Starting in April of this year, artists Kristina Bilonick, Michael Matason, Jillian Pichocki, and Bryan Whitson, came together twice a week to discuss and develop new work as part of Transformer’s The Exercises for Emerging Artists program. As a continuation of the program, Transformer has opened up the process to the public for comment and feedback in E5: Rangefinder.

Launched in March 2004, The Exercises for Emerging Artists was created to support artists at critical points in their professional careers. The program is designed especially for those artists that miss the critique and feedback element found in formal school settings. In addition to several peer critique sessions, the artists receive mentorship and feedback from area gallerists, more established artists, professors, and curators. This year’s mentors included visual artist Jason Zimmerman, photographer Frank Day, Transformer’s Executive & Artistic Director Victoria Reis, the Corcoran College of Art and Design’s Administrative Chair of Photography Andy Grundberg, independent curator and gallerist Andrea Pollan of Curator’s Office, and guest curator Lisa McCarty.

Using screen printing, light painting, multiple exposure Polaroids, and photographic renderings, the artists showcase their experimental use of photography in the 5th of the series of the Exercises program. In her curator’s statement McCarty says that she found the process interesting in that many curators don’t see the conception of artistic ideas. Being involved from the beginning, McCarty wanted to take advantage of the situation and became more of a consultant to the artists stating, “For this program I sought to give a forum to these artists who approach the medium of photography as a means, but not always the end.”