This past Saturday, we celebrated the opening reception for Light Sensitive 2024, our annual exhibition dedicated to traditional and alternative photographic processes. The gallery came alive with stunning works showcasing the creative possibilities of light and chemistry, all crafted by talented artists who continue to push the boundaries of these timeless techniques.
A highlight of the evening was a special showcase by Dennis Collins, a distinguished artist whose mastery of these photographic methods has spanned decades. Dennis shared a captivating selection of prints from his extensive career, offering attendees a glimpse into the evolution of his artistic vision.
We’re thrilled to announce that Dennis Collins will return for an artist talk Wednesday, December 4 in Gallery 4! This special event, held in the gallery, will provide an opportunity to hear about his inspirations, techniques, and experiences as a photographer throughout his career. Keep an eye out for the official date—we can’t wait to see you there!
Thank you to everyone who joined us for this exciting kickoff. If you missed the reception, the exhibition will remain on view in the gallery until January 11th, 2025—stop by to experience the magic of Light Sensitive 2024.
Art Intersection presents Light Sensitive, our thirteenth, international juried exhibition of images created using traditional darkroom, historical, and alternative photographic processes and methods. This year we are honored to have photographer and alternative photography process artisan Kerik Kouklis jury the submitted work.
As we have seen technology trends continue to popularize digital photography on our computer displays, Light Sensitive highlights art from artists working in traditional and historical printing processes.
Light Sensitive seeks to celebrate, promote, and reaffirm the art of handcrafted prints that uniquely belong to the tradition of light sensitive creative processes. Each year we are in search for work that represents creativity, passion, and displays the beauty of these light sensitive processes.
Banner Images by Gary Baker, Jennifer Spencer, Mark Sawyer
About the Juror
Kerik Kouklis is a fine art photographer, filmmaker, and educator who specializes in creating handmade photographs and documentary films. Born and raised in California with a background in music and a 30-year career as an environmental geologist under his belt, Kerik combines a contemporary eye with 19th-century processes to produce work that is uniquely his own. Influenced by the pictorialists of the early 20th century, he makes images that can be at once calm and unsettling. Working in a variety of formats from small digital cameras up to large view cameras, Kerik uses both film and digital negatives to create his prints. Kerik’s website.
Juror Awards
With a field of around seventy fine art prints and imagery in Light Sensitive selecting the artwork to award became very challenging. After several rounds of evaluating the highly competent and artful work over the course of the exhibition the following choices were made from all of the traditional and alternative process prints in Light Sensitive.
First – Marita Gootee, Lost Future, PH Encaustic Lumen Print with Mixed Media Second – Ryan Zoghlin, Squadrons (Edition 1 of 3), Cyanotype on Glass, Mounted on Aluminum Sheet Third – Kent Corbin, Saguaro #2 (Edition 2 of 2), Palladium Quadriptych Juror’s Choice – Tony Celentano & Ofelia Zepeda, Crosses, Matches, and Aluminum Foil, Carbon Transfer Prints in Handmade Book
Honorable Mentions
Gary Baker, Polychrome Twilight Epiphyllum, Heliochrome Carbon Transfer
Scott T. Baxter, William Faulk, Denton, Montana (Edition 1 of 7), Platinum/Palladium
Kevin Black, A New Dawn, Kallitype on Washi Paper, Gilded
Kaden Bard Dawson, Do You Feel Safe?, Cyanotype Mixed Media
Susan V. James, Redtail (Edition 9 of 20), Hand-Colored Copperplate Photogravure
Gene Laford, Maxwell is Cast as Cyrano de Bergerac in the Theater Guild Production of Gone with the Wind, Wet Plate Collodion
Annie Lopez, Dear Arizona, Cyanotype on Tamale Wrapper Paper, Thread, Instant Film Image
Marek Matusz, Antelope Canyon No. 5, Direct Carbon Print
Mark Sawyer, The Fairy Circle, Tintype
Gwen Arkin
Seaweed Study
Lumen Print Reproduction
2024
Gwen Arkin
Ma’o
Lumen Print Reproduction
2024
Gwen Arkin
Kilo
Photopolymer Intaglio
2024
Gary Baker
Icefall Hanging Lake, Colorado
Double Transfer Carbon Print
2024
Gary Baker
Early Spring Cottonwood, Zion National Park
Tricolor Double Transfer Carbon Print
2023
Honorable Mention
Gary Baker
Polychrome Twilight Epiphyllum
Heliochrome Carbon Transfer
2023
Honorable Mention
Scott T. Baxter
William Faulk, Denton, Montana (Edition 1 of 7)
Platinum/Palladium Print
2014
Honorable Mention
Kevin Black
A New Dawn
Kallitype on Washi Paper, Gilded
2023
Kevin Black
Jade
Kallitype on Teabag Paper, Gilded
2024
Patrick Carr
Is that Orson Welles? (Edition 1 of 8)
Gelatin Silver Print
2023
Patrick Carr
Smiles (Edition 1 of 8)
Gelatin Silver Print
2024
Tony Celentano & Ofelia Zepeda
Birth Witness
Etched Wood and Wet Plate Collodion
2024
Juror's Choice
Tony Celentano & Ofelia Zepeda
Crosses, Matches, and Aluminum Foil
Carbon Transfer Prints in Handmade Book
2024
Third Place
Kent Corbin
Saguaro #2 (Edition 2 of 2)
Palladium Quadriptych)
2024
Kent Corbin
Mammillaria #1 (Edition 2 of 10)
Palladium Print
2024
Kent Corbin
Dying Agave (Editon 2 of 3)
Platinum/Palladium Print
2023
Kate Dawes
ABBA
Palliadum Print
2023
Kaden Bard Dawson
Do You Feel Safe?
Cyanotype Mixed Media
2023
Honorable Mention
Kaden Bard Dawson
Do You Feel Safe?
Cyanotype Mixed Media
2023
Shane Dignum
Roy’s Shop, Los Angeles, CA (Edition 1 of 25)
Gelatin Silver Print
2023
Over the weekend of July 15-17 Art Intersection hosted a Mordançage workshop instructed by Mordançeuse Elizabeth Opalenik. Students experienced a range of papers, developers, and print making techniques in their exploration of Mordançage.
Take a look at Elizabeth Opalenik’s website to see her creations.
Image Credits: Elizabeth Opalenik (1-5), Suzanne Fallender (4-9)
Art Intersection presents Light Sensitive, our twelfth, international juried exhibition of images created using traditional darkroom, historical, and alternative photographic processes and methods. This year we are honored to have photographer and alternative photography process artisan Elizabeth Opalenik jury the submitted work.
As we have seen technology trends continue to drive digital photography and presentation, Light Sensitive highlights art from artists working in traditional and historical printing processes.
Light Sensitive seeks to celebrate, promote, and reaffirm the art of handcrafted prints that uniquely belong to the tradition of light sensitive creative processes. Each year we are in search for work that represents creativity, passion, and displays the beauty of these light sensitive processes.
Banner images by Randall Tosh, Lynn Bierbaum, Mary Nation
Awards
Choosing awards in the diverse juried selections of this year’s Light Sensitive presents the challenge to weigh qualitative aesthetics of the presentation, with the strength of the image, and technical mastery of the process. From cyanotype to platinum to ambrotype prints, the wide gamut of techniques and presentations made a formidable task to assign awards. Presenting awards acknowledges accomplishment and excellence in presentation, image, and technique, and encourage everyone to continue to push their work through into the next level.
Congratulations to the awardees and everyone juried into Light Sensitive.
First Place – Lou McCorkle Second Place – Marita Gootee Third Place – William W. Fuller Award of Excellence for Collaborative Work – Kenro Izu / Veritas Editions Honorable Mentions – Gary Baker, Chuck Davis, Sarah S. Curley, Jon Jeffery, Annie Lopez, Marek Matusz, Alyssa McKenna, Mary A. Nation, Cyd Peroni, Phyllis Schwartz, Fred Ullrich, Angela Franks Wells, Ryan Zoghlin
About the Juror
Elizabeth spun a map on a lazy-susan in 1968 and left home to the sound of peace marches and her mother saying, “I knew you were different from the time you were two.” She discovered photography as a metaphor for life in 1979 at the Maine Photographic Workshops and discovered passion and possibilities in Provence in 1983 where she later began her evolution as a Mordançeuse. Traveling through six continents, camera in hand, she connects life’s possibilities through teaching workshops, humanitarian projects and making art.
“I am a photographic artist, educator and freelance photographer traveling the world with my camera and I love it. Philanthropic projects keep me grounded and connected universally.
I believe that all good photographs are self portraits and know that my many former lives manifest themselves in my images. My heart is still in my darkroom working in the Mordançage process, but I use today’s technology when appropriate to explore all the creative paths.
My photographs are collected and published internationally and all work is for sale. Mordançage images are unique, others are silver gelatin, platinum, hand painted or digitally printed in very limited editions on beautiful handmade papers.”
Fiona Howarth,
The Trees Returned,
Platinum/Palladium Prints,
2022
Kenro Izu / Veritas Editions,
Impermanence (Edition 1 of 13),
Platinum/Palladium and Gum Over Platinum,
2020-2022 Award of Excellence for Collaborative Work
Michael C. Hughes,
Saguaro and Storm Clouds,
Platinum/Palladium Print,
2022
Michael C. Hughes,
Seashore Fence,
Platinum/Palladium Print,
2021
Michael C. Hughes,
Shore Forms,
Platinum/Palladium Print,
2022
Jon Jeffery,
Event Horizon Warehouse,
Cyanotype on Recycled Cardboard,
2022
Jon Jeffery,
Big Sur Redwoods,
Cyanotype on Recycled Cardboard,
2022 Honorable Mention
Alex Krajkowski,
Untitled, from Knots,
Unique Gelatin Silver Print,
2019
Alex Krajkowski,
Untitled, from Knots,
Unique Gelatin Silver Print,
2019
J. Jason Lazarus,
Vasquez Rocks, Agua Dolce, California,
Mordançage,
2022
J. Jason Lazarus,
Saguaro National Park, Tucson, Arizona,
Mordançage,
2022
Jen Leahy,
Queen of the Universe,
Cyanotype and Mixed Media,
2021/2022
Annie Lopez,
Not a Blue Bird,
Cyanotype on Watercolor Paper,
2022
Annie Lopez,
Too Much Like Me,
Cyanotype on Tamale Paper, Thread,
2022 Honorable Mention
Lloyd Matthews,
Ember (Edition 1 of 13),
Platinum/Palladium Print,
2020
Exhibition
Considering Possibilities moves the viewer through the intentional mystical imagery of Elizabeth’s photography that breaks the realism of photography to the moods only available through the magic of experimental and alternative photographic processes.
Ryan Gallery presents a collection of prints by Elizabeth Opalenik with Mordançage work also found in her book Poetic Grace, the never exhibited platinum print series from her personal experiences A Journey Home, and a collection carbon prints created using the same negatives from her Mordançage prints.
Elizabeth will join us for the opening reception on July 16 from 5pm to 8pm, and on Friday July 15 at 7pm she will give a talk about her art and experiences as a photographer.
About Elizabeth
Elizabeth spun a map on a lazy-susan in 1968 and left home to the sound of peace marches and her mother saying, “I knew you were different from the time you were two.” She discovered photography as a metaphor for life in 1979 at the Maine Photographic Workshops and discovered passion and possibilities in Provence in 1983 where she later began her evolution as a Mordançeuse. Traveling through six continents, camera in hand, she connects life’s possibilities through teaching workshops, humanitarian projects and making art.
“I am a photographic artist, educator and freelance photographer traveling the world with my camera and I love it. Philanthropic projects keep me grounded and connected universally.
I believe that all good photographs are self portraits and know that my many former lives manifest themselves in my images. My heart is still in my darkroom working in the Mordançage process, but I use today’s technology when appropriate to explore all the creative paths.
My photographs are collected and published internationally and all work is for sale. Mordançage images are unique, others are silver gelatin, platinum, hand painted or digitally printed in very limited editions on beautiful handmade papers.”
3-day Mordançage Workshop with Elizabeth Opalenik, July 15, 16, 17, 2022, from 9am to 5pm each day with lunch included.
I vividly remember that first Provence meeting in 1983 when I heard Jean-Pierre Sudre say, “In mordançage you have the possibility….” For the next 30 summers I visited his studio and work discovering them all while learning the process in 1991 directly from this master. In this workshop we shall begin with a brief history of the mordançage process, looking at original work as we gather valuable insight into directions for making it your own creative voice.
Together we mix the chemistry and begin with an instructor demonstration on understanding the test strips to discover proper exposures for negatives and working with photograms, which is the best way to learn the possibilities. Mordançage takes time to master when working with intent and begins with a darkroom print. Information on making negatives, film or digital, and materials to bring shall be sent prior to the workshop. You will discover, when the silver print is put through the mordançage solution, the silver gelatin in the densest areas of the photographic print swell and can be removed with the pressure of a jet of water or cotton ball. Darkroom days will be spent testing various paper and redeveloper combinations, experimenting with oxidation, toners and hand painting to alter color, and deciding to save or not to save the veils. Often, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Papers, chemicals and notebooks with formulas will be supplied.
After more than 30 years of committing to the mordançage process, Elizabeth has many possibilities, pitfalls and discoveries to share. Working collectively with a group of photographic peers, students can combine information on papers available today to further enhance their creativity. Experimenting is highly encouraged. A working knowledge of the darkroom is essential.
As artists, we much each find our way and hope to leave something of value behind. The “draped spidery veils” in the images are my contribution to this process, accomplished by using my breathe or drops of water to preserve and alter the delicate floating silver skin. As such, each piece is unique and truly made by hand even when created using the same negative.
Thank you to everyone who joined us at Art Intersection for this year’s Light Sensitive opening reception! It was wonderful to see a lot of the artists and their amazing creativity using traditional photographic processes.
To celebrate the art of handcrafted prints, Art Intersection presents Light Sensitive, our eleventh-annual, international juried exhibition of images created using traditional darkroom, historical, and alternative photographic processes and methods.
In the current takeover of imagery presented on computer screens and the overwhelming volume of digitally printed pictures, the purpose of our Light Sensitive exhibition is to celebrate, promote, and reaffirm the art of handcrafted prints that uniquely belong to the tradition of light sensitive creative processes. Each year we search for work representing creativity, passion, and display of the beauty these light sensitive processes bring.
Banner image by Rebecca Zeiss
Awards Special thank you to Brian Taylor for his insightful vision as our juror. Choosing awards in an exhibition of highly amazing works proved to very challenging and much consideration (and pacing through the galleries) was given to all of the darkroom creative art in the galleries. Congratulations to the awardees and everyone juried into Light Sensitive.
First Place – Rebecca Zeiss Second Place – Richard Hricko Third Place – Sara Silks Award of Excellence – Diana Bloomfield Honorable Mentions – Allan Barnes – Matt Connors – Wendy Constantine – Susan Elizabeth de Witt – Elizabeth Davis – Anne Eder – Jeannie Hutchins – Jen Leahy – Maureen Mulhern-White – Emily Penrod – Gerado Stübing – Vaune Trachtman
Juror Art Intersection is honored to have Brian Taylor jury this year’s Light Sensitive exhibition. He is known for his innovative explorations of alternative photographic processes including historic 19th Century printing techniques, mixed media, and hand made books. His work has been exhibited nationally and abroad in numerous solo and group shows and is included in the permanent collections of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.
Brian served as the Executive Director of the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, CA for 4 1/2 years, retiring in 2019 to return to his art practice in the studio. He received his B.A. Degree in Visual Arts from the University of California at San Diego, an M.A. from Stanford University, and his M.F.A. from the University of New Mexico and served as a Professor of Photography for over 35 years, and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at San Jose State University.
This workshop is full. Please email or call if you wish to be placed on a wait list.
In this two-day workshop students will learn the art of photopolymer gravure printing. Using light-sensitive steel-backed Solarplates, participants will create 4″ x 5″ and 6″ x 8″ gravure etching prints from their photographs. This environmentally friendly process translates photographic detail into ink on paper with unparalleled beauty.
No prior experience with printmaking is required. All necessary aspects of printmaking will be discussed including choosing inks, papers, and wiping material. Wiping and inking techniques will be covered. Be prepared to marvel at the way your photograph is transformed through ink on paper.
The making of digital positives will be discussed, but for the workshop itself, you will send color or black and white image files (300 dpi at 10” on the long side) to be made into a digital positive prior to the workshop. An email with details will be provided once you are registered. Please submit a WORKSHOP SIGN UP FORM located below so we are able to contact you!
Here is a brief outline of the process that will be presented in this workshop:
A transparency positive will be made from your photograph
The positive is then placed on top of the light sensitive polymer plate and exposed to UV light
Washing the plate in water etches the image onto the plate
Once hardened, the plate is hand inked using water-soluble intaglio inks
The inked plate is then run through an etching press onto dampened paper
Remnants #202, Karen Hymer
About Karen Hymer
Karen Hymer is an artist and educator based out of Silver City, New Mexico. For the past seven years she has ventured into the world of printmaking – exploring imagery in the form of photopolymer gravures. Her current work explores the effects of time on the human body and various plant life. Hymer’s richly detailed photogravures emphasize the interplay of texture, pattern, light and shadow in muted earth tones. The decontextualized close-ups of the body and decaying plants reveal a poetic beauty in these often over-looked subjects.
Please complete this workshop sign up form before payment! This helps us stay in contact with you as well as update you with any information you may need before the workshop.