Transition of the Women in Photography International files to the
Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library / YALE University


Milestones Binder Content Correspondence
Acknowledgement - Thank You Libraries WIPI History
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  WIPI Press Jurors 1985-2015

WIPI's History Starting 1981

Thea Litsios
Polaroid's by Orah Moore 1982 - 1983
Orah Moore
Linda Wolf
Bonnie Flamer - Board Photo 1985
Deborah Rountree
City of Los Angeles
Advisory Board - 1989
Photography Today 1989 - 1990 - Cable TV, Nancy Clendaniel /Jean Ferro/Maria Piscopo
1985-1987 Catalog covers

Remembering the Newsletter
Peter Palmquist - Historial  1936-2003
Jean Ferro, new president, 2000
20th Anniversary - Tea Time 2001
25th Anniversary - Turning Silver 2006
30th Anniversary 2011
Exhibitions 1985 - 2015
Distinguished Photographers

WIP HISTORY 1981 - 1991 (originally Women In Photography, Inc.)

Subject: Re: The Who's Who of WIP Past.- 1981-1991

To the special women who have made WIPI great over the years, the founders and strong "hands on" contributors from...1981-1991, the early years when visibility for women photographer’s was somewhere in the back of a station wagon, and women had to work diligently to be in the driver seat of their own careers. These fine women who had the vision to create an outreach organization to promote women and their work is the stable and strong base from which we have been able to hold our place in the world today. WIPI is one of the leading women's organization for women photographers internationally. We will continue to add to this history, so send along your WIP History statement or pictures!

(from left to right) myself-Thea Litsios, Orah Moore, Carrie Mae Weems and Mary McNally. In the front row far left, a woman named Faith (year, 1981)
photo taken at Orah Moore's studio - group self-portrait    (all rights reserved)

 

THEA LITSIOS

Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 6:10 PM

Dear WIPI,
I know it is probably too late to respond in time for the newsletter. I apologize. A very busy summer/fall & a car accident have made my to do list longer than ever.

I am not one that has a great memory, but I do remember early meetings of WIP in the Women's Building in Los Angeles. I was responsible for getting the group their non-profit status. I had met Mary McNally when we were both doing photography on Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" Mary was the chief photographer when I arrived, to join the photo staff for the last few months. It was through Mary and a few others that the idea of Women in Photography was born. (The Dinner Party was originally shown in San Francisco at their museum of Modern Art, in 1978. I don't remember when the WIP board photo was taken. I would imagine it was in the first year or so. I moved away from LA in late 1982 - so it was before that

It was an exciting time - the power of women was being acknowledged in many ways & this small group of photographers wished to have a ripple effect in our arena of photography. It's very rewarding that the group is still in existence.

I am still a photographer. I have a portrait Studio at the moment in Denver, Colorado. I freelanced for the LA Times from 1987 - 94, while getting my MFA in fine arts photography at Cal State Fullerton with Eileen Cowan.

I have attached a photo of an early board meeting (at one of our goofier moments). This photo was taken at a board meeting at Orah Moore's. I am sorry to say that I can't remember everyone's name, but I can say that the back row includes (from left to right) myself-Thea Litsios, Orah Moore, Carrie Weems and Mary McNally. In the front row I can only remember that the woman at the left is named Faith (last name?) and can't remember the other two women.

I see that Orah also gave you Deborah Roundtree's e-mail. You might want to also get in touch with Carrie Weems, one of our early members, who has really made a name for herself in the fine arts photography realm, last I heard she was living in Syracuse , NY and was represented by galleries in NY.

Thanks for continuing the work.
Warmly,

Thea Litsios
thealits@earthlink.net

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Polaroid's by Orah Moore ( left side Thea foreground) (right side: Carrie Mae Weems)


As of the October Quarterly, Carrie Mae Weems has accepted a positron on the WIPI Advisory Board - PR Release

ORAH MOORE - In a message dated 9/27/01 11:11:24 AM September 27, 2001

Good day,
So, yes, I am the Orah Moore you are looking for. Hard to believe it has been 20 years since we first formed Women In Photography in Mary McNally's living room. And true to form I am still a woman doing photography. I moved from Los angeles in 1987 just as you were taking over as a director. At that time I was finishing up, hastily, my Master's in photography with Eileen Cowin and Daryl Curran at Cal State Fullerton and moved my then young family to Northern Vermont.

I started my own publishing company: Haymaker Press, greeting cards, posters, blank journals, and magnets as a wholesale company. I also do wedding photography, and a myriad of other commercial type photo things. I have from time to time taught photography at the community college or for low key workshops. I don't go for the high profile stuff --I have settled into accessible art. Last year I moved my several businesses out of my funky 100+ house and into a commercial location in the town and opened a card and gift shop along side the wholesale part of the business. The best part my my work is going out with my kayak early in the morn to photograph loons or mist rising...or in the winter to snowshoe into a meadow or a pass and capture the way winter has settled in for the season.

Take a look at my new web site: www.haymakerpress.com I am updating it but even as it is now it will give you some look into what keeps me busy. The latest project I was involved with was a great project with the Vermont Arts Council to do 8 photo murals for a new building at Vermont Technical College: My art team partner and I put images of technology juxtapositioned with image of nature on corrugated stainless steel. Hopefully that will be on my web site soon too. Enough about me.


ORAH MOORE In a message dated 9/4/02 5:59:28 AM, orahm@together.net writes:

My recollections of the history of WIPI are sort of sketchy...it's been 20 years! One thing I recall is that I moved to the Los Angeles area from the Bay Area in about 1980 and looked around for photography things to get involved in. I found an organization called CAMERVISION that I joined (Did they disband?) I also put an ad in Art News? (is that still around?) asking if any women would like to start up an informal monthly Brit group. About 6 of us met regularly...I think it included Thea Litsios and Carrie Mae Weems. Somewhere along there ,maybe through Carrie or Thea I became aware of a larger Women's group--WIP--just getting started. I recall meeting Margaret Grundstein Los Angeles, she also has a family camp on a northern Vermont lake near where I now live and we see each other when ever she visits...like last month! She runs a very successful day care business in the LA area and is not doing much with photography) and Mary McNally (no idea where she is). The meeting was at Mary's apartment. I was very pregnant with my first son. I remember the WIP group threw a baby shower for me and I may have some photos somewhere from that day if you want early member photos.

I was pretty active as a board member for a couple years then probably stepped back as motherhood and running my own photography studio in Los angeles got to be pretty busy. I was on board for the event when we brought Eve Arnold to town to speak. I think Deb rounder had a lot to do with that event.

Thanks for all you and others have done to keep WIPI going. It is gratifying to see that a fledgling organization that I was involved getting started is still going strong with a whole new group of amazing women photographers!!! (And I don't even know who any of you are... thanks, again.)
Orah Moore

www.haymakerpress.com
orahm@together.net

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8/17/02 LINDA WOLF

My memories of the first WIP meetings are that we knew what we were starting was very important, and I think we each felt very special to be part of it. We imagined it might grow into something, maybe last a few years, but I don’t think we ever imagined it would grow into one of the most important groups of its kind in the world: a place where women could expose their whole selves and not be censored or crimped or feel they had to shrink back in order not to offend.

I remember how much I wanted one of my photos to be chosen for the first brochure and was so happy when it was. I felt recognized and honored, something that I needed very much at that time.

I’d already been doing professional photography since 1970, and knew how hard it was to be taken seriously as a female photographer. I’d been on the Joe Cocker Mad Dogs and Englishmen Tour as one of two women tour photographers; lived in Europe for five years as a documentary photographer; and worked with SPARC and the Los Angeles Citywide Mural Project, among other things. I’d been exhibited, my work purchased by museums, etc. but it was a time when guy photographers were most often given the jobs. I don’t know how much has changed since the early 80s - I suspect not so much. In fact, I think there has been a regression. When you read in TV Guide that the definition of America’s sweetheart, Meg Ryan, is “nice, but can’t be a pushover; smart, but can’t be too brainy; beautiful, but not too sexy; and must be certain about the transforming power of love,” you have to stop and wonder how much has changed.

Being part of Women In Photography in the early years was like being in a safe space. Each of us supported the other and rooted for the other to succeed. We could see where each of us differed and where one of us had strengths the other needed, we’d help each other. I remember joint photo sessions in EK Waller’s studio or having Alexandra Milovanovich teach me about portrait lighting. I remember gatherings in Hollywood, where we’d network with other women photographers and have wine and cheese, and talk and share pictures.

I also remember that we were young women, grappling with relationships, sexuality, self-esteem issues, confusion as to how to make money doing what we loved, interpersonal issues; we had some amount of idealism, mixed with self-aggrandizement,, a small amount of competition, and a lot of hope for our futures. We had that precious sense of having all the time in the world in front of us.

As time went on, WIP was like a desert flower; shrinking or growing depending upon resources. I remember Nancy Clendaniel (WIP director doing the lions share of the work when there was not much money in the organization.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve morphed myself as a photographer a number of times, in order to be able to keep doing it and support myself and my family. I still do about 7 weddings a year to supplement my income as the director of a non-profit I founded for teenage girls (www.duaghters-sisters.org). I do a lot of photography with the organization to this day, and in fact Epson America has donated all our digital cameras, scanners, printers, etc. so that we can control of our materials. I developed this role as director after the success of my first book, Daughters of the Moon, Sisters of the Sun, which contains over 100 photos.

Books became a way to continue to express myself both in photography and journalism, which I’ve always loved. With the success of my second book, Global Uprising. I feel like I’ve completed something I needed to do, which not only gave me some credibility (it’s still hard to be a woman, let alone a woman artist, in this world), but allowed me to be a holographic social change agent (i.e. having what I do in the world mirror my personal growth and values, and the other way around).

I am very excited to be connected with WIP again, and so grateful to Jean Ferro for all the work she and others have done to create a sustainable, vital organization. I look forward to hearing from other women I know and don’t know, who are using photography both as a means of personal growth and self-expression.

Linda Wolf
e-mail: lwp@lindawolf.net

Lindawolf.net
Youthactivism.org
Globaluprising.net
Teentalkingcircles.org

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Photo Bonnie Flamer. Self Portrait of Board on a Retreat, The 1985 WIP board members shown in the picture are from Left back to right: Thea Litsios, Orah Moore, Mary McNally (president and founder), Becky Villasenor. Bottom left to right : Florence Rosen, Rosemary Quesada-Weiner, Debra Roundtry, and myself Bonnie Flamer. This photo was taken at a Board members Planning Retreat in the local mountains. I believe that it was 1985 or 1986.

Bonnie Flamer was involved with WIPI 1981 thru 1987 and today a CHARTER Member



I was very involved until about 1984 when I needed to devote more time to my commercial work. There are many wonderful memories, and I probably still have photos from some of our first meetings at the studio. Deborah Roundtree


 


l. to r: top, Beth Herzhoff, Maria Piscopo, Alex Milovannovich,2nd row, Jean Ferro, Bobbi Mapestone, Nancy Clendaniel, Sylvia White, front Linda Wolf, Karine' Armen  


l to r: Bobbi Abramson, Bobbi Mapstone, Nancy Clendaniel and son Max, Jean Ferro and Winifred Meiser (w/hat)

Snap Shots from WIP past, approx.1989 - 1990



City of Los Angeles, State of California, special commendation, 1988, signed by Joel Wachs, councilman 2nd district.

It was a busy year for WIPI.  Nancy Clendaniel, director decided to take a risk and open a studio for WIPI on Larchmont Blvd, in the Larchmont / Hancock Park area of Los Angeles. The perfect size studio behind the large house, had two rooms, and office and shooting space, as well as a lovely outdoor seating area.

With Paramount Studio just up the street, the studio was a perfect "new house" for WIPI as a meeting place for women, a rental studio for photo sessions. ... so we thought.

The board is gathered in the photo above. As it turned out, Women were still not getting the work on a consistent bases. A few of us were able to utilize the studio and thrilled we had a shooting space to accommodate clients.

During the same year, Nancy, received the wonderful tribute to Women In Photography from the City of Lost Angeles signed by Joel Wachs, one of Los Angeles's strong advocates for the arts.

We've all gone our separate ways, expanded, and have achieved success in our profession. We know that Women In Photography was the "only place in town" where there was support for women's work, a team of women with the same goals to be the best photographers, share our ideas, work and experiences.

There was no internet, no cell phones..the newsletter was a labor of love. Gathered information would be reconstructed into the publication, Bobbi Mapestone and Nancy Clendaniel along with the help of many funders and helping hands

Mary Ellen Mark was nominated for WIP's Distinguished Photographer Award in 1988 see WIPI History

"Photography Today" TV series 1989-1990

In the summer of 1989, Women in Photography Director, Nancy Clendaniel, was encouraged by WIP Treasurer & photographer, Sylvia White and her LAPC associate, John Fox,III, to host a three-part television program for LA's public access station. With a theme song provided by guitarist Laurence Juber (formerly of Paul McCartney & Wings), "Photography Today" was produced in three separate segments, and aired from December 1989, through February 1990. Meant to showcase photographers and people working in the photo arts in Los Angeles, this program provided an educational forum and open dialogue about the business of photography, including work and individual experiences from three of LA's top photographers. The programs were presented as follows: 


PROGRAM #1 Date recorded: December 4, 1989 Host: Nancy Clendaniel
Artists: Jean Ferro (PhotoArtist) & Steve Wilzbach -YouTube. com (Fine Art & Documentary Photographer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9U8qt-lGT8
Title: "Photography in Los Angeles"   
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmLXWK7mSa_QbNZ5GG-v2CA

PROGRAM #2 Date Recorded: January 10, 1990
Artist: Michael Jacobs, Photojournalist Title: "Photojournalism" Program

Michael Jacobs & Maria Piscpo - YouTube.com - YouTube.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riFUUVLJQDw

Piacopo recorded: February 14, 1990 Guest:
Maria Piscopo, Marketing & Promotions Expert Title: "The Business of Photography"
All segments were 30 minutes long, in color, and filmed at Continental Cablevision studio in Hollywood, CA.



Women Photographers in America 1985
cover image: Judy Mandolf
( women lying on counter...Elizabeth Opalenik )
exhibition organized by E.K. Waller
Exhibition Artists


 


Women Photographers in America 1987
cover image E.K. Waller
exhibition organized by, E.K. Waller
Exhibition Artists

 


 

1989 Exhibition
Women In Photography Celebrates Freedom 1992


juried by Val Williams
ZOOM Magazine Showcase, Exhibition List


WIP Newsletters and workshop flyer

top left, F2 Winter 1992 issue, image: Judy Dater;
top right, F2 Vol 1, Winter 1991 issue, image: Joyce Tenneson
bottom left, WIP 1985 Workshop series flyer, coordinated by Linda Wolf
bottom right, F2 Fall, Vol. 2 Number 3 issue, image: Mary Ellen Mark

1994 Organization terminated name Women in Photography, Inc. to become Women in Photography International and remained the same non-profit status 501.c.3.




Peter E. Palmquist photograph: Mary K. Brown, 1991

http://womeninphotography.org/historical/PeterPalmquist.html

 

Peter Palmquist
photo: Nancy Clendaniel
Renton, WA, October 1997



Peter Palmquist Memorial Pictorial
Tribute April 12, 2003

Arcata, CA


Sweat Shirt reads: I Have Always Imagined That Paradise Will Be A Kind Of Library ..Jorge Luis Borges

Peter is holding a box with a Women in Photography International Expo poster - special Royal Photographic Society edition, circa 1991, Bath, UK.Poster, photographed and created by WIP Member and WIPI Expo participant - Val Valandans

Peter also received original 1981-97 WIPI's history records donated by WIPI, which are now included in the Yale University Beineche Library.

2003 - A second contribution of WIPI files from 1997 thru late spring 2003 were sent to the Palmquist facility in Arcata and included in the transfer of the Palmquist archive to the Yale University Beineche Library.Library which occurred August 2003. The shipment also included the original 2001 original Tea Time entry slide submissions, files, books, letter, notes, etc, website info, etc.

Starting Fall 2014 thru summer 2015 WIPI transitioned printed material and computer to the Beinecke Library - Sept 2016 - May 2017 final files and website files complete the transition to the Women in Photography International Collection.


       21st Century - NEW Beginning for Women in Photography International

Jean Ferro becomes President, April 2000

Previous President, Alexandra Milovanovich passes the tourch to lead WIPI into the 21st Century, April 2000.

Nancy Clendaniel, Director and Ferro combined efforts with the support of Peter Palmquist to lauch the new beginning of WIPI as an online resource center





WIPI was preparing for its 20th Anniverary just as the towers in NYC were crumbling on 911
(due to the fear of traveling, our exhibition for travel was canceled and WIPI in January of 2002
showcased the exhibition at photo la

20th Anniversary Juried Exhibition
Event photos



20th Anniversary Exhbiition - 2001





Linda McCartney "T-Pot" 1987

| Images from Tea Time and Exhibition List
|
Images from HOPA Reception |

Jurors Bio's & Statements
Press|
Forward Excerpts : Is Anatomy destiny? by Peter Palmquist
Lecture Series 2001 |

Buy CD-Rom and Poster |
Credits & Thank You's




25th Anniversary   2006


  Slide Show    25th Anniversary - Juror 100 & Honorable Mention   Jurors

sponsored in part by Kodak,  Epson, The Photo Review, Fresh Lists,
Sharpics, CHBPhoto, FotoQuote, ShowIt Web, ProSoft

and with the support of
The Hollywood Arts Council

WIPI thanks Kodak.com for the generous support of the "Turning Silver"
limited edition book. List of recipients of the book




30th Anniversary   2011


YEAR By YEAR starting 1981 history

Exhibitions 1985 - 2015 - 2017


WIPI / Yale / CHARTER Gallery - Beneike Library presentation compeltion Shipped June/July, 2015 -2017
Women In Photography International YouTube.com
iAMwoman...iAM digital, Juror Clive Waring/Silversotz onlinge gallery
PHOTO INDEPENDENT, May 1-3, Raleigh Studios, Los Angeles "Put Yourself in The Picture" installation
photo la 2015 - January 15-18 "Put Yourself in The Picture" onsite installation and online exhibition
WIPI / Yale / CHARTER Gallery - Beneike Library presentation start summer 2014

photo la, 2014 - Postcard presentation & 2010 Faces 6'poster
2013 Out of Focus juried online exhibition
2013 Annual Juried Competition / Exhibition
photo la, 22, 2013 Jan 17-21, 2013 Annual Exhibition Member work
It's Magical, Images of Sunrises, Sunsets & Rainbows, 2012, juried online exhibition
photo la 2012, 21st January 12-16, Annual Exhibition Member work
2012 Annual juried competition exhibition
photo la 2011, 20th photo la Anniversary January 13-17th Annual Exhibition Member work
2011 30th Anniversary Exhibition  Juried 30th Anniversary Exhibition
Black & White & Color 2011
juried online exhibition
FACES, October 2010- Juried online exhibition
Decade of Images 2010 - June 2010
June 2010 - juried online exhibition

Children, Flowers, Trees - Summer 2009
- August 2009 - juried online exhibition

Family Gatherings, Landscapes, Self-Portraits
-  April 2009 juried online exhibition
2008 Competition, juried online exhibition
2007 Competition, juried online exhibition
The Portrait, 2006 juried online exhibition
Turning Silver, 2006 - 25th Anniversary Book & print Collection 25 Anniversary Exhibition
Beauty: Camera Eye of the Beholder: June - December, 2005 juried online exhibition
Decisive Moments 2005  Jan - May. 2005 juried online exhibition Tribute to Henri Cartier-Bresson
virtual * visual- 2004: people - places - things - August 1- October 2004
photo l.a. 2004 - January 2004
photo l.a. 2003 photographs presented - January 2003
kitsch & klick, the art of the toy camera. 2002, Jan - July 2002
Photo Impact presents: Images from photo l.a. WIPI 2002
Hollywood Bound, 2002
Photo l.a. 2002
WIPI 20th Anniversary 2001 2001, International Tea Time 20th Anniversary Exhibition
Women In Photography Celebrates Freedom 1992
Women In Photography International 1989
Women Photographers in America 1987
Women Photographers in America 1985

also see: Exhibition list with image clips- 1985 - 2015



WIPI Distinguished Photographers Awardees:

Eve Arnold, 1983
Ruth Bernhard, 1984
Judy Dater, 1985
Marion Post Wolcott, 1986
Linda McCartney, 1987
Mary Ellen Mark, 1988
Ruth Orkin, 1989
Joyce Tenneson, 1990
Berenice Abbott, 1991
Grace Robertson, 1992
Annie Leibovitz, 2003 (presented in collaboration w/Lucie Awards
Sylvia Plachy, 2004 (presented in collaboration w/Lucie Awards

Carrie Mae Weems, 2005, Sept. 15, 2005

100 Distinguished Photographers announcement August 2008
Editta Sherman, 2013, Oct. 2013

Member Link and PhotoProfiles

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