DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHIES

Frederick Baldwin
Chairman and Co-Founder
Frederick Baldwin co-founded FotoFest in 1983 and served as the organization’s President from 1984-2001. In 2001, he became Chairman of FotoFest’s Board of Directors. He was responsible for the organizational and financial development of FotoFest from 1984-1991. From 1991-2004, he shared responsibility for FotoFest’s artistic programming as well as administration and development with FotoFest Artistic Director and Co-founder Wendy Watriss. In 1988-1990, he initiated FotoFest’s student education program, Literacy Through Photography. In 1994, he started an international collaboration of 22 photography festivals, an ongoing international network, Festival of Light, www.festivaloflight.net

Fred Baldwin has had an extensive career in photography as a professional photographer and professor of photography. From 1957 to 1982, he worked as a photographer on international commissions for magazines such as LIFE, National Geographic, GEO, STERN, Time and the New York Times. His award-wining work has dealt with subjects such as the Civil Rights Movement in Georgia, rural poverty in the Georgia and the Carolinas, Arctic fishermen in the Lofoten Islands, polar bears and other wildlife in the Norwegian Arctic, wild horses in Mexico, and Peace Corps volunteers in India.

In 1971, he began a photographic documentary and oral history project in Texas with Wendy Watriss. The project resulted in numerous exhibitions, fellowships (National Endowment for the Humanities, The Rockefeller Foundation), and the book Coming To Terms, The German Hill Country of Texas (Texas A&M Press, 1991).

In 1981-82, Fred Baldwin taught documentary photography in the School of Communications at the University of Texas in Austin. From 1982-87, he directed the Photojournalism Program at the University of Houston Central Campus.

In 2008, Fred Baldwin’s photography on the Civil Rights Movement in Savannah Georgia was the subject of a book and exhibition by the Telfair Museum of Art, Freedom’s March, (University of Georgia Press, 2008). In 2009, the photography of Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss was the subject of a large exhibition by the Museé de la Photographie in Charleroi, Belgium and the book, Looking at the U.S., 1957-1986, (Mets & Schilt, Amsterdam, 2009).

From 1964-66, Fred Baldwin was director of the Peace Corps in Borneo. From 1950-51, he was a Marine infantryman in Korea and was wounded and decorated numerous times. He is a member of the American Leadership Forum.

Mr. Baldwin inaugurated FotoFest’s school-based education program, Literacy Through Photography, by bringing photographer-educator Wendy Ewald from New York to Houston to do writing and photography workshops for FotoFest. In 1990, FotoFest converted her workshops into a full-time school based curriculum and teaching program.

Wendy Watriss
Artistic Director and Co-Founder
Wendy Watriss is a co-founder of FotoFest and has served as artistic director and principal curator since 1991. As project director and senior curator for FotoFest, she has developed over 60 international exhibits for FotoFest, including path-breaking exhibits on Photography from China 1934-2008, AMERICAN VOICES -Latino photographers in the U.S., Photography from Latin America 1865-1994, photography from Central Europe, contemporary Mexican photography,  the visual history of Kurdistan with Susan Meiselas, contemporary Korean photography, early 20th century Russian photography, multi-media/new technology installations, and subjects such as Water- Celebrating Water. Looking at the Global Crisis; The Global Environment; Guantanamo; and Artists Responding to Violence; and Contemporary U.S. Photography. In 2009, she was the invited curator for international exhibitions of the Guangzhou 2009 Photo Biennial at the Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China.

In 1998, Wendy Watriss produced the award-winning book IMAGE AND MEMORY, Photography from Latin America 1866-1994 (University of Texas Press, 1998). From 1992-2009, Ms. Watriss has directed FotoFest art programs and catalogue publications. From 1992-1997 and 2002-2010, she has been responsible for administration and fundraising for FotoFest. From 1992-2009, she shared responsibility for FotoFest’s development with Frederick Baldwin. In 2002, she began supervising the programmatic and financial development of FotoFest’s Literacy Through Photography education program in schools and its integration with FotoFest’s art programs.

From 1970-1991, Wendy Watriss worked as an award-winning international photojournalist and independent documentary photographer, publishing work on subjects such as religious conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa, conflict in Salvador and Nicaragua, rebuilding of Skopje in Macedonia, Vietnam veterans and the herbicide Agent Orange, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. Her photographic work has been exhibited around the world. In 1982, she won the World Press Photo Award for Feature Stories and the Oskar Barnack Award - Leica; Interpress Photo in 1983; and Mid America Arts/National Endowment for the Arts in1985.

In 2009, the photography of Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin was the subject of a large exhibition by the Museé de la Photographie in Charleroi, Belgium and the book, Looking at the U.S., 1957-1986, (Mets & Schilt, Amsterdam, 2009).

In 1971, the photography and oral history project she began in Texas with Frederick Baldwin received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Texas foundations. It resulted in numerous exhibitions, articles and the book Coming To Terms, The German Hill Country of Texas (Texas A&M Press, 1991).

From 1963-1966, Ms. Watriss worked as a writer and newspaper reporter on urban politics for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. From 1966-1970, she was a reporter and producer of political documentaries for public television, the Public Broadcast Laboratory, the predecessor to PBS, in New York. From 1971-72, she worked as a stringer for Newsweek in central Europe and from 1980-1990, she worked as a freelance photographer for the New York Times in the U.S. She has been a juror and panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Houston Arts Alliance and numerous museums in the U.S. and abroad. She is a member of the American Leadership Forum and a recipient of Women on the Move award.

STAFF BIOGRAPHIES

Rocio Carlon
Fine Print Auction and Special Projects Coordinator
Rocio Carlon joined FotoFest in August 2009 as a consultant for FotoFest’s largest fundraising event, the biennial international Fine Print Auction. As Coordinator for the 2010 Fine Print Auction, she worked with FotoFest’s Co-Founder and Artistic Director to coordinate print donations from leading contemporary artists. She supervised donor mailings, co-produced the Fine Print Auction catalogue and act as staff liaison for all Auction sponsors. She coordinated three preview exhibitions of the 2010 Biennial Fine Print Auction pieces and co-produced the Live Auction event.

Ms. Carlon has also assisted FotoFest’s Literacy Through Photography student education program with special events in 2010 and the FotoFun 2011 fundraiser for LTP. Before joining FotoFest, she completed two degrees at the University of Houston, a B.A. in Photography and Digital Media in 2009 and a B.A. in Public Relations in 2007.

Sarah Craig
Meeting Place Assistant
Sarah Craig assists with FotoFest’s Biennial Meeting Place portfolio reviews and coordinates the Biennial Media and Photography Workshops.  She is the staff Coordinator for FotoFest’s year-round collectors group, First Look.

Before joining FotoFest in 2007, Ms. Craig studied art and photography at the University of Denver, where she received her B.F.A in art.  She interned for FotoFest in 2006 and began full-time work for FotoFest a year later.

She coordinates all aspects of the Meeting Place portfolio reviews, including the artists’ registration process, research for portfolio reviewers, hotel and travel arrangements. She is responsible for helping develop marketing and promotion strategies for Media and Photography workshops, including registrations and coordination with Workshop presenters. As staff Coordinator for the First Look Collector’s Group, she helps plan special events for Houston-based art collectors.

Annick Dekiouk
Exhibitions Assistant
Annick Dekiouk works primarily with FotoFest’s exhibition programs as a special consultant. Since 2005, she has assisted FotoFest’s Exhibitions Coordinator Jennifer Ward, in coordinating production of exhibitions, shipping and liaison with exhibiting artists. Since 2008, she has worked as the primary coordinator for a number of Biennial and inter-Biennial exhibitions, including the large series of international exhibitions curated by FotoFest for the 2009 Guangzhou Photo Biennial in China.

In 2010, she helpt develop and supervise artist and curator book signings for the FotoFest 2010 Biennial. She has also worked with the development of FotoFest’s intern and volunteer program.

Ms. Dekiouk studied photography at the University of Houston and received a B.F.A in photography and digital media. She has shown her own photography at the Blaffer Gallery, Art Museum of University of Houston The University of Houston; Negative Space Gallery, Houston; Juried Membership Exhibition, Houston Center for Photography; Hungry Café, Houston; Pingyao International Festival, China, and the Donggang Museum of Photography, Yeongwol, Korea. She interned for FotoFest in 2004, she joined Fotofest as a consultant in 2005 as an exhibitions consultant.

Vinod Hopson
Press and Website Coordinator
Vinod Hopson is an artist and writer, who has worked with FotoFest since 2001. As Press and Website Coordinator, he works with FotoFest’s press consultants in developing and executing press and publicity strategies for all FotoFest art and education programs.  He is FotoFest’s primary marketing coordinator, and he helps develop public programs related to FotoFest’s exhibitions.

Mr. Hopson oversees and maintains the FotoFest website. He is FotoFest’s principal website designer, Hexagroup Inc.

In addition the press releases he writes for FotoFest, Mr. Hopson has written freelance
art reviews for international magazines and online art magazines. In 2006, he co-curated,
with Jennifer Ward, FotoFest’s 2006 Talent in Texas II exhibition, Native Sons.

As an artist, his performance work has been featured at art venues in Houston and his performance,The Rise, was highlighted as among the Best of 2006 by the online art journal Glasstire. He was born in New Jersey and has lived in Houston since 1996.

Marta Sánchez Philippe
Coordinator of the Meeting Place Portfolio Review and International Projects
Marta Sánchez Philippe has coordinated one of FotoFest’s most important Biennial programs, the international Meeting Place portfolio review, since 2005. She has worked as a program consultant for FotoFest since 1993, after participating in the FotoFest 1992 Biennial as a volunteer and multi-lingual translator.

Mrs. Sánchez Phliippe grew up in Mexico City, where she studied English Literature. Prior to FotoFest, she worked as a freelance editor and literary translator in Mexico.  As a special projects coordinator for FotoFest, she was responsible for the Spanish section and translation of the FotoFest 1994 Biennial catalogue. She did the bibliography and collaborated in the publication of the book Image and Memory: Photography from Latin America (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1997).

Since 2006, she has coordinated FotoFest’s annual trips for the FotoFest Board of Directors and photo collectors in Paris, Prague, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and New York City.. Since 1998, she has co-edited the FotoFest's Biennial Fine Print Auction Catalogue. Since 1994, she has also assisted with the organization of several FotoFest exhibitions

In 2005, Mrs. Sánchez Phliippe, became the senior Coordinator of the International Meeting Place Portfolio Review program. She works with FotoFest’s founders and Art Board in selecting and inviting 180 reviewers as well as organizing the overall event, the registration process of 520 photographers, and reviewers’ hotel and travel. As coordinator of FotoFest’s portfolio reviews, she is invited to give presentations and workshops outside FotoFest on how to prepare an artist portfolio for a portfolio review or presentation at an art gallery. She has given workshops in Mexico, The Dominican Republic, and in Houston for other arts organizations. In 2006, she provided logistical support for FotoFest’s portfolio review program in Beijing, and in 2010, she is coordinating the Lensculture FotoFest portfolio review in Paris.

Kristin Skarbovig
Literacy Through Photography Manager
Kristin Skarbovig has been Program Manager for FotoFest’s student education program, Literacy Through Photography (LTP), since joining the FotoFest staff in August 2009.  Ms. Skarbovig brings both strong art expertise and previous teaching experience to the LTP program.   After receiving a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, she taught drawing, painting and International Baccalaureate art history at Humble High School from 2005 to 2008.

In addition to her experience as a teacher, she worked in public relations at the Baltimore Museum of Art before moving to Houston. Prior to joining FotoFest, she worked as a design consultant at one of Houston’s leading fine art frame firms, Sarah Balinskas Fine Framing.

In her work as Manager of the Literacy Through Photography program, Ms. Skarbovig oversees the implementation of the program in over 25 public, charter and private schools, conducts training workshops for classroom teachers, develops and trains FotoFest’s cohort teachers, and oversees changes to the basic LTP curriculum and development of special curriculum related to FotoFest exhibitions and Biennial art programs. She develops teacher-student field trips to FotoFest exhibitions and partnerships with other cultural-education organizations such as Writers In The Schools (WITS), the Houston Grand Opera, and Project Row Houses (PRH). She oversees promotion of the LTP program as well as fundraising and financial management for LTP.

Marianne Stavenhagen
Office Manager and Volunteer Coordinator
Marianne Stavenhagen manages FotoFest office operations, human resource programs and the FotoFest photography collection. She also coordinates the FotoFest’s volunteer and intern program. She has worked with FotoFest since 2004 when she volunteered for the FotoFest 2004 Biennial.

Before moving to Houston, in 2003, she was the Collection and Data Manager for Light Work in Syracuse, New York. At Light Work, she also coordinated student curated exhibitions from the Light Work Collection of Photographs. Ms. Stavenhagen participated in the dual M.A. degree program in art history and museum studies at Syracuse University. She earned her B.A. in art history from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and studied painting and fresco restoration and conservation in Florence, Italy.

Jennifer Ward
Exhibitions Coordinator
Jennifer Ward has coordinated FotoFest’s year-round exhibition programs and FotoFest’s Biennial Exhibitions since 2003-2004. She is FotoFest’s principal liaison with over 110 Participating Spaces in the FotoFest Biennials. In 2004, she began curating by co-producing and co-conceiving, with Wendy Watriss, the first exhibition of FotoFest’s ongoing Talent in Texas series with the exhibition Home and Garden. In 2006, Ms. Ward was the lead curator for Native Sons, the second Talent in Texas exhibition. In 2009, she conceived and curated the exhibit POKE! Artists and Online Social Media.

Ms. Ward organizes educational outreach and student tours for FotoFest exhibitions and coordinates collaborative programs. She coordinates the Participating Spaces sections of FotoFest’s Biennial Catalogues along with the Biennial Maps and Calendars. Ms. Ward has reviewed artists’ portfolios as an invited reviewer at the Houston Center for Photography; Photolucida, Portland, Oregon; Critical Mass; Mois de la Photo, Montreal, Quebec; Mesiac Fotografie, Bratislava, Slovakia; and PhotoNOLA, New Orleans.