Doubletake: A Portrait Project is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between a photographer and artist in which a drawing and photograph is created simultaneously in one session. Presented by the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion in Cadwalader Park, Doubletake is an exhibition of works by Peter C. Cook (photography) and Howard Siskowitz (portrait drawings). The exhibition debuts on 14 November 2009, and runs until 3 January 2010.

Website: The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion

Press Release

THE TRENTON CITY MUSEUM AT ELLARSLIE MANSION PRESENTS DOUBLETAKE: A PORTRAIT PROJECT, A ONE-OF-A-KIND COLLABORATION BETWEEN A PHOTOGRAPHER PETER C. COOK AND ARTIST HOWARD SISKOWITZ

NOVEMBER 14, 2009 – JANUARY 3, 2010

The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion in Cadwalader Park will present Doubletake: A Portrait Project, an exhibition of works by Peter C. Cook (photography) and Howard Siskowitz (portrait drawings) from November 14, 2009 through January 3, 2010. (Opening reception: November 14 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. )

Doubletake: A Portrait Project is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between a photographer and artist in which a drawing and photograph is created simultaneously in one session.

“The origins of Doubletake had an auspicious beginning,” remarked photographer Peter C. Cook. “Five years ago Howard accompanied me to New York to photograph a principal dancer of the Martha Graham Dance Company. As the session got underway, Howard picked up some blank envelopes and began drawing what I was photographing. It was that moment that inspired us to pursue the Doubletake portrait project. Over the years numerous people have participated from all walks of life, famous and the not-so-famous.”

Some of the personalities featured in the Trenton City Museum exhibit may include Congressman Rush Holt, writer John McPhee, poet Paul Muldoon, playwright Christopher Durang, choreographer David Parsons, New York City Ballet prima ballerina Kyra Nichols and long-time Princeton resident Albert E. Hinds, who passed away in 2006 at the age of 104.

“The project examines the portrait with black and white photograph and the pencil drawing from life as a proof of each other,” explained artist Howard Siskowitz. “We ask the question: Does the recognizable face become more or less notable as we think about both images side by side? On the one hand do we come away from the double image of someone not known publicly with a greater sense of recognition because we have studied them more closely through both mediums?”

Peter C. Cook studied photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York and did independent work with Arnold Newman and Ralph Gibson. He has worked as a freelance photographer for 25 years and his work has appeared in numerous publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Dance Magazine and Architectural Digest.

Howard Siskowitz studied at the Philadelphia College of Art and the Art Students League in New York, where he studied anatomy with Robert Beverly Hale. In 1982 he was selected by NASA to participate in NASA Artists Program at the Kennedy Space Center. He covered the preparations for the maiden voyage of the space shuttle Discovery. A series of paintings resulting from that trip are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC and were included in the book NASA: 50 Years of Space Art published in 2008. 

For direction and more information about The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion in Cadwalader Park, please call (609) 989-3632 or visit www. http://www.ellarslie.org. Museum hours: Tuesday- Saturday 11-3PM, Sunday 1-4PM, closed Mondays.

The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion is owned, maintained and operated by the City of Trenton, Department of Recration, Natural Resources & Culture, Division of Culture and is located at Ellarslie Mansion in Cadwalader Park. Programs are made possible in part by the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission through funding from the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment of the Arts.

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