First Saturdays, April 5 – June 7, 2025
This three-month intensive crit group is designed to support independent projects as we move into the summer months. Monthly crit sessions provide reflective spaces of inquiry, free from the hierarchy of traditional critiques. Facilitated by LESLY DESCHLER CANOSSI, whose extensive teaching experience brings clarity and depth to the creative process, the group invites participants to navigate their work’s uncharted paths in a supportive community. A key ethos of this crit group is inclusivity: respecting all viewpoints, while fostering community around each participant’s artistic journey. Each session will be enriched with references to contemporary and historical images and texts, tailored to the participants’ interests, offering fresh context and inspiration. Through shared critical observation and discussion, participants will refine their work, build a deeper dialogue within their practice, and gain valuable feedback on projects such as portfolios, books, or exhibitions. This space is for anyone actively engaged in artistic practice or working toward a creative goal.
DURATION: April 5 – June 7, 2025.
Meets once a month on Saturdays, totaling 3 sessions.
WHEN: 3-6 pm
DATES: April 5, May 3, June 7
WHERE: 2nd floor at 25 Dederick Street in Kingston, NY.
CAPACITY: 10
CPW MEMBER TUITION: $120
NON-MEMBER TUITION: $150
Want to become a CPW Member? Learn more here.
Please email nicole@cpw.org if you have any questions.
About Lesly:
Lesly Deschler Canossi is a photography educator/writer and cultural producer, currently on the faculty at the International Center of Photography. Her research aims to reframe the history of photography to better reflect how its innovations include women. In 2016, she co-founded Women Picturing Revolution, an organization dedicated to women-identifying photographers who have documented conflicts and crises in private realms and public spaces. She co-edited Black Matrilineage, Photography, and Representation: Another Way of Knowing (Leuven University Press), 2023. Lesly’s personal and teaching practice centers on themes of care, mother(ing), and grief. Her course “Into the Fold: Mother Artist Identity,” which explores artist/parent identity through lens and performance-based works, was the first offered at a major photographic institution. For over 14 years, she ran the printing at Fiber Ink Studio. Her expertise includes silver gelatin, analog Type-C, and wide-format pigment printing. Lesly lives in Beacon, New York with her family on a micro homestead with honeybees.