of the ordinary and have a ‘what is that?’ quality that sets the photographs apart from the flood of images that bombard me -- us -- daily. As I work with each image in a wet darkroom, I discover elements that add complexity to the overall scene -- elements that were in my peripheral, but not conscious, vision.”

Picture credit: Katherine Dean- "plate no.1"

In 2013, Paducah was designated a member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Creative Cities Network in the area of Crafts & Folk Art. To embrace this international honor and reflect the international growth of the exhibition, the original Paducah Photo has taken on a new name, Art Through the Lens.

Juror Shannon Randol (1979) has served in various capacities in the Society for Photographic Education, most recently as Portfolio Coordinator for the annual conferences between 2009-2015. His work has been featured in national and international exhibitions and he is currently completing a body of work addressing boundaries in public spaces.

Conclave Literary Journal Publishes Latest CB Adams Short Story

Conclave 2021 literary magazine contains one of my short stories "Swampeasters." There is a long and winding back story about getting this piece into print. It was originally scheduled to be published in Conclave 2020, but due to circumstances beyond my control, it didn't make it. The editor graciously agreed to save it for 2021 unless I wanted to submit it elsewhere. This gave me a chance to complete one more rewrite under the guidance and tutelage of literary titan Jay Divine. And now it's finally in print and available for purchase. Please consider ordering a copy for yourself. If you live in St. Louis, I'll meet you and sign it. By making a small $17.99 purchase, you receive this publication and support the written arts. No proceeds come to me.

Here's a taste of my "Swampeaster's" first paragaph: "The drinker’s pavilion rose like an oasitic Bedouin tent from the Missouri Desert Picnic Grounds, a municipal park just outside of downtown Pokewood, in the bootheel land known as Swamp East. The rentable picnic and camping site was named for the native prickly pear cacti planted throughout grounds in irregular clumps by someone with a miniscule budget, no imagination, and a misguided sense of landscaping. Across the small, brittle, sun-stroked field sat the separate-but-equal pavilion for designated non-drinkers. From a distance, the two pavilions were identical, both filled with an assortment of family relations – over-nourished, slick as sweat-hogs, and beating their gums about this and that, and nothing and everything..."

Missouri Art Now, And All Year Long!

I'm starting 2021 with a bit of a big bang. I received notice that one of my photographs, made with a 4x5 Graflex camera, titled "Black Matter" was chosen for inclusion in the Missouri Art Now.

Show me some love, Missouri!

Missouri Art Now is a state-wide competition for artists who live and work in Missouri. To celebrate Missouri’s bicentennial, several arts organizations have come together to present a traveling exhibit throughout 2021. The exhibition will feature sixty works from artists throughout the State of Missouri, together demonstrating the vibrant visual arts culture in the state.

Work selected will be presented at five different venues throughout 2021: The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri in Cape Girardeau; The State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia; Post Art Library/Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin; Hannibal Arts Council in Hannibal; and the Albrecht-Kemper Museum in Saint Joseph.

“Black Matter” is the 16x20 gelatin silver print included in the Missouri Art Now! traveling statewide in 2021.

Show Business

From August 20 to September 11, Kansas City Stockyards Gallery presents the "Plastic Camera Show" that includes six photographic works by writer/photographer CB Adams, including the diptych shown here titled "A New Season." The free opening reception for the "Plastic Camera Show" is Friday, August 20 from 5-8 p.m.

The call for entry by gallery owner Vanessa Lacy was for images made with plastic, or toy, cameras, such as Holgas, Dianas, Spinners, Pinholes, etc. The guiding them for the show was from a quote by Dorothea Lange: "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." This is resonant with the lo-fi nature of toy cameras that operate with limited controls and many quirks.

CB Adams (www.qwerkyphotography.com) is an award-winning, published short fiction writer and fine art photographer. Adams draws upon a collection of more than 60 film-based and digital cameras in a wide range of formats to create images that often render the beautiful embedded in old, forgotten or run-down subjects. Recent gallery showings include: “summertime” at A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, “Krappy Kamera” at Soho Photo Gallery in New York City, “Art Through the Lens 2019” at Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, KY, “Unrefined Light: Image-Making With Plastic Cameras” at The Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO, RAW: St. Louis Presents Grandeur,” Plastic Fantastic X, Lightbox Gallery, Astoria, OR, “Somerville Toy Camera Show (2016, 2018 & 2019) in Boston, MA, and “State of Our Shared Land” at St. Louis Artists Guild, among many others.

Follow CB Adams on Instagram @qwerkystudio and @johnbent61, Facebook @qwerkyphotography, Flickr @cbadams2 and Twitter @hansduker.

Artist Statement from CB Adams: "Photography is freedom, my unfettered opportunity to render the world as I encounter it randomly in my everyday life, without (usually) a predetermined (thus limiting) goal of capturing a specific scene or series, or even project. This freedom extends across a spectrum of cameras, including toy cameras, which I have been shooting with for more than 15 years. I integrate the blur, light leaks and other idiosyncrasies into each image. I use the imperfections of the toy camera lens to remind the viewer that a photograph belies the machine that made it, tips the hand. The aberrations of toy camera images disrupt the exchange between photographer and viewer and result in an image that announces itself, redefining the lines between accuracy and reality."

The Kansas City Stockyards Gallery is located in the beautiful, historic Livestock Exchange Building located at ​1600 Genessee St, Suite 161, Kansas City, MO 64102.

New Orleans Is Subject of Two Large-Format Photographs by CB Adams at Current Art Saint Louis Exhibition

When I learned that seven of my large-format, 16x20-inch silver gelatin photographs had been included in Art Saint Louis’s Honor Awards Exhibition, I was please that two of the images were captured during my first trip to New Orleans at the end of 2019. I was in NOLA for the PHotoNOLA, an annual celebration of photography that is produced by the New Orleans Photo Alliance in partnership with museums, galleries, and alternative venues citywide. When I wasn’t attending lectures, presentations or portfolio reviews, I was exploring the city, from the Garden District to Bywater. I “burned through” a lot of rolls and sheets of film because there is something special about meeting and photographing a city for the first time.

Out of that work came several of my new favorite works created with a 4x5 view camera. The Honor Awards Exhibition was juried by Amy Maclennan, an artist, art educator, Associate Professor at McKendree University and Director of McKendree University Gallery of Art in Lebanon, IL. I was among the 10 regional artists from Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky who were chosen by Maclennan for the Honor Awards exhibition. She chose seven of my 16x20-inch, silver gelatin photographic prints as part of the 53 total artworks in this exhibition, which includes painting, photography and ceramic sculpture. Two of those photographs were made during my trip to NOLA.

All of my works are for sale for $350 each, framed and matted.

“Let Me Live!” is one of seven 16x20-inch gelatin silver, handmade photographs by CB Adams, currently being exhibited at Art Saint Louis as part of the Honor Awards Exhibition.

The Honor Awards 2021 is presented in the Art Saint Louis Gallery from June 12 through July 15, 2021. Shown here are two of the seven CB Adams prints, “Falling Letters (right) and “Special Offer” (left). Both prints were made by me in my darkroom from large-format, 4x5 negatives. Both scenes were shot in Cairo, IL in 2018 and 2019. The location for “Falling Letters” was destroyed a year after the image was made. Each limited edition print is framed and matted and is available for $350 at the gallery.

Highlights from the exhibit as well as images of all of the featured artworks can be viewed at Art Saint Louis’s Facebook album.

To see other examples of my photographic and written work, please visit my website or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Flickr.

Seven CB Adams Photographs Chosen for Honor Awards Exhibition at Art Saint Louis

When I received an award of excellence for one of my one of my photographs Art Saint Louis’s American Conversations exhibit in 2019, I became eligible to submit a series of works for the gallery’s Honor Awards. The juror for the Honor Awards was Amy Maclennan, an artist, art educator, Associate Professor at McKendree University and Director of McKendree University Gallery of Art in Lebanon, IL.

I was among the 10 regional artists from Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky who were chosen by Maclennan for the Honor Awards exhibition. She chose seven of my 16x20-inch, silver gelatin photographic prints as part of the 53 total artworks in this exhibition, which includes painting, photography and ceramic sculpture.

The Honor Awards 2021 is presented in the Art Saint Louis Gallery from June 12 through July 15, 2021. Shown here are two of the seven CB Adams prints, “Falling Letters (right) and “Special Offer” (left). Both prints were made by me in my darkroom from large-format, 4x5 negatives. Both scenes were shot in Cairo, IL in 2018 and 2019. The location for “Falling Letters” was destroyed a year after the image was made. Each limited edition print is framed and matted and is available for $350 at the gallery.

Highlights from the exhibit as well as images of all of the featured artworks can be viewed at Art Saint Louis’s Facebook album.

To see other examples of my photographic and written work, please visit my website or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Flickr.

“Special Offer” is one of seven 16x20-inch, silver gelatin prints made by CB Adams from large-format black and white negatives that are included in Art Saint Louis’ Honor Awards Exhibition. For sale $350, framed and matted with letter of authenticity.

The Art Saint Louis Gallery is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.-2 p.m. and all are welcome. School groups or any group larger than 7 people, please make an appointment with us in advance of your visit.

Juror MacLennan is a figurative painter and printmaker, and member of the Midwest Paint Group. She was an artist-in-residence at Prairie Center of the Arts, in Peoria, IL; Jentel, in northern WY; Montana Artists Refuge and Eye-Land Coordination in Montana. MacLennan completed her MFA in painting and drawing at Indiana State University, in Terre Haute, IN.

Honor Bound

After months of preparation and depleting my Qwerky Photography bank account to pay for silver gelatin paper, chemicals and framing services, I delivered my seven 16x20 photographs to Art Saint Louis in preparation for the delayed Honor Awards 2020 exhibition. What a long, strange trip it’s been to get my work to this moment.

The seven 16x20 silver gelatin prints (20x24 framed) made by artist CB Adams, delivered to Art Saint Louis for the upcoming Honor Awards exhibition. The prints, made from 4x5 large-format negatives, were developed and printed by Adams. Adams was one of 10 award-winning artists selected for this juried show.

To qualify for the annual Honor Awards, you have to been awarded an Award of Excellence from have the previous year's juried exhibitions. I’ve made it to that point twice before and this is the first time my work made it into the highly competitive Honor Awards exhibition. I just rewrote the previous sentence. The first iteration stated “…the first time I made it into the Honor Awards…” Not a profound change to you, but it marks a distinct maturation point for me as an artist. I have learned that there is a different and healthier approach between the art and its maker. In the past, when my work wasn’t accepted into an exhibition, I stomped around for far too long, considering the exclusion to be a personal affront. The juror or curator was clearly rejecting me.  

But no. They were passing on my work, not me. It’s cliché but nonetheless true: art is subjective. Now, I’m still disappointed when my work won’t be shown in a particular exhibit, but my focus is already on making new work and submitting it elsewhere. I’m confident my “audience” is looking for me somewhere and it’s up to me to seek you out.

This Honor Awards was delayed a year because of the global health crisis. This turned out to be a blessing because I had more time to reprint some of the work with some adjustments that perhaps only I could see. I also had a year’s worth of pay from adjunct teaching – my side hustle teaching pays for most of my photography.

So, I delivered the seven, carefully wrapped works. Originally, the Juror Amy MacLennan, chose eight of my photographs. Unfortunately, three days before delivery, a flooring contractor working on my home dislodged one framed piece from its closet shelf. It shattered the glass, bent the frame and damage the print itself. As fate would have it, this was the only print for which I had neither an artist’s proof nor extra copy. So only seven go on the wall.

True confessions: as gratified as I am to have finally made it into the Honors exhibit, seeing the seven pieces leaning against the wall seemed so…well, paltry. My first thought was, “Is that it?” I can’t speak about the relationship between other artists and their work, but mine recently continues to be, “It’s not enough. Work more.”

Is that healthy? Dunno. But it keeps driving me for now. One image at a time. Hoping to find a wall for each. Still trying not to think that it’s me hanging there.

Reactive Art

Two CB Adams Photographs Featured in ‘This Moment’ Exhibition at Art Saint Louis

by John Bent, Riverback Communications

Two works by St. Louis-area writer and photographer CB Adams were selected by juror Robin Hirsch-Steinhoff for inclusion Art Saint Louis’ latest exhibition, “This Moment.” Adams’ two black-and-white silver gelatin prints were taken this spring on the same day near each other along Union Avenue in St. louis. But beyond these similarities, the two images were rendered by two distinctively different cameras, according to Adams.

“Get Malcolmized” by CB Adams, a gelatin silver print available for sale through the Art Saint Louis “This Moment” onlien

“I usually explore an area with a variety of cameras because I use the unique signatures of different cameras and lenses the same way a painter chooses brushes. I was toward the end of a day of shooting near the Central West End and on my way home. I knew my classic Rolleiflex and my plastic Holga toy camera had some unshot film in them. I shot ‘Get Malcolmized’ with the Rolleiflex because I had shot the scene before with a toy camera and didn’t like how they turned out. I finished off that roll and looked for a scene that I thought was ‘Holga perfect.’ That yielded the scene in ‘Chain of Fools.’”

According to the show’s announcement, “’This Moment’ is a virtual and online juried exhibit featuring works by 42 St. Louis regional artists. This multi-media exhibit features 48 original artworks created in 2020 that reflect upon or are otherwise inspired by the impact, significance, complexity, profundity and meaning of This Moment in our lives as individuals, as a community, as a nation.”

Adams, who has a toy camera image in Art Saint Louis’ current in-galley exhibition, “Storytellers,” was drawn to the theme of “This Moment.” Reviewing the work he had been capturing during 2020, he noticed that much of the imagery was a reaction to current events and challenges.

“The car wash sign with Malcolm X has been on the side of a pawn shop for years, but in relation to recent events, its message takes on a new urgency. The sign itself hasn’t changed, but my reaction to it certainly has,” he says. “I also like the juxtaposition of the car wash words and the words of Malcolm X. That’s why I named it ‘Get Malcolmized,’ to play off the old ‘Simoniz Your Car’ car wax advertisements.”

“Chain of Fools” is a gelatin silver print made from a negative rendered by a Holga toy camera. It is for sale through the Art Saint Louis “This Moment” online and vitual exhibit.

The toy camera shot, “Chain of Fools,” offers more than one interpretation, according to Adams. “I’m reminded of something the filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky said, ‘A book read by a thousand different people is a thousand different books.’ So ‘Chain of Fools’ has an ambiguity that lends itself to multiple interpretations. For instance, I think during the pandemic, we all feel chained in place and restrained, unable to run as freely as before. On a different level, many people in our society, feel chained by their skin color, sexual orientation, economic status and other constraints,” he says.

The idea of Tarkovsky’s ‘thousand different books’ is applicable to all the art in “This Moment.” After reviewing the work of the other 41 artists, Adams found that most of them were open to interpretation.

“Some of the artwork is very pointed and on-the-nose, yet I can see how different people would react to those strong statements differently. Other work is more abstract, which by its nature allows an even broader range of interpretations. Collectively, I think this show is tremendously cohesive and relevant. And in a crazy sort of way, it’s enhanced by being available only online. I say this because perhaps more people will check it out because they don’t have to leave home to do it,” Adams says.

“This Moment” will be available online through September 15 at the Exhibbit.com platform.

'Joy' In the Time of Pandemic - Analog Forever Exhibition Features Portrait by CB Adams

Analog Forever Magazine, an online and print publisher of contemporary analog photography, included Lauren in Autumn by CB Adams in its current exhibition, Joy. The online exhibition showcases 42 images curated by Niniane Kelley, who is a fine art photographer, alternative processes educator, and Analog Forever writer and curator Niniane Kelley.

Lauren In Autumn is a large format portrait made by CB Adams at Qwerky Studio’s Snob Hill location in Greater St. Louis.

According to Analog Forever’s website, “These photographs explore the thing many of us are lacking in today’s world: inspired happiness. The images selected interpret this theme in both traditional and unconventional ways that show you joy is alive and well in the world, despite what the news may tell you. Analog Forever Magazine Writer and Curator,

“Analog Forever’s call for entry sparked something in me, “ says CB Adams, a St. Louis-based writer and fine art photographer. “I was just scrolling through social media when I saw this call for the theme of ‘joy’ and I immediately stopped and thought, ‘I could submit to that!’ I had more than twenty images that I thought fit the theme. You could submit only two, so I finally chose one image made with a Holga toy cameras and one made with a Toyo 45CF large format camera, which is the one Ms. Kelley ultimately chose.”

Analog Forever’s mission is to “…provide a global audience to photographers who use analog processes and techniques for their photographic work by giving them a voice via a biannual print photography journal, online features and interviews, monthly online exhibitions, and a community calendar. Our goal is to highlight the best of the best from the analog industry including artists, projects, galleries, and curators.”

Heirlock Literary Magazine Publishes Fine Art Photograph 'Stille Tag' by CB Adams

“Stille Tag” by CB Adams. Silver gelatin print from 4x5 negative.

The latest issue of Heirlock, a literary journal dedicated to “Publishing the Future of Poetry,” includes a fine art black-and-white photograph made by St. Louis-area writer and photographer CB Adams. For the first issue of its second volume, the editors of Heirlock issued a call for entry for poetry, visual art and short story fiction that broadly interprets the theme of “Home.”

Adams responded to the theme by choosing several images that met his interpretation of the theme. Although Adams’s archive contains tens of thousands of images that he has captured during the past more than 20 years, the editors selected one taken recently, during March of 2020. The image was captured on a 4x5 view camera on film.

“I don’t usually consider my photography — my art making — as therapy, but there was a weekend early in the COVID-19, sheltering-in-place experience when I just had to get out of my house and make some photographs. I didn’t really care what I was going to shoot, I just needed to be active and feel like I was doing something more constructive than sitting around the house and binge watching television,” Adams says.

Adams often shoots in industrial locations throughout St. Louis City. To comply with COVID-19 recommendations, he decided to head west along Highway 70, where he believed he could safely shoot without being around others. He loaded his car with gear and left early on a Sunday morning because he heard a cold front was moving toward St. Louis later in the day.

“The front arrived much earlier than expected. It was a freaky front that started dropping snow within five minutes after I began shooting the first of several scenes that had caught my eye along Highway 70,” he says. “I’m not afraid of weather, but a majority of my cameras are vintage analogue cameras and become fussy, especially in the cold. They are also hard to replace, not to mention expensive if I damage them, so I wasn’t sure how long I could shoot.”

After an hour, the weather intensified and Adams cut short his “photo expedition” and headed home. A few miles later, he spotted a scene that was being transformed by the snowfall. Although he drives a small sedan that doesn’t handle well in snow, he exited and returned on the outer road. Large format photography requires a lengthier set up and composition process than other formats, which was complicated by the still-heavy snowfall he encountered.

“It was dangerous to be on the side of the road with a narrow shoulder, setting up my tripod across from the car as trucks and other vehicles passed by. One gentleman saw my emergency flashers and stopped to help. By the time I clamped the camera onto the tripod, the bellows was covered with snow and I wiped the lens off with my coat sleeve. I couldn’t see through the ground glass in the back of the camera because my breath kept fogging it up. I didn’t want to use my light meter because it dates back to the 1960s. Not only was it the only meter I had brought along, it was also my favorite. I made my best guess for composition and exposure and shot the last two sheets of film,” according to Adams.

The snow-covered Toyo 45CF large format camera Adams used to capture ‘Stille Tag.’

Adams returned home and let his gear — especially his film holders — warm up and dry out. A few weeks later, the best photo he took that day was the one that Heirlock accepted for publication. After scanning the negative, he named the image “Stille Tag,” which means “silent day” in German.

“It reminds me of the almost apocryphal story that Ansel Adams used to tell about the making of one of his most famous photographs, ‘Moonrise Hernandez.’ He was challenged by a lack of time and a light meter and so he did some calculations in his head and make the image. He wanted to take a second, a back up, but the light changed and he was left with the great photo we know today.,” Adams says. “I’m not saying ‘Stille Tag’ is on par with that iconic photo, but at least it shares a similar back story, though I think such moments aren’t uncommon for photographers.”

Heirlock is a thrice-yearly digital magazine that publishes primarily poetry, as well as visual art and short fiction. The magazine was conceived by a small, close-knit team of Northwestern University graduates that are currently based in Chicago. They are all equally passionate about supporting rising creatives and sharing their work with the world. According to the masthead, “The name Heirlock comes from this focus – we hope to publish the future of poetry and to be a buffer zone between the individual starting poet and the ever-expanding universe that is the writing community at large.”

Although Adams is also an active literary fiction writer, he was not familiar with Heirlock before their call for entry. “Of course, I’m pleased to have my photograph published, but that feeling is enhanced because of the quality of Heirlock, especially its design. It’s also interesting to me to see which poem the editors chose to be next to my work — that always makes me see my work from a different perspective.”

Adams is preparing to print in his wet darkroom a limited number of matted gelatin silver prints, 8x10 inches and 16x20 inches of “Stille Tag.” Contact him through his website for pricing information, www. qwerkyphotography.com/about.