About
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- Category: Uncategorised
- Published on Saturday, 26 March 2011 16:14
- Written by Super User
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John Robert Portman is a professional photographer, furniture maker, and lighting designer living and working in New Orleans. He was born in Laredo, Texas, went to high school in San Antonio, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Studio Art from Tulane University in New Orleans in 2001. The day after he graduated from Tulane, he moved to London and spent a year there learning the business side of photography by assisting world-renowned professional photographers. J.R. then returned to the United States and based himself in Los Angeles. shooting Advertising, Portrait, and Fashion Photography.
On April 1, 2006, J.R. returned to New Orleans in order to help rebuild and revitalize. He dedicated three years of his life to learning carpentry and electrical work in order to repair the city that has shaped him more than any other in the world. Working as an electrician by day and shooting by night, J.R. developed a body of night photography that is a stark departure from the commercial work he did in L.A. The trades he was learning also affected his creative output, and he began to build lamps using his newly aquired skill set.
In 2009, J.R. spent seven months as an apprentice in the Prince of Wales’s Building Crafts Apprentices Programme. The Program, in partnership with the Preservation Resource Center in New Orleans, offers building craftspeople the opportunity to enhance and advance their design knowledge and experience in traditional and sustainable building crafts through direct apprenticeship with master craftsmen. After receiving his diploma from the Prince of Wales in March 2010, J.R. was determined to continue his development as a woodworker and began to design furniture.
Today, J.R. manages the Preservation Resource Center’s Millshop, which focuses on creative re-use of deconstructed materials and traditional millwork to repair blighted buildings in New Orleans. When not in the PRC shop, he is out shooting or designing furniture and lamps. His designs often utilize salvaged materials from various sources throughout the city, and can be found in various galleries and stores throughout New Orleans as well as in other cities and states. Check the contact section for a current list of shops and galleries in which J.R. Portman is showing work and read the blog for his latest news and projects.