“Stories from Stagville”: Exhibit Features Collaborative Work by Durham 5th Graders and Duke Undergrads
A new exhibit on the Duke University campus showcases work made by fifth-grade students in Lisa Lord’s classroom at Club Boulevard Humanities Magnet School in Durham, North Carolina, based on their yearlong study of Historic Stagville, which contains the remnants of one of the South’s largest pre-Civil War plantations. The fifth graders worked with Duke undergraduates [...]
Upcoming Continuing Ed Classes Explore Copyright, Animation, and Creative Nonfiction
Check out these three great offerings from our Continuing Education program—one- and two-day workshops and an online class: Copyright Issues for Documentarians Saturday, May 11, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Copyright is an increasingly important—and sometimes treacherous—subject for documentarians, who are both owners and users of copyrighted works. Learn about issues of copyright, fair use, and how the law [...]
Audio Documentary Listening Party: Students to Present a Selection of Works, April 29
The general public is enthusiastically invited to this presentation in the new Power Plant building by undergraduate and graduate students in the Short Audio Documentary class taught by Center for Documentary Studies audio director John Biewen. The students will present a selection of works produced during the spring semester. The short audio documentaries will be [...]
Certificate in Documentary Studies Project Presentations and Exhibit: “Beyond the Front Porch 2013″
Eight graduating seniors who are completing the Certificate in Documentary Studies at Duke University will present their final projects to the public in an open house celebration at the Center for Documentary Studies: David Chou, Michaela Dwyer, Melanie Houston, Alice Kim, Haley Read, Hannah Scott, Sarah Van Name, and Katie Vo. An exhibit of the students’ work, [...]
“Haikus and Other Mathematics”: Short Films by MFA in Experimental & Doc Arts Students, April 19
Students in Duke University’s MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts program will present a program of short films produced in conjunction with instructor/award-winning filmmaker Josh Gibson‘s Experimental Film course. Haikus and Other Mathematics includes work by twelve students in the Class of 2014: Runa A, Kristin Bedford, Rachel Boillot, Brenda L. Burmeister, Malina Chavez, Erin Espelie, Sarah [...]
Upcoming One-Day Workshops: Wet Plate Processing and Documentary and the Three-Act Structure
We’re pleased to offer these upcoming one-day CDS Continuing Education classes, one of which an online course. Alternative Processing: Wet Plate Workshop Saturday, April 20, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Center for Documentary Studies / 1317 W. Pettigrew St., Durham, North Carolina Wet plate processing is a beautiful, antique photographic process practiced in the nineteenth century by [...]
Register Now for Summer Course: One-Week Doc Filmmaking Boot Camp
This summer CDS will offer its tenth annual Documentary Video Institute, our one-week video boot camp that has turned out over two hundred full-fledged documentarians. From June 15 through June 22, with expert guidance from multiple instructors, students will learn all aspects of video production: pre-production and scouting locations, camera operation, lighting and sound, editing [...]
CDS Undergraduates Create Videos for National Farmworker Awareness Week 2013
Working in collaboration with Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF) and other farmworker organizations nationwide, ten undergraduate students at CDS have created a series of short videos to be used as part of the media campaign for the 14th annual National Farmworker Awareness Week, to be held March 24-31, 2013. The students are enrolled in DOCST 332S “Farmworkers [...]
Ramble and Write with Duncan Murrell, Collect Community Stories with Barbara Lau: Register Now!
Excited about these two upcoming CDS Continuing Education classes; some spots left, register now. Both courses will be held here at the Center for Documentary Studies, 1317 W. Pettigrew St., Durham, North Carolina. Directions The Flâneur and the Writer: Documentary Writing and the Psychogeography of Place Saturdays, March 23 to April 20, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. In [...]
Register Now: Multimedia Storytelling Workshop and Short-Doc Class Anytown, USA
There are a few spots left in two upcoming CDS Continuing Education classes: Multimedia Storytelling Workshop Thursday, March 7: 6–9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 8–9: 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Sunday, March 10: 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Instructors Catherine Orr and Elena Rue, founders of the visual storytelling company StoryMineMedia, use a combination of critiques, hands-on learning, [...]
“The Deep Blue Sea”: Artists in Residence Exhibition Showcases MFA Student Work
Three students in Duke University’s MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts program—Kristin Bedford, Caitlin M. Kelly, and Jennifer Stratton—recently participated as artists-in-residence at the 2013 Winter Forum, “Blue Devils and the Deep Blue Sea: Can We Rescue the Oceans?,” at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort, North Carolina. The students will present their final projects [...]
Final Projects by Fall 2012 Certificate in Documentary Arts Graduates
Throughout the year, the Center for Documentary Studies offers Continuing Education courses in the documentary arts. Some students choose to enroll in the Certificate in Documentary Arts program, which offers a more structured sequence of courses culminating in the Final Seminar in Documentary Studies, where students finish and present a substantial documentary work—projects that often move [...]
Register Now for Continuing Ed Classes: Documentary and the Three-Act Structure, Intro to Audio Docs, Online Photo Course
The Continuing Education program at the Center for Documentary Studies offers classes in photography, video, audio, narrative writing, multimedia, and other creative media for adults who are interested in learning or continuing to do their own documentary work. Register now for these upcoming courses and workshops. Documentary and the Three-Act Structure Saturday, February 9, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Center for Documentary [...]
Acclaimed Playwright to Teach “Creating Drama from Community Stories and Oral Histories”: Register Now
In a new CDS Continuing Education class, Creating Drama from Community Stories and Oral Histories, students will draw on interesting characters and stories from their research or family histories to create short plays and performance pieces. Poet and playwright Howard L. Craft will offer instruction in writing authentic dialogue, developing complex characters, and creating engaging [...]
“48 Hours in Las Vegas”: MFA Student Exhibit on View Through February 17
In the spring of 2012 students in Duke University’s MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts program flew to Las Vegas for a crash art project sponsored by Zappos.com. Their mission: Seek, capture, and record Sin City in two days. The result is 48 Hours in Las Vegas, a multimedia exhibition that the Triangle area’s Independent Weekly describes as “work [...]
MFA in Experimental & Documentary Arts Program Accepting Applications for Fall 2013; Deadline January 31, 2013
Duke University welcomes applications for fall 2013 to its MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts (MFAEDA), a groundbreaking interdisciplinary arts program. A unique initiative, the program couples experimental visual practice with the documentary arts in a rigorous two-year program. Guided by first-year advisors and a faculty thesis committee, students explore a curriculum that blends studio [...]
Student Work From Harvey Stein’s Documentary Street Photography Workshop
Acclaimed documentary photographer Harvey Stein visited the Center for Documentary Studies in the fall of 2012 to give a talk related to an exhibit of his photographs then on view, Coney Island 40 Years, and to teach a documentary street photography workshop in our Continuing Education program. The nineteen fortunate participants—the class was wait-listed in [...]
Interview with Photographer Harlan Erskine
CDS undergraduate student Charles Jo conducted this interview as part of the “Multimedia Documentary” class in the fall of 2012 Although your projects vary considerably in style, theme, and subject matter, it seems that a somber, almost ominous, tone pervades them all. Would you agree? If so, what attracts you to photographing these types [...]
Interview with Photographer Donna Wan
CDS undergraduate student Courtney McDaniel conducted this interview as part of the “Multimedia Documentary” class in the fall of 2012. Your project In the Landscape does not include an artist statement. Can you elaborate on your choice of location and composition? There is an artist statement for this project. However, at the time that [...]
Interview with Photographer Kerry Mansfield
CDS undergraduate student Danielle Duhl conducted this interview as part of the “Multimedia Documentary” class in the fall of 2012. You speak a lot about the sense of space in your photographs. What draws you to the topics of spaces, and more specifically, the spaces that lie between? I’ve never been one to photograph people (self portrait [...]
Interview with Photographer Samantha VanDeman
CDS undergraduate student Kara Wilson conducted this interview as part of the “Multimedia Documentary” class in the fall of 2012. What was your motivation for creating a portfolio with a hotel theme? Did you have a particular traveling experience that led to the desire to create a portfolio on hotels? Before I started photographing [...]
Interview with Photographer Santiago Vanegas
CDS undergraduate student Ryan Schott conducted this interview as part of the “Multimedia Documentary” class in the fall of 2012. What were some difficulties of taking photographs in Antarctica? Difficulties beyond the obvious cold weather, staying dry, not dying in 80+ mph wind and 50ft+ waves, sea sickness…. One constant difficulty was its overwhelming [...]
Interview with Photographer Dimitri Mellos
CDS undergraduate student Jackson Conway conducted this interview as part of the “Multimedia Documentary” class in the fall of 2012. What does your process of finding suitable material to photograph consist of as a street photographer? Well, as far as I am concerned the essence of photography (and even more so street photography) is [...]
Interview with Photographer Charlotte Niel
CDS undergraduate student Devon Edwards conducted this interview as part of the “Multimedia Documentary” class in the fall of 2012. Your project Body Options deals with women’s issues of image and beauty. Can you explain why you made the choice to do this project? As a woman, I have always been concerned about how the media [...]
