Presentations by Recipients of the Certificate in Documentary Studies

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Photo of slide lecture "Walker Evans at 100"

Presentations by Recipients of the Certificate in Documentary Studies Awarded by the Center for Documentary Studies and Duke University Continuing Studies

Wednesday, December 8, 7 p.m.
Center for Documentary Studies Auditorium
Reception to follow in the Juanita Kreps Gallery

Recipients:
Jan Eason, photography: Portsmouth, N.C.
Thorarinn Einarsson, video: Playing Chess with the Stazi
Bob Gilgor, photography and audio: Vital Aging
Amy Kellum, video: God Got Bigger
Sylvia Lai, video: Anime Rocks
Todd Lothery, video: A Reel Man
Ed McCall, video: Small Swords: Pop and His Gladiolus
Janet Perez, audio: Insight Beyond Eyesight

The public is invited to view presentations of final projects by recipients of the Certificate in Documentary Studies for fall 2004. The certificate is presented by the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke in collaboration with Duke University Continuing Studies program. This term, graduates have produced work in photography, audio, and video. Bios of the certificate recipients and descriptions of their final projects are listed below.

In addition to celebrating the work of these students, this event also provides a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the Certificate in Documentary Studies. In addition to photography, audio, and video, the program also offers courses in oral history, documentary writing, and community documentary work. Certificate students must complete a total of six courses, including an introduction to documentary studies methods and ethics and a capstone seminar, which results in final documentary projects. Participants may also earn credit toward the certificate in the weeklong summer intensive institutes offered by CDS. For more information on the Certificate Program, contact Dawn Dreyer, CDS Learning Outreach Director, at 919-660-3680 or dkdreyer@duke.edu.

NOTE: Winter 2005 documentary studies course listings can now be viewed on the Duke Continuing Studies Web site at http://www.learnmore.duke.edu/shortcourse/classsearch.asp.

PROJECTS AND PARTICIPANTS

Jan Eason
Portsmouth, N.C.
In the summer of 2001, Jan Eason photographed the town of Portsmouth on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Fifteen of the prints were displayed in a solo exhibit at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in September and October 2003. Following the exhibition, Eason entered the certificate program at the Center for Documentary Studies. This final project takes another look at Portsmouth. Though many consider it to be a ghost town, a large number of people love and support the community. Through interviews and photographs, Eason shows some of the people that comprise this community.

A landscape architect by profession, Eason has two degrees from North Carolina State University: a B.S. in Conservation from the School of Forestry and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the School of Design. While he was a principal in a design firm, he earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Eason's photography has won several awards and has been featured in state and local exhibits. He processes and prints his own work.

Thorarinn Einarsson
Playing Chess with the Stazi

In 1979 Wolfgang Hartman, an accomplished and respected East German mathematician, was approached by the East German Secret Police, Stazi, who asked him to help them blackmail two American scientists. Hartman needed no time to decidehe didnt help them.

Thorarinn Einarsson, or Thor, is originally from Iceland but moved to the United States for further education. He started telling stories as a child after going to the cinema in his village for the first time, and he hasn't stopped since. He now makes both documentary and fictional films.

Bob Gilgor
Vital Aging

Vital Aging is a documentary study of people sixty-five and older, focused on those who are still active and productive in many ways and leading a vital life. Interviews with more than twenty elderly individuals probe how they live and seek any patterns common to the group. Black-and-white photography is used to enhance the documentary audio.

Bob Gilgor is a retiree who discovered the beauty of art photography about six years ago. Through happenstance he became interested in documentary work, and he has been involved in the making of several documentaries. He believes that oral history complements and enriches photography; the combination of the photograph with the voice gives more credibility and power to the subject.

Amy Kellum
God Got Bigger

This short video looks at Amy Kellum's experience of spiritual awakening through her teacher, Meinrad Craighead, a visionary artist and spiritual leader who draws her beliefs from Catholicism, ancient mythologies, and American Indian spirituality. This piece follows Craighead as she leads a workshop in her compound in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and shows samples of her artwork and philosophy.

Amy Kellum was attracted to videography and the Center for Documentary Studies when she was given the opportunity to document the teachings of visionary artist Meinrad Craighead. She lives in Durham with her husband, two leaving-the-nest sons, and cat and dog. She is a certified Yoga instructor and is interested in exploring a wide range of spiritual paths.

Sylvia Lai
Anime Rocks!

Anime Rocks! portrays the phenomenon of anime fans and anime conventions in America, looking specifically at the annual anime convention — the "Animazement" — in Durham, North Carolina.

Sylvia Lai, originally a book editor in publishing houses in Taiwan, decided to pursue her long-held interest in documentary filmmaking. She moved to Durham in April 2003 in order to complete the continuing studies certificate program at the Center for Documentary Studies.

Todd Lothery
A Reel Man

A Reel Man is a profile of Skip Elsheimer, whose collection of educational films is approaching 14,000. Lothery grew interested in Elsheimer's genuine affection for these orphan films;, his obsession for collecting, categorizing and preserving them; and his passion for sharing them at his A/V Geeks shows. The films in Elsheimer's archive are campy and amusing, but theyre also valuable, fascinating time capsules that reflect America's social attitudes and cultural values throughout the last half-century.

A native of Chicago, Todd Lothery protracted his adolescence at Purdue University, frittering away his time (mirthfully) and his parents money (regrettably), before moving to North Carolina on something of a whim (open map, close eyes, put finger down ... hmm, Raleigh, wonder what that's like?). A graduate of North Carolina State University, where he studied English and film, he served as movie critic at the News & Observer in Raleigh for seven years before the itch to make his own films grew too strong to leave unscratched. Next year, he and his wife are joining the Peace Corps and moving to Africa, where he hopes to find many documentary stories to tell.

Ed McCall
Small Swords: Pop and his Gladiolus

James (Pop) Robison has been growing gladioli in South Carolina for more than twenty-five years. Every year he has prepared the land, shaped and made the bed, and planted the corms. Before its over he will, by hand, plant several thousand corms. In mid-June, the first gladioli begin blooming and Pop begins giving the flowers away. He gives away every flower, every year. Pop is now eighty-seven years old, so 2004 marks the last time he will plant the glads and then dig the corms back up.

Ed McCall lives in Cary with his wife, Carol, assorted dogs, cats, and one cranky bird. He is originally from South Carolina, but has lived in Florida, Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, and the Philippines. In addition to working on video projects, he and his wife enjoy motorcycle riding through the southern United States.

Janet Perez
Insight Beyond Eyesight

In 2003 Eddie Ambrose Greene lost part of his eyesight to a rare disease. Suddenly, his world changed. After months of living an isolated life in Sanford, North Carolina, he enrolled in the Adjustment to Blindness program at the North Carolina Rehabilitation Center for the Blind. Insight Beyond Eyesight tells of his journey to the center and how he discovered a new way of seeing.

Janet Perez teaches Adaptive Technology at the North Carolina Rehabilitation Center for the Blind. Her interest in documentary studies is rooted in her belief that shared stories can heal and change the world for the better.

banner image:

Professor Alex Harris during a slide lecture accompanying the fall 2003 exhibition, Walker Evans at 100. Photograph by Christopher Sims.

Center for Documentary Studies
1317 W. Pettigrew Street
Durham, NC 27705

telephone: (919) 660-3663
fax: (919) 681-7600
email: docstudies@duke.edu

See: directions to the Center for Documentary Studies

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