2026 Biennial
Contemporary Tintype Portraits and Altered Historic Images
This exhibition highlights local photographers, collectors, and other artists, featuring approximately 20 tintype portraits produced by local studios, Ricky Willis Tintypes and Alex Lippert at Blue Creek Tinworks. Alongside these portraits, the exhibition includes photographic reproductions from the Cincinnati Art Club archives and other sources, altered and produced as tintypes.
For the past 135 years, the Cincinnati Art Club has provided services to the visual arts community, including support for members such as Frank Duveneck and Henry Farney. Joining these two groups of artists together provides an overview of the present photographic community and a re-imagined “long view” that links the past with the present.
Artists: Linda Jacobs, Christine Kuhr, Alex Lippert, Emily Mayfield, ChengLun Na, Su Ready, Jens Rosenkrantz, Aleisa Yusko
Related Events
Reception for Contemporary Tintype Portraits and Altered Historic Images
October 11, 2026
1:00pm – 4:00pm
Exhibition reception for Contemporary Tintype Portraits and Altered Historic Images.
Gallery Talk for Contemporary Tintype Portraits and Altered Historic Images
October 21, 2026
7:00pm – 8:30pm
Gallery tour with exhibiting artists discussing their work, moderated by Contemporary Tintype Portraits and Altered Historic Images curator Kip Eagen.
Cincinnati Spotlight Weekend
October 30, 2026
–
Spotlight Weekends highlight FotoFocus Biennial Venues within specific geographic locations where artists and curators will be on site for talks, tours, special events, and featured programming. This is an opportunity to immerse yourself in the vibrant energy of the FotoFocus Biennial, exploring art within the communities that create and present it.
Friday, 10/30
- Artist Talk: Marzena Abrahamik, 5pm. BasketShop
- Talk with King Records export Brian Powers, 5:30pm. MOTR Pub
- Artist Talk: Nikita Gross, 7pm. The Lodge KY
- Gallery Talk with Dr. Theresa Leininger-Miller, 7pm. DAAP Library
Saturday, 10/31
- Cincinnati Bus Tour, 8:30am–4:15pm. Biennial Pass Holders only. Limited capacity
- Artist Talk: Nikita Gross, 1pm. Studio Kroner
- Walk-Through Listening and Taste Experience, 1pm. Here and Now
Sunday, 11/1
- In-Depth Multisensory Gallery Walk-Through and Artist Q&A, 12pm. Here and Now
- Reception and Curator’s Talk with William Messer, 5pm. Iris BookCafe and Gallery
Cincinnati Spotlight Weekend
October 31, 2026
–
Spotlight Weekends highlight FotoFocus Biennial Venues within specific geographic locations where artists and curators will be on site for talks, tours, special events, and featured programming. This is an opportunity to immerse yourself in the vibrant energy of the FotoFocus Biennial, exploring art within the communities that create and present it.
Friday, 10/30
- Artist Talk: Marzena Abrahamik, 5pm. BasketShop
- Talk with King Records export Brian Powers, 5:30pm. MOTR Pub
- Artist Talk: Nikita Gross, 7pm. The Lodge KY
- Gallery Talk with Dr. Theresa Leininger-Miller, 7pm. DAAP Library
Saturday, 10/31
- Cincinnati Bus Tour, 8:30am–4:15pm. Biennial Pass Holders only. Limited capacity
- Artist Talk: Nikita Gross, 1pm. Studio Kroner
- Walk-Through Listening and Taste Experience, 1pm. Here and Now
Sunday, 11/1
- In-Depth Multisensory Gallery Walk-Through and Artist Q&A, 12pm. Here and Now
- Reception and Curator’s Talk with William Messer, 5pm. Iris BookCafe and Gallery
Cincinnati Bus Tour
October 31, 2026
8:30am – 4:30pm
Spotlight Weekends highlight FotoFocus Biennial Venues within specific geographic locations where artists and curators will be on site for talks, tours, special events, and featured programming. This is an opportunity to immerse yourself in the vibrant energy of the FotoFocus Biennial, exploring art within the communities that create and present it.
The Bus Tour is now full. To join the waitlist, please email pass@fotofocus.org.
8:30am Meet at FotoFocus Center / Ziegler Garage
9:00am Kennedy Heights Arts Center
Cultural Ties. Celebrates Latin American culture through photography, mixed media, and short films, offering a multi-sensory exploration of place, history, and identity.
Gallery tour led by Mallory Feltz, Director of Exhibitions and Public Art. Artists and film curator Mary Leonard will be in attendance and will discuss their work.
10:00am Eisele Gallery
Waiting to Be Seen. A selection of street photography and photojournalism paying tribute to the diversity of urban life and to the lens-based artists who witness and capture it.
Gallery tour led by Sandy Eichert, curator, and/or David Smith, gallery owner.
10:45am Cincinnati Art Club
Contemporary Tintype Portraits and Altered Historic Images. Tintype portraits by Ricky Willis Tintypes and Blue Creek Tinworks celebrating the local photographic community alongside altered historic images from the Cincinnati Art Club archives.
Curatorial overview provided by Kip Eagen. Artists/studios may also be present to speak about the process and history of tintype photography.
11:30am Lunch @ Swell Art Cafe
12:15pm Wave Pool
Forgetting is Everywhere. Work by four artists exploring transformations both slow and sudden, unexpected but also predestined. Presented in conjunction with Swell.
Gallery tour led by curator Calcagno Cullen.
1:00pm Studio Kroner
Erika NJ Allen: Beneath All Distance. Investigates deep time, material memory, and humanity’s relationship to landscapes shaped by endurance and change through analog photography and ceramics.
Open gallery roaming and artist talk with Erika NJ Allen. Paul Kroner will also be on site.
1:45pm Art Academy of Cincinnati
Depth of Field. An open call highlighting student artists considering the present state of photography and its possible future directions.
Noel Bassam Mohammad Maghathe: Over Everything. Examines how memory is shaped, altered, and reconstructed through the act of retrieval, initiating a dialogue between longing, connection, and memory.
Untwined/Interwoven. Reflects on concepts of place and time, examining the ephemeral, impermanent, and fragmented nature of photography.
Accra Shepp: Bearing Witness. Presents three bodies of work—Occupying Wall Street, The Covid Journals, and The Islands of New York—that delve into subjects often overlooked or intentionally misconstrued.
Gallery talks led by Michael Hurst, Director of Exhibitions; Rachel Reisert, Head of Photography; and student curators.
3:00pm Taft Museum of Art
Edie McKee Harper: Modernist at Play. Over 100 works across a variety of media, including photography, demonstrate the artist’s distinctive modernist vision, highlighting her minimalist and often playful style.
Introduction by Curator Tamera Lenz Muente followed by a self-guided tour.
3:45pm Annex Gallery
Juan-Sí González: I.T.I.N.E.R.A.T.I.O.N.S. Explores the boundary between documentary and fiction, reinterpreting reality as metaphor and calling attention to shared physical, ideological, and psychological landscapes.
Artist talk with Juan-Sí González. Jorge Rodríguez Diez, Executive Director and Chief Curator, and Jens Rosenkrantz may also be on site.
4:15pm Depart Annex Gallery. Bus returns to Ziegler Garage on Sycamore Street.
Access to the entire FotoFocus Biennial Program is only one benefit of being a FotoFocus 2022 Biennial Passport holder. GET THE PASSPORT for free entry and exclusive events!
Cincinnati Spotlight Weekend
November 1, 2026
–
Spotlight Weekends highlight FotoFocus Biennial Venues within specific geographic locations where artists and curators will be on site for talks, tours, special events, and featured programming. This is an opportunity to immerse yourself in the vibrant energy of the FotoFocus Biennial, exploring art within the communities that create and present it.
Friday, 10/30
- Artist Talk: Marzena Abrahamik, 5pm. BasketShop
- Talk with King Records export Brian Powers, 5:30pm. MOTR Pub
- Artist Talk: Nikita Gross, 7pm. The Lodge KY
- Gallery Talk with Dr. Theresa Leininger-Miller, 7pm. DAAP Library
Saturday, 10/31
- Cincinnati Bus Tour, 8:30am–4:15pm. Biennial Pass Holders only. Limited capacity
- Artist Talk: Nikita Gross, 1pm. Studio Kroner
- Walk-Through Listening and Taste Experience, 1pm. Here and Now
Sunday, 11/1
- In-Depth Multisensory Gallery Walk-Through and Artist Q&A, 12pm. Here and Now
- Reception and Curator’s Talk with William Messer, 5pm. Iris BookCafe and Gallery
Unknown artist, Duveneck at Ryland Lake, 2026. Hand-colored photograph, 8 × 10 inches. Courtesy of the Cincinnati Art Club
Ricky Willis, Untitled Portrait, 2025. Tintype, 7 × 5 inches. Courtesy of the artist
2026 Biennial
Venue Details
Cincinnati Art Club
1021 Parkside Pl
Cincinnati, OH 45202
(513) 241-4591
Thur & Fri 4–7pm, Sat & Sun 1–5pm
Free to the Public
Nearby Venues
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