February 8,2025 at 11:00 AM at Yocum Institute
Jano Cohen on The Making of Grace & Grit: Boxing at Shuler's Gym - photographs by Jano Cohen and text by Jano Cohen and John DiSanto
Jano will talk about how she got full photographic access to Shuler's gym and decided to tell the full story behind this classic community oriented boxing gym. She will use a slideshow to share some of the stories of the people she photographed and interviewed over the five years she covered the gym for the book. She will share how she self-published the book and the talented people involved with that process. Copies of her book will be available for you to look through or buy if you choose.
Jano is a fine art and documentary photographer in the Philadelphia area. This book was selected by the American Book Fest as the 2024 Best Book Award in Photography. In 2017 she was awarded a solo show of photographs about that gym at Open Lens Gallery in Philadelphia.
Her other awards/exhibits include: Photo Review Web Exhibits 2024 and 2023. “RAW” exhibit at Noyes Museum, “Women at Work” at PhotoPlace Gallery, “Humans” at NY4PA, Online Exhibit on Red Filter Gallery, Moscow Foto Awards Editorial Silver Prize, Photo Review 13th prize, honorable mention Monochrome Awards, finalist 7th Pollux Awards, 20th Biennial of Fine Art and Documentary Photography, “Open Lens” at DaVinci Art Alliance, and Fotofoto Gallery.
Her topics includes dance in an Alzheimer’s residential unit, the community of Philadelphia’s Chinatown shown at Asian Arts Initiative, dance for street children in Rwanda and graphic and abstract interpretations of landscapes. She points out strange and beautiful finds in urban decay.
Jano lives in a suburb of Philadelphia and teaches The Alexander Technique and T'ai Chi. She does some photography for dance artists as well. To see more of her work, go to https://janocohenphotography.com
April 12, 2025 at 11:00 AM at Yocum Institute
Sandra Fees on Writing as Discovery
Sandra will talk about writing that embraces discovery. What happens when we write to explore the unknown and to be surprised, rather than writing what we already know? She will share how this approach to writing informed her new book Wonderwork (BlazeVOX Books, 2024). There will also be multi-genre writing prompts and time for participants to share.
Sandra Fees's first full-length poetry collection is Wonderwork. She is also the author of two chapbooks. A former Berks County Poet Laureate, her poems have been published in a variety of journals and received Pushcart Prize and Best of Net nominations. She also writes creative non-fiction and micro fiction. You can learn more about her at sandrafees.com.