George Eastman House hosts in its gardens this summer an edition of five bronze memorial sculptures by artist Todd McGrain July 3-Sept, 2012, and screen on July 28 and 29 the regional premiere of the documentary film about his efforts to memorialize five extinct birds.

Advance tickets available now.

More on the Lost Bird Project’s regional premiere, and use the map and explore all five lost bird sculptures on the property and in the gardens at George Eastman House.

(Jonathan Lee, US 2011, 89 min., Digital Projection)

Paul Goodman was a novelist, activist, anarchist, and urban theorist, as well as a proudly out gay man in 1940s America. Despite his influence and importance, Goodman remains ripe for rediscovery, a situation that director Jonathan Lee has set out to address.

Combining archival footage, excerpts from Goodman’s writing, and interviews with his friends, family, and associates, Paul Goodman Changed My Life is an insightful portrait of a figure whose ideas couldn’t be more contemporary. A discussion with director Jonathan Lee and Goodman scholars Michael Brown and Michael C. Fisher followed the screening.

Tags: Growing Up Absurd, Jonathan Lee, Michael Brown, Michael C. Fisher, paul goodman, sociopolitical, the disgrace of the Organized System

World-renowned author, photographer, painter and garden designer Elizabeth Murray spoke at Eastman House on Monet’s gardens in Giverny, which she helped to restore and has extensively photographed.
Elizabeth shares what it was like to work in Giverny in the gardens, and insight into Monet’s life there.

Tags: botanical gardens, dryden theatre, eastman house, elizabeth murray, giverny, Monet, Monet's Garden Passion, rochester ny

Listen here

We recently welcomed back filmmaker and two-time Oscar®-winner Robin Lehman to discuss a cross section of his documentary work. His scope ranges from territorial disputes between underwater crustaceans to nothing less than the entire geography, ecology, and culture of Ethiopia.

In this podcast Lehman introduces three of his films (Sea Creatures, Manimals and Ethiopia) and discusses with the audience afterward.

Tags: eastman house, ethiopia, manimals, Robin Lehman, sea creatures

We were pleased to have Morgan Atkinson at the Dryden theatre for a screening of his films Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton and Uncommon Vision: The Life and Times of John Howard Griffin.
Atkinson was joined by Nazareth College professors Dr. Christine Bochenand Monica Weis, SSJ, to discuss the life and works of Merton, whose writings examined spirituality and the plight of the individual in the post-modern world. John Howard Griffin, a friend and mentor to Merton, changed his appearance to that of an African-American in 1959 and wrote about his experiences in the groundbreaking book Black Like Me.

Audio panel discussion with the audience.

On november 3, 2011 Ben Lowy discussed his work, which documents places including Haiti, Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya during times of conflict. In his most recent book “Iraq: Perspectives” Lowy shares photographs that were shot through the windows of U.S. Army Humvees. The images show those not familiar with living in a war zone the views seen daily by soldiers and offers glimpses of the lives of those who reside in the midst of conflict.

Part 1: Iraq, Haiti

Part 2: Darfur, Afghanistan, Iraq

Part 3: Cage fighting, Gulf oil spill, Afghanistan, Libya

In her talk on October 16, 2011, An Anthology of Photographs, photographer Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe explores a deliberate decision to investigate the relationship between the faces and places she has encountered. Her work gives the viewer an opportunity to examine and experience our relationships to the world.

Moutoussamy-Ashe writes of her work: “The anthology that I have put together — representing the faces, places and spaces I have experienced — was a conscious decision to explore and investigate the relationship of these themes when grouped together: it is a representation of the expression of visual literacy. Everyone reads imagery from their own stream of consciousness and comfort. We are offered an opportunity to examine and experience our own relationship to the world around us. In doing so, we can be logical and we must improvise!”

Click here to listen in on Jeanne’s talk

For award-winning documentary photographer and writer Alison Wright, traveling in packed vehicles around Third World countries was just part of a day’s work — until the day her bus careened around a blind curve on a remote jungle road in Laos and collided head-on with a logging truck. Overcoming life-threatening injuries and extensive rehabilitation, Wright has achieved the unthinkable: climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and resuming her work as a photojournalist.

On November 17, 2011, Alison revisited her “Photo Journeys” in the Dryden Theatre.
Part 1- India, Nepal, Cambodia, Burma, Japan, Kashmir

Part 2- Mongolia, China, Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay, Brazil, Sri Lanka, United States

Since 2006, Christopher Kleihege has been photographing Caral, the “oldest centre of civilization” in the Western Hemisphere. The massive pyramids, plazas, and other constructions sit nestled in the foothills of the Peruvian Andes, and their discovery is beginning to challenge our understandings of early modern man.

Christopher gave a compelling talk about his work in the Dryden Theatre on October 6, 2011, as part of the “Wish You Were Here” travel photography lecture series.

Peter Ostrum, who starred as ‘Charlie’ in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, shares what it was like to be on the magical set of the film that has captivated generations of audiences. Captured November 26, 2011.