James Fraher — PHOTOGRAPHER

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

So Many Years with the Blues, Mediatheque Roger Gouhier, Noisy-le-Sec , France , 2011

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

James Fraher Blues Photographs
Bibliotheque Henri Vincenot, Talant, France, 2011

Mediatheque Roger Gouhier, Noisy-le-Sec, France, 2011

Photographs from Seeing the Hidden
Johnston Court, Sligo Ireland, 2010

Portraits
Hawk' Well Theatre, Sligo, Ireland, 2009

Johnston Court, Sligo, Ireland, 2009

So Many Years with the Blues
Market House, County, Monaghan, Ireland, 2007

Texas Zydeco
Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas, 2007

Texas Folklife, Austin, Texas, 2006

Down in Houston: Documenting a Blues Community
photographs by James Fraher, text by Roger Wood

Houston International Festival, Houston, Texas, 2006

George Washington Carver Museum, Austin, Texas, 2005

Museum of Printing History, Houston, Texas, 2004

Irish Photographs
Barrington Area Arts Council, Barrington, Illinois, 2006

Sweet Home Chicago: Photographs of Chicago Blues Women and Maxwell Street
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois, 2004

Twenty Years with the Blues
The Aurora Arts Commission Gallery, Aurora, Illinois, 2004

Ritratta in Blue: Photographs of Women Blues, Jazz and Gospel performers
Centre for Cultural de Francais, Turin, Italy, 2002

James Fraher Blues Photographs
The Aurora Arts Commission Gallery, Aurora, Illinois, 2001

Blue Monday: photographs by James Fraher; text by Roger Wood
Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas, 2002

Photographs from The Houston Blues Project
Fotofest, Butera's, Houston, Texas, 2000

Butera's, Houston, Texas, 1998

A Passion for Tradition: Irish Photographs by James Fraher
Aras an Chontae, Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland, 2007

Ferbane Heritage and Art Center, Ferbane, County Offaly, Ireland, 2003

Fanning the Flames Festival, Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland, 2000

Fine Silver: James Fraher photographs, Kevin O”Dwyer contemporary silver
Slidell Cultural Center, Slidell, Louisiana, 2004

L' Espace Paul Ricard, Paris, 1999

The Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1999

James Fraher photographs and Kevin O'Dwyer metalwork
Schneider Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, 1994

In Irish Light: James Fraher and Connie Scanlon photographs
City of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, Aberdeen, Scotland, 1982

Irish Fest, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1982-83

The Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, 1981

The Blues is a Feeling
Hayti Cultural Center, Durham, North Carolina, 2001

The Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1999

The Aurora Arts Commission Gallery, Aurora, Illinois, 1998

The Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1998

FotoFest, Buteras, Houston, Texas, 1996

Triton College, River Grove, Illinois, 1995

Flint Public Library Blues Festival, Flint, Michigan, 1995

Eureka Springs Blues Festival, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, 1995

Arkansas State University Museum, Delta Studies Symposium, Jonesboro, Arkansas, 1995

Delta Cultural Center, King Biscuit Blues Festival, Helena, Arkansas, 1994

Folklore Village, Dodgeville, Wisconsin, 1994

Charleston County Library, Charleston Blues Festival, Charleston, South Carolina, 1993

Cork Jazz Festival, Cork, Ireland, 1993

Monaghan Blues Festival, Monaghan, Ireland, 1993

City Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland, 1992

The Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois, 1990

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, 1999

Photography projects in Ireland

Stories, Cures and Remedies, Bealtaine, Sligo Arts Office, County Sligo, 2011

EU Programme for Peace & Reconcilliation, County Sligo, 2010

Seeing the Hidden, Bealtaine, Sligo Arts Office, County Sligo, 2010

From the Feet Up, Bealtaine, Sligo Arts Office, County Sligo, 2009

World Peat Congress, Bord na Mona, 2008

Sculpture in the Parklands, Lough Boora, County Offaly, 2008

Finding Portlaoise, Arts Office, Laois County Council, 2007

Laois Artists' Symposium at Emo Court, County Laois, 2005

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

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

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