Building A Confluence: The Photography Collection at Tusen Takk
I’m a photographer. Since I was 13 I’ve been in love with this medium. I take photographs, I make prints. Why collect other photographers’ work? That question is similar, at least to me, to asking, “Why Tusen Takk?”
The answer begins with a reply I heard Garry Winogrand say when asked if he had any advice about how to make great photographs. It went something like this: “First, put yourself in places where you think great pictures can be taken, because I’m telling you, it isn’t going to happen if you’re not there. Second, surround yourself with other people’s great work, you’ll learn a lot.” I took his advice. Back in 1984 when I got my first grant for photography from the Minnesota Arts Board, I spent half of it on books. I still have those books today; several by Lee Friedlander. I bought his “Flowers and Trees” and “Lee Friedlander - Photographs” books and I think back then, when you bought a book from Haywire Press it meant Lee or Maria was packaging it up and shipping it out of their house. I also bought Walker Evans’ “American Photographs,” Robert Frank’s “The Americans” (the first Aperture version) and MOMA’s four “Atget” books, one at a time as they were published in successive years. Garry was right, I learned a lot. And I still look at those books and see new stuff in those pictures every time. In the early 90’s I got to know Lee and Maria Friedlander when I took a workshop from Lee at Anderson Ranch out in Aspen - it was the beginning of a long and fine acquaintance. On the sofa in his living room a couple of years ago he told me he had the same experience with books, saying that every time he looks at Walker’s “American Photographs” he comes away with something new. That’s what books of photographs can do - they give you 24/7 access to insight.
Wherever I travel I’ve sought out books and exhibitions of work. Over the past thirty years the printing company I founded and headed up did pretty well such that for the past decade or so I’ve found myself in a place where I could afford to buy original prints. Don’t get me wrong, books are still where it’s at; 90% of what a photograph is about comes through loud and clear in a book, especially if the people making the book love making images with ink on paper. But there’s something extraordinary about having a print in your hands made by the photographer - it feels like you’re having an immediate and tactile connection with a moment frozen in time and with a person who cared enough about making pictures to make this thing you’re now holding.
“Confluence” - as defined by Merriam Webster the word means: “a coming or flowing together, meeting, or gathering at one point.” That’s what I like to think I’m doing by collecting photographs I love; I’m gathering images, bringing them together to meet in one place. The reason behind this activity is similar to why I founded Tusen Takk; it springs from a desire to share, to give back. These photographs are meant to be shared with people who love making things like photographs, paintings, etchings, sculptures, writings, or musical compositions (the list of things that’s been done or is slated to be done at Tusen Takk to date).
Describing what’s special about a particular photograph in words is something I find interesting, especially with people who love looking at pictures. That’s another reason for the collection; to spark discussions that lead to insights that lead to making things informed by those insights. Artists don’t operate in a vacuum. We build on the shoulders of those who came before us and those working along side us. That’s the way it’s meant to be if you’re interested in making things that have a certain quality. This ever-growing collection of images is here as a resource for Tusen Takk’s guest artists to help them in their efforts to make the intangible tangible. I like to think this confluence, this collection, is something that can’t be found anywhere else, at least not like this, in the midst of a making place. I look forward to sharing it with those who come here if they’re interested.
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