Over the past three decades Light Work's publications have featured the most creative, innovative, and talked-about artists of our time. Contact Sheet is one of the longest-running art photography publications in the world. Past issues have included work by James Casebere, Cindy Sherman, Andres Serrano, Zeke Berman, Carrie Mae Weems, and many other artists in the early stages of their careers. Our publications are produced using the most advanced printing technologies and are collected by libraries and museums throughout the world.

The five yearly issues of Contact Sheet include four elegant monographs by artists featured in major exhibitions at our newly renovated facility in the Robert B. Menschel Media Center at Syracuse University. A one year subscription also includes The Light Work Annual, a special eighty-page issue that includes new work by artists invited to participate in Light Work's award-winning Artist-in-Residence Program. Every issue of Contact Sheet includes informative essays about the artists work and is produced using the most advanced four-color and duotone printing technology.

Help us carry on our tradition of supporting under-recognized and emerging artists working in photography by beginning or renewing your subscription today. Through Light Work's annual subscription campaign, subscribers have the opportunity to purchase signed artist books and original photographs by contemporary artists at exceptional prices.

Contact Sheet at Thirty

Light Work is pleased to announce the thirtieth birthday of Contact Sheet . Current issues of the publication look dramatically different than Contact Sheet's modest beginnings as a newsletter, yet it is apparent that Light Work's commitment to support artists has remained unchanged.

In 1977, the first Contact Sheet was designed to consolidate separate announcements for exhibitions, lectures, or classes, and to feature work by participants in the Artist-in-Residence program. It consisted of a folded broadsheet printed only in black and white.   The first issue introduced itself simply as a newsletter dedicated to informing interested parties of the many happenings at Light Work/Community Darkrooms. Now we have around 3,700 subscribers in thirty-one countries who continue to tell us that our willingness to risk change in order to maintain and increase our mission of support to artists was a sound decision. This preface then humorously offers apt acknowledgment about the dilemma of writing about art without writing off readers who prefer plain speaking to a more verbose tradition: "occaisionally [sic], there may be an article with some hot air about art and life." The foreword ends with tacit instructions that hint at a small but dedicated staff who recognized the value of their time spent supporting artists in the best way possible: "you can no longer count on reminders for each lecture date, etc. Please cut out the box of scheduled events that will come with each issue and nail it to your toaster."

Compare these between-the-lines imperatives to the Light Work of today, and you will find that we still care about diverse representation and sustainability. Contact Sheet has evolved over the years to meet the ever-changing needs of artists. Today, we still endeavor to keep our "hot air" accessible yet meaningful to readers interested in knowing more about our artists' work. At present, we have seven full-time staff rather than one, we make mistakes but have spell-checking and talented editors on staff to fall back on, we are all working artists, and we still hold true to the original mission of paying artists to make art with great dedication. And yes, it often involves a review of how we can best do this according to artists' needs, responses, and our staff resources. So while we won't ask you to cut-up your current Contact Sheet and attach pieces of it to your refrigerator, our objective is still to provide a valid forum for important artists' work that does merit a reminder to keep an eye on our publication.

Thirty years later, Contact Sheet also looks very different. Each issue is printed with the most advanced duotone and four-color techniques available. For our part, we will continue to do our utmost to publish a high quality journal of contemporary photography-based art, because it offers our artists meaningful support that continues to validate their important work long after they complete their residencies.

We cannot be sure what changes will follow our current format, but you can be certain that just as Contact Sheet began so as to leave a "trace" record 1 of events and artists at Light Work, it will continue to leave its mark as long as it serves to extend the important dialogue of our artists' work far beyond our doors, giving deserving artists increased recognition and support as we also honor them for the contributions made by their work to the lives of many.      

Laura A. Guth

1        A.D. Coleman, "Light Work/Community Darkrooms: the Organization as Process" in Light Work: Photography over the 70's and 80's (Syracuse: Light Work, 1985), 10.