Photographer and instructor with over 30 years of experience in documentary, editorial, marketing and fine art photography. Commissions for advertising agencies, design firms, magazines, corporate and private business, hospitals, government, record companies, arts and heritage organizations. Owner of Bogfire, a design and photography business.
Education
Governors State University , Park Forest South, Illinois; M.A. (Media Communications) emphasis in applied studies in Photography and Film/Video; received degree, 1981
Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois; B.A. (Photography) received degree, 1973
Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois; (Business Administration) 1967-1970
Career Summary
Professional Photographer and Artist
Owner of Bogfire a design and photography business, Co. Sligo, Ireland, 2007-present
Owner of Bogfire a design and photography business, Northern Illinois, 1996-2007
Owner of James Fraher Photography studio, Libertyville, IL, 1991-1996
Teaching Experience
Chairman, Photography Department, Ray College of Design, Chicago, Illinois; 1985-91
Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois, 1983-1985
The College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, 1981-1983
Triton College, River Grove, Illinois, 1980-1982
Elgin Community College, Elgin, Illinois, 1973-1977
Workshops
Laois Artist's Symposium, Emo Court, County Laois, Ireland, 2005
Transnational Meeting, Offaly Leader, Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland, 2005
Lough Boora Camera Group, County Offaly, Ireland, 2004
Blues in the Schools, Grant Academy, Chicago, 1996
Blues in the Schools, Charleston, South Carolina, 1993 and 1994
City of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, Aberdeen, Scotland, 1982
Lectures
Ireland: A Photographer's Journey, University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas, 2008
Ireland: A Photographer's Journey, Irish American Center, Gaelic Park, Chicago, 2008
Texas Zydeco, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas, 2007
Down in Houston, University College Dublin, Clinton Institute, Dublin, Ireland, 2006
The Blues is a Feeling, School of the Art Institute, Chicago, 2006
The Blues is a Feeling, DePaul University, Chicago, 2002-2005
Down in Houston, Museum of Printing History, Houston, Texas, 2004
Irish Photographs, American Conference for Irish Studies, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2004
Down in Houston, Delta Blues Symposium, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR, 2003
Out of the Bog, Irish Fest, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2003
The Blues is a Feeling, Centre for Cultural de Francais, Turin, Italy, 2002
The Blues is a Feeling, Hayti Cultural Center, Durham, North Carolina, 2001
Blues Alive, Barrington Area Arts Council Gallery, Barrington, Illinois, 2000
The Blues is a Feeling, Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1998
The Blues is a Feeling, Mutual Musicians Union, Kansas City, Missouri, 1999
The Blues is a Feeling, The University of Illinois-Chicago, Illinois, 1999
Exhibitions
Portraits
2009 Hawk' Well Theatre, Sligo, Ireland
Johnston Court, Sligo, Ireland
So Many Years with the Blues
2007 Market House, County, Monaghan, Ireland
Texas Zydeco
2007 Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas
2006 Texas Folklife, Austin, Texas
Down in Houston: Documenting a Blues Community
Photographs by James Fraher, text by Roger Wood
2006 Houston International Festival, Houston, Texas
2005 George Washington Carver Museum, Austin, Texas
2004 Museum of Printing History, Houston, Texas
Irish Photographs
2006 Barrington Area Arts Council, Barrington, Illinois
Sweet Home Chicago, photographs of Chicago Blues Women and Maxwell Street
2004 Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois
Twenty Years with the Blues
2004 The Aurora Arts Commission Gallery, Aurora, Illinois
Ritratta in Blue, photographs of Women Blues, Jazz and Gospel performers
2002 Centre for Cultural de Francais, Turin, Italy
James Fraher Blues Photographs
2001 The Aurora Arts Commission Gallery, Aurora, Illinois
Blue Monday, photographs by James Fraher, text by Roger Wood
2002 Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas
Photographs from The Houston Blues Project
2000 Fotofest, Butera's, Houston, Texas
1998 Butera's, Houston, Texas
A Passion for Tradition, Irish Photographs by James Fraher
2007 Aras an Chontae, Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland
2003 Ferbane Heritage and Art Center, Ferbane, County Offaly, Ireland
2000 Fanning the Flames Festival, Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland
Fine Silver, James Fraher photographs, Kevin O”Dwyer contemporary silver
2004 Slidell Cultural Center, Slidell, Louisiana
1999 L' Espace Paul Ricard, Paris
1999 The Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
James Fraher photographs and Kevin O'Dwyer metalwork
1994 Schneider Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
In Irish Light: James Fraher and Connie Scanlon photographs
1982 City of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, Aberdeen, Scotland
1982-83 Irish Fest, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1981 The Chicago Public Library Cultural Center
The Blues is a Feeling
2001 Hayti Cultural Center, Durham, North Carolina
1999 The Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Mississippi
1998 The Aurora Arts Commission Gallery, Aurora, Illinois
The Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Mississippi
1996 FotoFest, Buteras, Houston, Texas
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
1994 Delta Cultural Center, King Biscuit Blues Festival, Helena, Arkansas
Folklore Village, Dodgeville, Wisconsin
1993 Charleston County Library, Charleston Blues Festival, Charleston, South Carolina
1993 Cork Jazz Festival, Cork, Ireland
Monaghan Blues Festival, Monaghan, Ireland
1992 City Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland
1990 The Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois
Collections
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
Offaly County Council, Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland
Private Collections
Books
Lumen Christ: The Stained Glass Windows of Mount Saint Joseph Abbey, by Laurence Walsh, Roscrea, Ireland, 2009 (featured photographer)
Stories from a Sacred Landscape: Croghan Hill to Clonmacnoise by Caimin O'Brien, Mercier Press and Heritage Office of Offaly County Council, 2006 (featured photographer)
Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues, by Roger Wood and James Fraher, University of Texas Press, 2003 (photographer)
Texas Zydeco, by Roger Wood and James Fraher, University of Texas Press, 2006 (photographer)
The Blues is a Feeling: Voices and Visions of African-American Blues musicians, Face to Face Books, 1998 (author/photographer)
Publishing
Published photographs have appeared on over one hundred and fifty blues, folk and Irish music recording covers and in publications including Living Blues, Guitar Player, Downbeat, Texas Highways, Irish America Magazine, Irish Arts Review, The Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times, Houston Chronicle, Houston Press, Soul Bag, Juke Blues and Blues Revue and The Irish Times.
Exhibit curator:
The Blues Photographs of Raeburn Flerlage (traveling exhibit)
2004 Sweet Home Chicago, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois
2000 Aurora Arts Commission Gallery, Aurora, Illinois
1999 Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Mississippi
Photography projects in Ireland
From the Feet Up, Bealtaine, Sligo Arts Office, County Sligo, 2009
World Peat Congress, Bord na Mona, Ireland, 2008
Sculpture in the Parklands, Lough Boora, County Offaly, 2008
Finding Portlaoise, Arts Office, Laois County Council, 2007
Laois Artists' Symposium 2005 at Emo Court, County Laois
Lough Boora International Sculpture Symposium, County Offaly, 2002
A Day in the Life of Ireland, Collins Publishers, 1991
Awards
Certificate of Merit, Association for Recorded Sound Collections, 2007
Good Brick Award, Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, 2005
2004 Cultural Advocates of the Year, Houston Institute for Culture, 2004
Governors International Arts Exchange, Illinois Arts Council, 2002
Finalist Award, Illinois Arts Council, 2000
Appreciation Award, Houston Blues Society, Houston, TX, 1998
Keeping the Blues Alive in Art, the Blues Foundation, Memphis, TN, 1996
Project Completion Grant, Illinois Arts Council, 1991
Special Assistance Grant, Illinois Arts Council, 1990
Honor Roll Donor, the Blues Archive at the Chicago Public Library, 1989
James Fraher additional personal data
Born: Chicago, 1949
Citizenship: American and Irish
email James Fraher
Ireland:
T 071-917-6398 . M 086-050-9007
