Joan Logue is a pioneer in the field of video portraiture. She first learned to use the medium soon after it became available to artists with Sony’s introduction of the video portapac in the late sixties. As a still portrait photographer, Logue immediately recognized the new medium’s potential for expressing more fully the complexity of the sitter. Although Logue’s background was not in film (she studied painting and photography), early on she discovered that video expanded painting and still photography, taking the ‘instant’ out of portraiture to give it a presence in real-time. For this reason, she is recognized as the “originator” of the first video portrait in 1971. There, by using real-time and silence to expose the sitter’s presence, she allowed the viewer to observe a person in contemplation and silence.

Joan came back to us to finish the book project she started last year. Working with Research Assistant Jessica Earle she was able to finish the color correction and layout of her book. While she was here she tested a variety of paper including some of our Xuan paper. The final book with be printed on a very special bamboo Xuan paper that co-director Joseph Scheer will be bringing back with him from his recent trip to China.