A Touch of Hand: Alternative Processes in Photography Exhibition
This exhibition was conceived to coincide with workshops and an artist talk on alternative photographic processes as a part of CapturePhotofest 2020. COVID-19 put a halt to the events, but we are pleased to offer the exhibition online.
The iPhone has both democratized and transformed photography and digital media creating a rise in interest in traditional and historical photographic processes. Enthusiasts, artists and professionals are seeking out and reviving historical techniques and methods. Perhaps this is a quest to bring a sense of uniqueness and imperfection to the mechanical control in digital photography.
“A Touch of Hand” showcases photo based artists who produce images that have been created by hand either before or once the lens-based images have been formed; pinhole photography, mixed media, cyanograph, scanogram and lumen printing are some of the methods used. The artists value the knowledge and skill these processes demand as well as the direct contact it gives them with their image. As in life, the outcomes are not always predictable, but uncertainty nurtures possibility. In the climate of social distancing we crave a Touch of Hand.
My work examines a variety of issues, including urban decay, global issues, and the beauty of the world around us, whether in man-made structures or the mysteries of nature. I hope to honour the materials I work with, reveal my process, and create work that stimulates the imagination and moves the soul.
Adaptation, Photo-etched images on copper plate, 6"x9" |
Habitat II, Photo-etched images on copper plate, 6"x9" |
Forest Lumen I, Scanned lumen print, 8"x10" |
Forest Lumen II, Scanned lumen print, 8"x10" |
Prospero IV, Photo and intaglio etched on paper, 20"x16" |
The Legacy, Photo montage, 32"x24" |
 Urban Coyote, Photo montage, 14"x24" |
Arrangements explores the discarded through the re-composition of spent bouquets; bouquets mark our rituals of goodwill. Bring out our desire to create beauty and symmetry as gifts, underscoring the best of our humanity. The symbolism of flowers, in combination with their fleeting grace, is a poignant reminder of our frailty.
South Michigan IV, Sublimation print on metal, 2ftx3ft |
Deep Confusion, Sublimation print on metal, 2ftx3ft |
Mingus Summertime III, Sublimation print on metal, 2ftx3ft |
Blackwater Side, Sublimation print on metal, 2ftx3ft |
Seeding the Wind II, Sublimation print on metal, 2ftx3ft |
Using ‘A Touch of Hand’ as a starting point these images explore the hand as the selector and arranger of objects; composing a scene to lead the viewer. Working within the tradition of a staged still-life, these images toy with the idea of the absurd by playfully juxtaposing two seemingly unrelated objects.
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| Glove, 11.5"x16" | Cactus, 13"x17" |
I work in many mediums and am drawn to alternative processes. The alternative process can take an art piece and transform it into something else entirely, another reality. The multiple layers add a sense of history and mystery, things hidden, concealed, revealed. This selection includes Lumen prints which have been scanned and altered in Photoshop.
Echoes |
Flowering Tail |
Circles in the Air |
I See Through You |
Looking Through the Veil |
Reflection |
On the Fence |
Circles in Pink |
I am a hybrid photo-printmaker who fuses organic and technological elements. Hybrid prints are photograms made by a contact printing process that leaves traces and shadows on photosensitive surfaces. My Lumen prints engage viewers on a primal level to look again, to make their own meaning from ambiguity.
Finn Slough Resilience, 11"x14" |
Finn Slough Grafitti, 11"x14" |
Resting Tulips, 11"x14" |
Floating, 20"x24" |
Autumn Dance, 20"x24" |
Modern photographic processes can control an image to a microscopic level. This degree of control, impossible historically, has created a quest for perfection where natural chaos isn’t a factor. Chaos can render a work less perfect or it can perfect it, it’s all perspective. The analogue photographic processes used for these works embraces the uncontrollable and chaotic.
Bulldog Cyanograph, 9"x12" |
Rowing Scull Cyanograph, 9"x12" |
Make a Wish, mixed media |
Two Brothers, mixed media |
Takeout for Squirrels, mixed media |
Orchid Pinhole |
Street Scenes Pinhole