December, 2025 Newsletter

Fine Art Photography

December, 2025

The long night of the winter solstice found me reflecting on 2025. It was a momentous year for me and my photography.

A few days later, I discovered that in the current issue of Seven Days, Vermont’s weekly “Independent Voice,” writer Alice Dodge named me one of 7 “Standout Vermont Artists to Keep an Eye On in 2026” (click to link). What a lovely surprise to receive the wonderful acknowledgement.

Here are my creative highlights of this passing year, followed by thoughts for 2026.

Burlington City Arts Center

My work on the left, through the glass window after hours.

Do We Say Goodbye? Grief, Loss, and Mourning runs through January 24, 2026 at the Burlington City Arts Center. Curator Heather Ferrell offered me an opportunity to create contact grids about my mother, whose life was framed by the trauma of surviving the Holocaust and losing her father to Auschwitz.

“Things of My Mother” spans her trajectory from Berlin to Manhattan; her marriage to my father and move to Westchester, NY to raise children; her divorce and relocation to the north shore of Long Island; and, her years in Vermont, where she died in late 2022.

For each contact grid, of 3 to 9 frames of black and white film shots, I assembled combinations of my mother’s possessions, including her poems and written reflections, as well as photographs.

Steeping myself in her world allowed me to process the grief of her passing. While I gained compassion for my mother and her emotional struggles, I also became acutely aware of how I absorbed her pain. Art as catharsis.

Seven Days art review

I will be giving a gallery talk with fellow exhibitor and multi-faceted artist John Killacky at the BCA Center on Wednesday, January 14, at 6pm. The event is free and open to the public.

With limited gallery space in the 8-artist exhibition, there are 4 framed grids are on display. To see more of the series, visit the Things of My Mother, Contact Grids gallery on my website.

Woman on Fender, circa 1920’s

11x14-inch Silver Gelatin Print on Arches Watercolor Paper, Toned in Sepia, 2018

It was a milestone to have a Portfolio Spotlight in the October issue of Black & White Magazine, one of my favorite photography journals. They featured the “(Re)membering” Series, for which I photograph anonymous vintage portraits and print the new negatives on cotton paper hand-coated with silver emulsion.

Click THIS LINK to view the B&W Magazine spread

My Father’s Things, Kodak Film Cans

16x20-inch Silver Gelatin Print, 2025

It was a tremendous joy to be part of this year’s Art at the Kent exhibition, Holding, Mementos Kept, Memories Kindled, which closed on October 12. I had 17 framed prints in the exhibition, including large darkroom prints of single frames and Contact Grids from “My Father’s Things”, and a selection of hand-applied silver emulsion prints from the “(Re)Membering” series.

Curators Nel Emlen, Allyson Evans, and David Schutz tastefully filled the historic buildings and grounds in rural Calais, Vermont with an array of work from 22 artists. Shortly after the festive opening, I and 5 other exhibiting artists presented slideshow talks to a packed house at the Maple Corner Community Center for a night called “Inspired”.

Click HERE to watch a brief Instagram Reel with images from the exhibition.

Seven Days art review

I showed my work in new places in 2025. I had 2 large darkroom prints in Sharpen Your Pencils at the lovely Studio Place Arts in Barre, Vermont, and joined 3 group exhibitions at Burlington’s lively SPACE Gallery. The year kicked off with “Images of Havana” at the University of Vermont Medical Center, where the work received a surprising amount of exposure.

The October issue of Burlington’s unique 05401 Magazine, the creative humanist endeavor of architect and writer Mannie Lionni, features a portfolio of “My Father’s Things, Contact Grids” among the essays and art.

This year also brought in a few photographic commissions. I am currently working on a 5-foot long print of “My Father’s Things, Pencils #1”, the largest print I’ve yet produced.

Rachel Portesi’s The Nature of Things

McCarthy Art Gallery, Saint Michael’s College, September, 2025

Photo provided by the artist

I had the privilege of being the guest curator for a visiting artist exhibition at Saint Michael’s College in the fall semester, and was delighted to host Rachel Portesi. The Nature of Things explored mushrooms as symbols of mortality, regeneration, and interconnectedness, with large digital prints from her hand-made tintypes, videos of time-lapse imagery altered with AI, and several intriguing installations–including her own eventual “burial tray” filled with living moss and lichen. Rachel gave an insightful artist’s talk preceding the opening reception on September 18.

Read Alice Dodge’s beautiful Seven Days art review

After 3 seasons of preparation–clearing the neglected and overgrown buildings and yards of the parcel I purchased in 2024–I broke ground in late summer. My house in Bristol, Vermont is steadily progressing. I am nearly finished with the interior framing and the plumbing and electrical work is roughed in. The unusually early and cold winter has presented challenges, but I have a wood stove for warmth and soon there’ll be running water. The exterior trim and siding will have to wait until spring.

To see darkroom prints of the property before, during and after the original structures were demolished, as well as some of the contact grids of the various objects discovered, visit THIS Gallery on my website.

EXHIBITIONS

Things of My Mother, Contact Grid #1

15x16.5-inch Archival Pigment Print, 2025

Please come for a tour of the evocative exhibition and an artists talk with John Killacky and me on Wednesday, January 14, at 6pm.

…….

“Stains” at the Museum of Everyday Life

Glover, Vermont

Through July, 2026

Gavin’s Walls Triptych

Three 8.5x11-inch Archival Pigment Prints, 2024

My piece above was created for the MOEL exhibition, which addresses life’s residues. “Gavin’s Walls Triptych” is a look at my younger brother’s Queens apartment after his fatal heart attack in 2017. His walls were darkened with 20 years of cigarette smoke, leaving impressions of the posters and Nascar memorabilia that had decorated his home.

Click HERE to view the images of my 2019 exhibition “Of Gavin”, which pays homage to my brother through a visual study of his possessions.

PRINTS FOR SALE

Visit the Store Page for newsletter sale prints. If you are interested in any of the photographs on the website, inquire at: jordan@jordandouglasphotography.com

IN THE VIEWFINDER

I am looking to build on the important strides of this past year. I will expand my new “Holga Quad” series as well as “Basin St. Things, Contact Grids”. I have a couple of exhibition irons in the fire that I hope to share in the next newsletter. I will continue to apply for grants and residencies, and would love to try my hand at putting together a book of one of my bodies of work.

Today, I insulated the walls of the darkroom in the basement of my new house. I plan on moving in by springtime. Finding a spot to set roots and creating a home has been a lifelong dream.

I am grateful for a fruitful 2025. Here’s to 2026: may it be expansive and bright. Happy New Year!

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