Society for Photographic Education South Central Regional Conference at MSU

The South Central Society for Photographic Education Conference that will be held at Mississippi State University in the fall of 2012, from October 25-28. The conference will be co-hosted by The Department of Art and The Department of Communication to promote intercollegiate collaboration within the university by involving students, faculty, and the facilities in each department, as well as the community of Starkville, with a regional chapter of a national organization. The Society for Photographic Education is a nonprofit membership organization that provides a forum for the discussion of photography and related media as a means of creative expression and cultural insight.

The South Central SPE chapter is comprised of seven states: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas, with conferences hosted by institutions of higher education for the exploration of academic discourse surrounding the medium of photography. Opportunities will exist at the conference for SPE members and MSU students and faculty to participate in this discourse with panel discussions, image-maker presentations, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, workshops, critiques, and honoring a distinguished educator.

The 2012 conference titled Nothing Ventured /Nothing Gained: The Creative Risk, will focus on the risks artists take in the conceptual and technical aspects of their work, and the challenges they overcome in their visual research. Mississippi State University’s commitment to hosting the conference will critically examine the diversity of photographic practice by addressing the three major sectors of photography: traditional, digital, and alternative processes, not only with member participation, but by inviting Keynote Speaker Todd Hido and Featured Speakers Kelli Connell, and Susan Burnstine to talk about their research.

Thursday 10/25/2012
10 - noon workshop with Susan Burnstine
SPE student volunteers 6 -7 Susan Burnstine, Featured SpeakerGiles Auditorium 7-9pm Reception, Visual Art Center
Exhibition Title: SPE Members’ Exhibition and
Antiquarian Avant-Garde Photography:Works by the North Texas Alternative Process Group
October 16-November 2
  FRIDAY 10/26/201212- 1:30pm Dornith Doherty, Honored Educator Presentation and ReceptionMcComas Theater
 4:30 – 5:30 KEYNOTE:  Todd Hido, McComas Theater
 5:30 – 7:30pm McComas GalleryExhibition Title: Nothing Ventured /Nothing Gained: The Creative RiskDornith Doherty, Susan Burnstine, Kelli Connell and Todd Hido  Saturday 10/27/2012
5:30  -6:30pm: Featured Speaker: Kelli Connell, McComas Theater
 8 – 11pm       Jazz Party, SPESC Event
Hotel Chester, Downtown Starkville SUNDAY 10/28/201210-12 Portfolio Reviews in Stafford HallPortfolio Registration and directions in entry of Stafford“Walk through” Portfolio sharing in upstairs hallway of StaffordProfessional Level and Student Level  / 20 min slots[regional curators and editors are expected to be reviewing]

Marita Gootee, SPESC Co-Chair

Professor of Art

Dominic Lippillo, SPESC Co-Chair

Assistant Professor of Art

Wendy Roussin, SPESC Co-Chair

Assistant Professor of Communication