Fly Away Home
In Memory of Arni Cheatham
Arni Cheatham was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1944. By the age of 12, his father, a serious shutterbug who loved photographing with his beloved Yashicamat and Rolleiflex TLR cameras, gave him his very first camera: a Kodak Pony 135. Arni’s early photos were shot primarily on Plus X Black and White film with the occasional roll of Kodachrome. Edgar had his and his sons’ rolls processed and they would spend time together looking at contact sheets. Arni was hooked at an early age.
From Arni’s late teens to early 20’s, he worked part time with his dad at Williams and Meyers Photoprinters, a Photostat, blueprint and photo reproduction company in Chicago. As a Photostat camera operator, he photocopied images and artwork for major advertising firms using large Photostat cameras with moving bellows and large moveable image tables, and attached tanks of chemicals. Arni would photograph, develop, dry and then send the finished black and white reproductions out to the clients, honing his black and white skills in the pressured environment of a commercial lab. Arni’s father, Edgar, was a stern boss who wanted to show no hint of favoritism and demanded the highest quality in his output. On the job he educated Arni in the nuances that make an image great and instilled in him a solid work ethic. During that same period of time, Arni bought his first tenor saxophone and began a music career performing with several local R&B and Jazz bands as a saxophonist.
At 21, Arni was drafted into the U.S. Army forcing a hiatus from photography and pretty much everything else, although he did manage to find an R&B band with which he gigged for about 18 months of his 24 month enlistment. Two years after discharge Arni moved to Boston to further develop his music career.
From the mid 70’s to the mid 80’s Arni served as Vice President of the Jazz Coalition of Boston, whose broad mission was to bring attention to and enrich the vibrant Jazz scene in the Boston area. In 1974, under the nonprofit umbrella of the Jazz Coalition, Arni created the program “JazzEd” to educate children about the great American art form known as Jazz and ease tensions created by the desegregation of the Boston Public Schools. While designing curricula, he decided to create a number of multimedia slide shows on topics such as “How flutes are made” and “Everything about the saxophone.” So he bought a 35mm camera and began to shoot slides for these projects.
Soon, his photo passions reignited, and inspired by photographers such as John Shaw, Moose Peterson, Artie Morris, Jim Fitzgerald, Freeman Patterson, Jay Maisel, Art Wolfe, Joel Meyerowitz, and his personal friends Lou Jones and Archy LaSalle, Arni began to investigate landscape and nature photography. Premier bird photographer Artie Morris was a particularly strong influence, and in 1999 Arni switched to Canon gear and a 100-400mm lens in order to begin to focus on bird photography. From that time to the present, bird photography has been an important element of his portfolio.
In recent years, highlights from Arni’s work in Boston can be categorized in four areas.
Photography:
Since 1998 Arni has exhibited extensively in group and one person shows at galleries, nature centers and other Massachusetts venues. In 2003 the Boston Athenaeum purchased three of Arni’s images for their permanent collection. From 2012 to 2013 Arni was the featured exhibiting artist at The Alan Rohan Crite Research Institute and Library. In 2014 he was invited to produce a multimedia show “Bird Lives” for the Museum of American Bird Art in Canton, MA. This show was a combination of large screen projection of Arni’s bird images with a live storytelling narrative and Jazz improvisation on the theme of Birds and Bird photography, and a tip of the hat to Jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker.
Arts Administration:
From 2007 - 2011 Arni served as Gallery Board President of the Gallery At The Piano Factory in Boston. During that time he assisted in general operations, oversight policy making, special events, elections, documentation, event photography and relationship management with on site management, the building’s landlord and ownership corporation. Arni’s responsibilities included coordination & stewardship of legal agreements between the gallery, tenants and the ownership corporation. Starting in 2012 as part of the Negotiating Committee for Gallery Renovation he assisted in negotiations and planning with management and legal teams for the creation of a new gallery space in the Piano Factory. In 2015 he has been elected to again serve as Gallery Board President.
Jazz Education:
After the successful implementation of JazzEd programing during the mid 70’s to mid 80’s, Arni was asked by JazzBoston to be a master teacher in their “Riffs and Raps”, educational outreach program, which was launched in 2009 with the Blue Hills Boys and Girls Club and the Dorchester (Daniel Marr) Boys and Girls Club. In late 2010 and early 2011 and together with Arni’s associate Bill Lowe, “Riffs & Raps III Jazzin The Generations”, an intergenerational educational program, was presented in all 25 branches of the Boston Public Library System. In 2013 Arni was awarded “2013 – Boston Jazz Hero Award” by the Jazz Journalists Association for his work with children’s education throughout the years. In 2015 Arni was awarded a Hibernia Hall – Community Catalyst Award along with several others who have served the communities youth through the years.
Musical Performance:
Arni is currently a member of two big bands; the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra (42 years) and the Makanda Project (6 years) as well as various small ensembles. Recent venues have included The John Birks Gillespie auditorium in NY, Scullers Jazz Club, Kresge Auditorium at MIT University in Cambridge, Top Of The Hub in Boston, community concerts at the Dudley Public Library and the Bromley Heath Housing Project in Roxbury and the Somerville Jazz and Blues Festival.
Describing himself Arni states, “In the end I am simply Arni Cheatham, a guy with this incredible urge to create art every day. I’m fortunate to have several means to achieve that goal. The fact I’m able to pursue that intention every day is a blessing and I look forward to each day as an opportunity to learn something new. I believe that’s what an ‘artist’ is at the core.”
Wednesday, December 20, 2023, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Please join us as we remember and celebrate our beloved Arni Cheatham (1944-2023). Musicians/friends of Arni will perform at the opening reception of Fly Away Home, an exhibition of Cheatham’s exquisite bird photography at the Piano Craft Factory. A special opportunity, free and open to the public, to view Arni’s spectacular photographs in an intimate gallery setting, with music by a stellar roster of Arni’s friends and colleagues: Taylor Ho Bynum, Jerry Sabatini, and Bill Lowe (brass); Charlie Kolhase, Peter Bloom, Temidayo Balogun, Phill Scarff, Dan Zupan, Paavo Carvey (woodwinds); Joel LaRue Smith, Michael Shea, Kevin Harris, John Kordalewski (piano); Ron Mahdi, Timo Shanko/Kielnecker, John Lockwood (bass); Yorun Israel, Alvin Terry, Harry Wellott (drums). The photography will be on view, by appointment, through December 31, 2023.
Thursday, December 28, 2023, from 7:30 to 9:30 pm
Music by Peter H. Bloom, flute, and Richard Nelson, Guitar
The remembrance and celebration of our beloved Arni Cheatham (1944-2023) continues. A special opportunity, free and open to the public, to view Arni’s spectacular photographs in an intimate gallery setting, with music by flutist Peter H. Bloom and guitarist Richard Nelson. In addition to this public event, the photography will be on view, by appointment, through December 31, 2023. Peter Bloom and Arni Cheatham were friends for more than 50 years, and shared the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra bandstand for 45 years. Rick Nelson, also an Aardvark veteran, performed with Arni for more than three decades.
