HMAb: The Fundraiser – Derek Shapton

Just a quick reminder: HMAb: The Fundraiser is taking place on February 5th at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. Tickets cost $10 and can be purchased in the right-hand column of this blog. Naomi Harris, Daniel Ehrenworth and Brett Gundlock will be speaking about their latest projects. And 40 photographers have donated work to a silent print auction. All money raised from the sale of their prints will go directly to Heather. You can join the Facebook event page here. If you’re curious to know why we’re raising funds for Heather, please refer to “Some Good News and Some Bad News“.

The fundraiser is starting to come together!

44 photographers have contributed work to the silent print auction!

All of the images were sent to Katarina Marinic, who was kind enough to prepare the files for printing.

Pikto will be printing each image 16×20″ with a minimum 1.25″ border on standard satin paper. They’re going to look great!

And I’m really happy to announce that Alice Dixon has agreed to help hang/arrange the silent auction. Alice is the Exhibition Coordinator at Gallery 44, a non-profit centre for photography in Toronto. Her latest efforts include curating Occupy Boreal and The Occupation by Ian Willms.

Today’s feature on Derek Shapton comes courtesy of fundraiser organizer Kristin Sjaarda:

I have admired Derek’s work for years. Back in 2001 we both had work featured in the Noorderlict Festival and travelled to Holland together to attend the opening. He is also my husband. He’s represented commercially in North America by Westside Studio and mostly shoots portrait and lifestyle work. For many of his self-assignments, however, he works with a documentary landscape approach. For example, the birth of our 2nd son inspired his project “Here“, where he revisited the locations of some vivid childhood memories. He also recently started a blog, Planet Shapton. Here’s a shot of Derek with our kids, covered in blankets (which I predict will be the child photography trend of 2012!)

Derek Shapton ©Kristin Sjaarda

Kristin: I have 3 questions for you Derek. What project are you working on now?
Derek: Raising three little boys, and also shooting a lengthy, thematically connected series of streetscapes and intersections. It’s more interesting than it sounds but I don’t want to talk about it too much just yet.

How did your parents encourage your artistic tendancies?
Instead of hiring babysitters to take care of us, my parents instructed my sister and I to go to our local public library after school and wait there until they were able to pick us up. As a result, we spent 2-3 hours a day, four or five days a week, for probably four or five years at the library, with nothing to do but read. It was completely awesome. We could (and did) read anything and everything we wanted to. It was like an auxiliary, self-directed education layered on top of regular school. We were as happy as clams.

Can you juggle?
Yes, mostly little kids, but I also work with beanbags.

Images from “Here”:

Fell Off Bike, 1977 ©Derek Shapton

Learned to Swim, 1979 ©Derek Shapton

Buried the Hamsters, 1981 ©Derek Shapton

We Saw Them Making Out ©Derek Shapton

Drowned, 1984 ©Derek Shapton

For Heather’s auction, Derek donated an image from his “Special Administrative Regions” series, taken while he was on assignment recently in Hong Kong and Macau:

©Derek Shapton

©Derek Shapton

©Derek Shapton

©Derek Shapton

©Derek Shapton

If you have any questions regarding HMAb: The Fundraiser, please leave a comment or e-mail jamie @ jamierosenthal.ca. Thanks!