“Shot on Film” Opening Reception

Thursday, August 17, 2023
5pm – 7pm at the Spirit Room

Please join us at the Spirit Room for the celebration of “Shot on Film,” a group collective traditional photographic exploration created by Ross Collins, Lynn Fundingsland, Scott Olsen, Jon Solinger, and Chris Walker. Inspired by a previous project in which several of the members had found a twenty-year-old roll of film and set out to explore its potential, these gentlemen restricted themselves to the use of traditional film in the era of digital photography. Each chose to explore the medium in different ways with delightful results.

Ross F. Collins is a professor of communication at North Dakota State University, Fargo, where he teaches photography, writing, mass media history, and other courses. A former photojournalist, he has shown his work in 11 solo exhibits and 26 juried and group shows. He was a partner in the Fargo-Moorhead Gallery 4 Artists Collective from 1992-1994, and has published a variety of work on photography and visual communication. His coedited textbook Photocommunication Across Media was published by Routledge in 2018. Originally from Moorhead, Collins received a Ph.D. in French history from the University of Cambridge, UK, in 1992.

Lynn Fundingsland has practiced photography since age 8. Armed with a BS degree in Art from Humboldt College in California and some follow up study with the Santa Fe Workshops in New Mexico, he has shown and been published nationally since the late 1960’s. In the 1970’s he spent several periods as photojournalist in Minot, ND and Arcata, CA. He is currently a member of Gallery 4 in Fargo.

W. Scott Olsen is a professor of English at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. The author of 12 books of narrative nonfiction, he also writes reviews and articles for outlets such as Frames Magazine, LensCulture, and others. He also hosts the photography podcast series for Frames. His photography has been featured regionally with solo exhibitions at the Plains Art Museum, venues curated by The Arts Partnership, Atomic Coffee, The Forum, Broadway Square, and now The Spirit Room! Internationally, his images have been featured in places such as aCurator, Frames, Terrain, LensCulture, and elsewhere. He is a mentor in the Vital Impacts International Environmental Fellowship program, the National Park Photography Expeditions program, and the Lake Region Arts Council.

Jon Solinger’s work is motivated by his conviction that fascinating people with stories to tell are always nearby, and that the commonplace, the local and grassroots, is worthy of artistic expression. He aims to offer insight into his rural Minnesota community’s culture by bringing individual members into the art-making process, then sharing the work with a wider audience. He has exhibited his work regionally, including at the North Dakota Museum of Art, Rourke Art Museum, Plains Art Museum and galleries in Minneapolis, Fargo, and Fergus Falls. He resides with his family in Lida Township, Otter Tail County Minnesota, maintaining a studio there and working as the third-generation owner of Solinger’s Resort on Lake Lida.

Chris Walker works exclusively in photography, typically using a wooden, 8×10″ view camera. His work has been featured on Smithsonian Magazine’s web presence, and his own website, chriswalkerphoto.com, is on The New York Times’ list of “Must See: Most Provocative Websites.” Walker’s current work blends engrained journalistic sensibilities with his deeply rooted concerns for our rural countryside. Chris lives in Fargo, North Dakota, and teaches lens-based media in the School of Communication & Journalism at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

The reception will be held on Thursday, August 17th at 5:00 p.m. Food and drinks will be available, and the event is open and free to the public. For those unable to attend in person the artist talks will be streamed through Facebook Live, and a gallery walk through will take place afterwards.

“Shot on Film” is made possible through funding in part by North Dakota Council on the Arts and the Arts Partnership.
Who: Open to the public
Cost: Free
Contact Us: fargospiritroom@gmail.com