Tag Archives: wet plate collodion

Light Sensitive

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.

 


Exhibition Images and Titles


Video Walkthrough of the Exhibition


 

Tintype Workshop with David Emitt Adams

Thank you to all who joined us this past weekend during the Tintype Workshop with David Emitt Adams! Participants went through this process from start to finish, including preparing chemistry, coating and sensitizing your plate, creating successful exposures, and finishing and varnishing your plate. The results were incredible and displayed why the process of wet plate collodion tintypes has been cherished since the 1850s.

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Call for Work – Light Sensitive

Submission Deadline Extended to January 23

Art Intersection presents Light Sensitive, our ninth-annual, international juried exhibition of images created using traditional darkroom and historical and alternative photographic processes and methods. In the current trend of imagery presented on computer screens and the overwhelming volume of digitally printed pictures, Light Sensitive reaffirms and promotes the art of handcrafted prints that uniquely belong to the tradition of light sensitive creative processes.

As our juror this year we are honored to have Christopher James, University Professor and Director of the MFA program in Photography and Integrated Media at Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Awards for Light Sensitive 

First place $350
Second palce $250
Third place $150
Three honorable mentions

Art Intersection will pay return postage for individuals receiving one of the above awards and honorable mentions.

Acceptable Processes

Process  include, but are not limited, to the following: silver gelatin prints, albumen, anthotype, argyrotype, athenatype, Bayard direct positive, calotype, carbon, casein, chrysotype, cyanotype, dusting-on process, gum bichromate, gumoil, Herschel’s breath printing, photopolymer gravure, Ivorytype, kallitype, mordançage, platinum/palladium, printing-out-paper, solarplate intaglio, van dyke brown, wet plate collodion, whey process, Ziatype, combinations of any of these processes, and all photographically based image-making techniques that incorporate traditional studio-based mediums such as printmaking, ceramics, or painting. 

Both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional work may be submitted.

Conventional, unmodified digital inkjet prints are not acceptable for entry; however, the use of digital negatives, created for printing any of the above processes is acceptable.


Important 2019 Dates

  • January 23 – Submit online with JPEG files and paid fee by midnight MT (GMT-7)
  • January 30 – You will receive an email notification of selected Work
  • February 27 – Due Date for selected Work to be received and ready to install at Art Intersection
  • March 9 – Light Sensitive seven-week exhibition opens for viewing
  • March 16 Light Sensitive Reception from 5 – 7pm, please join us!
  • April 27 Light Sensitive closes at 6pm
  • April 25 – Local Work pick-up
  • May 2 – Return shipping of Work will begin
  • May 23 – Last Date to pick up or arrange shipment, after this date Work is considered abandoned

About the Juror

Christopher James is an internationally known artist and photographer whose photographs, paintings, and alternative process printmaking have been exhibited in galleries and museums in this country and abroad. His work has been published and shown extensively, including exhibitions in the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, George Eastman House, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art-Boston. Represented by the Lee Witkin Gallery in New York City for over two decades he has also shown at Pace-McGill (NYC), Contrasts Gallery (London), Michelle Chomette (Paris), Hartje Gallery (Berlin), and Photokina (Germany). He has published extensively including Aperture, Camera (Switzerland), American Photographer, Solstice (for short fiction), and Interview magazine and in books such as The Antiquarian Avant Garde, á Prova de Aguà: Waterproof, Human Documents, and Handcrafted: The Art and Practice of the Handmade Print (China).

All three editions of his book, The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, have received international critical acclaim and are universally recognized by artists, curators, historians, and educators as the definitive text in the genre of alternative process photography and photographically integrated media. A significantly expanded 900 page / 700 image, 3rd edition was published in 2015.

Christopher, after 13 years at Harvard University, is presently University Professor and Director of the MFA in Photography and Integrated Media program at Lesley University College of Art and Design in Cambridge, MA. He received his undergraduate degree from Massachusetts College of Art and his masters from the Rhode Island School of Design. He is also a painter, graphic designer, author, and a professional scuba diver. Christopher offers individually customized alternative process workshops and portfolio consultations in his Dublin, NH studio. Christopher’s web site is www.christopherjames-studio.com

 


 

You can view images from Light Sensitive 2018 by clicking here.

Tintype Celebration at Art Intersection

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.

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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.

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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.

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Ambrotype Open Studio

This is a follow-up lab for participants of the Ambrotye Workshop at Art Intersection wanting dedicated time to practice glass plate photography under the assistance of Claire Warden. Claire will be available to answer questions and help you create your own ambrotypes.

Glass plates for this open lab day must be purchased at Art Intersection, 4″x5″ plates for $5 each or 8″ x 10″ plates for $20 each.  These plates fit the carrier for the Art Intersection 4×5 and 8×10 cameras, or you can bring your own camera. Collodion chemistry is included in the price of the glass plates.

The lab includes softbox continuous lighting in the studio.

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Ambrotype Workshop with Claire Warden

Learn the basics of the wet plate collodion process using glass as the substrate, and create two direct positives images!

Students in this workshop, led by Claire Warden, will go through the process of cleaning glass plates, coating the plates with collodion, sensitizing, exposing, processing and varnishing the final image.

Images will be captured on 4″ x 5″ plates using a large format camera in the lab, and all materials are included to create two ambrotypes.

Recently, Claire spent a summer creating ambrotypes in Lehon, France, and she brings her wet glass plate collodion experience to this workshop.

The Friday preceding the workshop, Claire will give a free to the public lecture about ambrotypes and her experience in Lehon.

On Sunday, following the Saturday workshop, Claire will be on-hand in the lab to assist with the anyone wishing to make additional glass plate images.

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Tintype Workshop and Open Studio with David Emitt Adams

Mid-ninteenth century tintype photography is experiencing a resurgence as photographers look for a unique aesthetic for portraiture and still life images.

David Emitt Adams led the weekend of tintype creativity starting with a free lecture on Friday evening, the all-day workshop on Saturday, and  an open studio on Sunday.

Two stations with 4×5 cameras were setup, one for still life props and the other for portraits.

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After the developer.

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In the final wash before varnishing.

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Warming up the plate before applying the varnish.

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Exposures of 15 to 20 seconds require sitting very still – the head brace helps!

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Pouring off the excess varnish of a portrait tintype.

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Making sure everything is properly focused.

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Here is a Graflex 4×5 with an aerial lens.

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The next setup was a modified Holga and the tissue paper was used like a ground glass plate to check focus.

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Final rinse at the end of the open studio day.

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