James Fossett- Where water meets water
April 5th - May 7th 2008

As a native of coastal Maine, Fossett’s work frequently explores aquatic environments and the people who thrive on them. “I am interested in the concept and presence of community. Swimming holes embody community at its most basic level. At these selected spots we toss aside our social skins, strip down to a sociably acceptable level and dive in to the communal waters”.

“I am going on eight years of this swimming hole project. Each year there are fewer choices as land is bought up and these gathering places become private property. In this sense, swimming holes are drying up.”

Some of these images are made with film (both medium and wide format) and scanned. Others are digital from source to print. All of the panoramas are composed of several sequential frames that represent three minutes to three hours of time passed swimming and mucking about.

James Fossett is a visual artist who works in video, photography, performance, sound and installation. He is also a founding member, of the performance group, Cave Dogs. He received his MFA from Tufts University in conjunction with The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Fossett has held teaching appointments at the Massachusetts College of Art, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Marist College and the University of New Hampshire. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the State University of New York, New Paltz, NY. Fossett lives in Bloomington with his wife,Cave Dogs cofounder, Suzanne Stokes and their two children.

www.fossettphoto.com