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James Fraher's photographs have appeared on over one hundred fifty music recording covers and publications including Living Blues, Guitar Player, Downbeat, Juke Blues, Texas Highways, and in The Blues, a documentary series produced by Martin Scorsese.
He is the author of The Blues is a Feeling, Voices and Visions of African-American Blues musicians, Face to Face Books, 1998. Fraher has collaborated with writer Roger Wood to produce two books published by the University of Texas Press, Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues, 2003, and Texas Zydeco, 2006. Since 2006 Pomegranate Publications has published a calendar entitled The Blues, photographs by James Fraher.
James Fraher's projects in Ireland include A Day In The Life of Ireland, Collins Publishers, 1991. In 2002 he was the photographer for the Lough Boora International Sculpture Symposium in County, Offaly and for the Laois Artists' Symposium 2005 at Emo Court, County Laois. Fraher's photographs are featured in the book, Stories from a Sacred Landscape, by Caimin O'Brien, Mercier Press, 2006 and Finding Portlaois, an artist intervention project, County Laois, 2007.
Fraher's photographs and posters are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Chicago Blues Archive at the Harold Washington Library Center, and the University of Mississippi Blues Archive, Oxford, MS. His photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and France.
James Fraher's awards include the Keeping the Blues Alive Award presented by the Blues Foundation in Memphis, TN, 1996; Good Brick Award, Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, 2005; and Cultural Advocates of the Year, Houston Institute for Culture, 2004. Fraher has received Finalist, Assistance, Completion and Governors International Arts Exchange grants from the Illinois Arts Council.
James Fraher holds a BA in photography and an MA in media communications. He has been a photographer for over thirty years and taught college-level photography for fifteen years. He is a principal of Bogfire, a business specializing in graphic design and photography. He currently resides in Skreen, County Sligo, Ireland.
EXIBITIONS
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So Many Years with the Blues |
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2007 |
Market House, County, Monaghan, Ireland
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Texas Zydeco |
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2007 |
Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas*
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2006 |
Texas Folklife, Austin, Texas
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Down in Houston: Documenting a Blues Community
photographs by James Fraher, text by Roger Wood |
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2006 |
International Festival, Houston, Texas
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2005 |
George Washington Carver Museum, Austin, Texas |
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2004 |
Museum of Printing History, Houston, Texas* |
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Irish Photographs |
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2006 |
Barrington Area Arts Council, Barrington, Illinois
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Barrington Area Arts Council, Barrington, Illinois |
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Sweet Home Chicago,
photographs of Chicago Blues Women and Maxwell Street |
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2004 |
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois |
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Twenty Years with the Blues
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2004 |
The Aurora Arts Commission Gallery, Aurora, Illinois |
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Ritratta in Blue, photographs of Women Blues, Jazz and Gospel performers |
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2002 |
Centre for Cultural de Francais, Turin, Italy* |
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James Fraher Blues Photographs |
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2001 |
The Aurora Arts Commission Gallery , Aurora, Illinois |
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A Passion for Tradition: Irish Photographs by James Fraher, 1982-2000 |
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2007
2003
2000 |
Aras an Chontae, Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland
Ferbane Heritage and Art Center, Ferbane, Co. Offaly, Ireland
Fanning the Flames Festival, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, Ireland |
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Fine Silver: Kevin O”Dwyer contemporary silverware and James Fraher photographs |
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2004
1999
1999 |
Slidell Cultural Center, Slidell, Louisiana
L' Espace Paul Ricard, Paris
1999 The Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland |
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James Fraher photographs and Kevin O'Dwyer metalwork |
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1994 |
Schneider Gallery, Chicago, Illinois |
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Blue Monday: photographs by James Fraher and text by Roger Wood |
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2002 |
Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas |
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Photographs from The Houston Blues Project |
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2000
1998 |
Fotofest, Butera's, Houston, Texas
Butera's, Houston, Texas |
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In Irish Light photographs by James Fraher and Connie Scanlon |
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1982
1982-83
1981 |
City of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, Aberdeen, Scotland
Irish Fest, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The Chicago Public Library Cultural Center |
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Out of the Bog |
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2004
2003 |
Volo Bog Recreation Center, Volo, Illinois
Irish Fest, Milwaukee, Wisconsin * |
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The Blues is a Feeling |
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2001 |
Hayti Cultural Center, Durham, North Carolina *
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2000 |
The Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Mississippi
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1999 |
The Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Mississippi
Mutual Musicians Union, Kansas City, Missouri *
The University of Illinois-Chicago, Illinois *
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1998 |
The Aurora Arts Commission Gallery, Aurora , Illinois
The Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Mississippi *
Castlebar Blues Festival, Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland *
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1996 |
FotoFest, Buteras, Houston, Texas
Houston Community College *
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1995 |
Triton College, River Grove, Illinois
Flint Public Library Blues Festival, Flint, Michigan
Eureka Springs Blues Festival, Eureka Springs, Arkansas *
Arkansas State University Museum, Delta Studies Symposium, Jonesboro, Arkansas
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1994 |
Delta Cultural Center, King Biscuit Blues Festival, Helena, Arkansas *
Folklore Village, Dodgeville, Wisconsin
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1993 |
Hayti Cultural Center, Durham, North Carolina *
Charleston County Library, Charleston Blues Festival, Charleston, South Carolina
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1990 |
The Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois
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* featured speaker
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Collections
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Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
The Chicago Blues Archive, Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago, Illinois
The University of Mississippi, Blues Archive, Oxford, Mississippi
The Delta Cultural Center, Helena, Arkansas
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Awards
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2005
2004
2002
2000
1998
1996
1991
1990
1989 |
Good Brick Award, Greater Houston Preservation Alliance
2004 Cultural Advocates of the Year, Houston Institute for Culture
Governors International Arts Exchange, Illinois Arts Council
Finalist Award, Illinois Arts Council
Appreciation Award, Houston Blues Society, Houston, TX
Keeping The Blues Alive in Art, The Blues Foundation, Memphis, TN
Project Completion Grant, Illinois Arts Council
Special Assistance Grant, Illinois Arts Council
Honor Roll Donor, The Blues Archive at The Chicago Public Library |
James Fraher
USA
T 847-380-9122 F 847-388-4888
Doonflin Upper
Skreen, County Sligo, Ireland
T 071-917-6398
email James Fraher
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