Barbara Hitchcock

Barbara Hitchcock, former Cultural Affairs director, joined Polaroid Corporation in the 1970s in a research and development capacity. In 1978 Hitchcock joined Polaroid’s international division publicity department where she frequently appeared as a Polaroid spokesperson on national and international television/radio broadcasts.

Since 1982, Hitchcock was responsible for the strategic marketing communications and program planning, development and execution of Polaroid’s cultural activities. She acquired fine art photographs for Polaroid, managed its multi-million dollar art collections and its traveling exhibitions. She has been the curator of numerous exhibitions and has authored essays for many publications, most recently Desire for Magic: Patrick Nagatani 1978 – 2008; Private Views: Barbara Crane; Victor Raphael: Travels and Wanderings; The Polaroid Book; and Emerging Bodies: Nudes from the Polaroid Collection.

Hitchcock has served as a juror for several non-profit galleries, for ASMP of New England and for the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

In 2006, the Griffin Museum of Photography presented its Focus Award to Hitchcock for her critical contributions to the promotion of photography as a fine art. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to photography from the Photographic Resource Center in 2010.

Hitchcock received a BA in English from Skidmore College, a PDM certificate from Simmons Graduate School of Management, and honors in business administration and journalism at Boston College.

Gary Leopold

Gary Leopold is the President and CEO of ISM, a Boston based marketing firm that specializes in problem solving for premier brands in the travel industry.  Through the years he and his company have worked with such market leaders as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, American Express, Emirates, Harley-Davidson, The United Nations Foundation, The Bahamas and Hong Kong.  Prior to ISM, Gary served as the Director of Public Relations for Sonesta Hotels which is where he cultivated a love for art and begin his own collection (helped along by Sonesta’s annual Christmas print program).  Since then Gary has amassed a collection of photographs  that has now overrun two houses and his offices and includes images ranging from Aaron Siskind and Eugene W. Smith, to Nan Goldin and Mathew Pillsbury.  Gary is on the Board of Directors of the Photographic Resource Center at BU and serves as the President of the Magnet Global Network, a consortia of 40 independent marketing firms located around the world.

Phillip Prodger

Phillip Prodger is Curator and head of the department of photography at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. With around 850,000 objects dating to the year of photography’s invention in 1839, the museum maintains one of the oldest and largest collections in the country. Prodger received a Ph.d. in history of art from Cambridge University and has worked at the Saint Louis Art Museum and the National Gallery of Canada. Recent book projects include Ernst Haas: Color Correction; Hoppe Portraits, Society, Studio and Street; and the forthcoming Man Ray |  Lee Miller, Partners in Surrealism.

Dana Salvo clarkgallery.com

Dana Salvo is both a gallerist and artist. He is the co-owner of Clark Gallery, one of New England’s leading art galleries and a member of the Boston Art Dealers Association.

 The gallery exhibits contemporary art in all media by emerging, mid-career and established artists from the Northeast and nationally.

In addition, Salvo is an artist whose photographs are represented in numerous collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MOMA, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Fogg Art Museum, San Francisco MOMA, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the Addison Gallery of American Art. His work is the subject of a monograph, published by Thames and Hudson, entitled Home Altars of Mexico. He has been the recipient of two awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and has twice received the Fulbright Scholar Award. He has also received grants from the Lila Wallace Fund; the Asian Cultural Council; the Massachusetts Cultural Council; the Berkshire Taconic Foundation’s Artist Resource Trust; the LEF Foundation; and several other awards which assist artists in mid-career. His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions throughout the United States.

Jim Fitts

Jim Fitts has been a fine arts photography teacher, lecturer, curator, and photographer for over 30 years. He is an avid collector of fine arts photography with a focus on 20th century and contemporary American photographs.

Jim recently held the position of Executive Director of the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University. The PRC is considered one of the countries premier fine arts photography organizations, presenting numerous lectures, exhibitions and networking events. Jim was also a teacher at the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University where he taught portfolio development.

Jim has curated three photography exhibitions for the PRC/MIT Gallery. He has served as a reviewer for the 2009 Photolucida portfolio reviews and the 2010 FotoFest portfolio reviews. He has also served as portfolio reviewer for the New England Portfolio Reviews and the Savannah College of Art and Design reviews. He has curated the SSAC Photography Now exhibition as well as serving twice as a juror for their member exhibition. In early 2011, he co-curated Instant Connections, an exhibition of photographs by photographers who use Polaroid technology in the creation of their work.

Jim Fitts has had an award-winning career in advertising, design and corporate identity. He held the position of Executive Creative Director at Avenue, Inc. in Chicago and Creative Director at HHCC in Boston and in Europe. Jim was Creative Director for Monster.com and a partner at ClarkeGowardFitts.

His personal work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions. In 2010 Jim’s recent work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Yamawaki Gallery at Lasell College.