Thanks to everyone who joined us for the Opening Reception of Light Sensitive 2018! We loved seeing so many friendly faces, both familiar and fresh. Thanks for helping us celebrate this beautiful exhibition!
Luigi Luccarelli with his work
Peter Friedrichsen with his cyanotypes on birch ply
Amanda Scheutzow with one of her sculptural tintype pieces
Kayla Bedey with her gum bichromate over cyanotype prints
Printing out Paper expert Siegfried Rempel will give a lecture on this fascinating process on Friday, March 24. Join us for this special opportunity to learn more about this historic method – the lecture is free and open to the public. If you’re feeling inspired, join us for our Printing out Paper Workshop the following day! Learn more and register here.
About PoP
Printing out Paper, or PoP, makes an image by exposing a negative and paper to light without any chemical development. With a printing-out process, you can watch your image come to life during your exposure, rather than having to wait until it is processed! Used originally as a simplified field process without the need of a darkroom, today we use this handmade emulsion to create artful images with subtle and warm tonality.
The use of Collodion in photography for the production of photographic prints an be found as early as the 1850s, and is most commonly used in the Wet Plate Collodion process to produce tintypes and ambrotypes. The concept of an “emulsion” of silver salts in a collodion binder was introduced by Gaudin in 1853 and by 1861 he was actively producing the “Photogene” collodion emulsion.
The collodio-chloride print has a similar physical appearance to its gelatin counterparts and it can be difficult to tell them apart. In fact, modern gelatin silver darkroom papers evolved from this early printing method! Today, we still practice the collodio-chloride process because of the rich and beautiful tonality it imparts on our images.
This past Saturday, March 26 we had the pleasure of hosting a Photogravure workshop taught by Tucson artist Karen Hymer! The weekend began with a lecture by Karen on Friday night – she talked about the history of photogravure and the evolution of her artwork as she continues to use the process.
Seven students joined us for the workshop and got hands-on experience making photopolymer plates from their images, then pulling prints from the plates. Karen taught the process using Solarplates, which are steel plates coated with a light-sensitive polymer emulsion. When exposed, the polymer hardens; the unexposed polymer washes away in water, leaving an “etched” plate ready for inking after the plate has dried in the sun. Ink is then applied to the plate and wiped from the highlight areas. Finally, paper is laid on top of the plate and both are run through an etching press.
We are forever grateful to our friends at Cattletrack Arts Compound and Santo Press for lending us their etching press – we could not have done this workshop without their help!
Karen demonstrates the “development” of the Solarplate in water
Exposed and developed plates harden in the sun
Karen demonstrates inking the plate
Participant Shari Trennert prepares to run her plate through the press
Shari has made a print from a “test strip” plate to check her exposure before committing to a full plate
Jean-Charles Chapuis, Cyd Peroni, Tom Moore, and Gina DeGideo hard at work inking their plates
Chris Palmer and Karen compare a test print with another print of the same image to check for contrast and density
Gina uses a cotton swab to fine-tune her ink application
Cyd lays a sheet of fine-art water color paper over her inked plate before running it through the press
Participants enjoy letting their creativity run free and working in a community environment
Participants let their finished prints dry before taking them home
This past Saturday, January 9, we hosted a Walk and Talk with Jonah Calinawan, Karen Hymer, Amy Rockett-Todd, and Rebecca Sexton Larson, all featured in (re)View: Explorations in Human Nature. We were so pleased that the artists could travel to Gilbert from around the country to celebrate the exhibition with us!
Amy Rockett-Todd gets personal while talking about her albumen plates
Rebecca Sexton-Larson discusses her work and the bromoil process she uses
Karen Hymer explains that her photogravures draw on the idea that beauty is not only for the young
Jonah Calinawan discusses his fantasy-inspired cyanotype self-portraits
A closing reception for both (re)View and Next Level followed the Walk and Talk. It was great to see the artists among their exhibited work and meet so many of their friends and family! Thank you to everyone that came out!
A couple of weeks ago, Art Intersection hosted a Wet Plate Collodion Tintype Workshop and Open Studio! Students were led by David Emitt Adams and assisted by Claire A. Warden, both experts in this captivating 19th century process. Wet plate collodion was among the first widely-used photographic processes, used predominantly during the Civil War era. The nature of the process requires that collodion be hand-poured on a blackened metal plate, sensitized with silver nitrate, and exposed, then back into developing and fixing baths before the coating dries – hence the process’s name. During the workshop, students got individualized help with their coating, exposure, and processing. The following day, artists attended the open studio for a chance to try the process on their own; David and Claire were on hand to help as needed.
For a proper exposure, wet plate collodion requires either very bright light or a long exposure. David has rigged a special chair designed to help portrait sitters keep very still during the exposure time of 6-8 seconds, much like the chairs and props 19th century photographers used.
The following weekend, David and Claire returned to take wet plate collodion studio portraits! Couples, families, and individuals made appointments to have their picture taken, 19th-century-style.
This past Saturday, October 31 we were honored to have California artist Ryuijie teach the art of platinum/palladium printing to 11 members of the Art Intersection community. This 19th century process has long been revered for its tonal depth and archival qualities. Ryuijie demonstrated two different printing styles – the ABC and Na2 methods, both of which he uses in his artistic practice. Participants mixed their chemistry, hand-coated fine art paper, let it dry, and exposed their paper using a digital negative and UV light. It was inspiring to see the workshop participants quickly pick up a new technique which might have a lasting place in their artistic skill set! With a little experimenting and practice, the students used this luminous process to make some beautiful work.
Mario Sanchez holds up his freshly hand-coated paper
Jeff Welker coats his paper
Participants process their prints in developing and clearing baths
BK Skaggs assesses the exposure of his print
Finished platinum/palladium prints drying
Participants discuss their results at the end of the day
