Miami
As the Northern California rainy winter started to settle in, SLATE Art (my day job) dispatched to sun drenched Miami.
As the Northern California rainy winter started to settle in, SLATE Art (my day job) dispatched to sun-drenched Miami.
The trip was the SLATE staff's amazing holiday gift, and it was a stunning whirlwind through the city's annual art fair scene. From Basel to Context to Art Miami to Juxtapose, my eyes and mind quickly became saturated. I felt like a sponge soaking it all in, particularly given the personal timing of the trip on the heels of one year of deeply focused motherhood.
While the rest of the SLATE team was there for almost I week, I only stole away for a few days. I packed light and opted to take Holga along for the ride. Here a few snaps from Miami Beach and the fairs...
Hello, Holga
Early on in my new motherhood, it became clear that the Rolleiflex was not a feasible camera for use while front baby-carrying.
Early on in my new motherhood, it became clear that the Rolleiflex was not a feasible camera for use while front baby-carrying.
First, it's a bit of a tank, adding non-trivial weight when one is already carrying an infant; but, more importantly, it poises a real threat to knocking baby out (or worse...) with its sheer heft and sharp angles. Second, to even get a shot off while one also has a child strapped to the chest, one would need a wider wingspan than I possess. So, we've welcomed Holga into the family.
Holga is a plastic toy camera. Its body is lightweight and fosters unpredictable results. It's known for vignetting and light leaks onto the medium format file it holds. To embrace Holga is to embrace chance. Our first few rounds of images aren't much to write home about, but that is no surprise. We'll keep at it, hopefully getting to know each other better as time goes on.
She's Arrived
Our beautiful daughter, Cecilia Mae, has arrived. Early and with drama.
But she is healthy, and we are over-the-moon happy.
Pictured here with her maternal grandmother, Mormor, with the trusty ole Rolleiflex.
Our beautiful daughter, Cecilia Mae, has arrived. Early and with drama.
But she is healthy, and we are over-the-moon happy.
Pictured here with her maternal grandmother, Mormor, with the trusty ole Rolleiflex.
Montreal
My mother (and often muse) and I have each visited Montreal in the company of others, but never together. So, we made plans to leave our opposite coasts and reunited in this Canadian metropolis, humming with French and teeming with beauty.
My mother (and often muse) and I have each visited Montreal in the company of others, but never together. So, we made plans to leave our opposite coasts and reunited in this Canadian metropolis, humming with French and teeming with beauty.
With my Rolleiflex in tow and a good stock of film, I was excited to photograph the city with this special camera. However, in the first trimester of pregnancy, I found my energy was failing me as I doggedly tried to keep up with my energetic mom as we crisscrossed town on foot. The Rolleiflex grew heavier and heavier, and my psychic energy was too crowded to see my potential shots properly. So, I opted to leave the beast at our hotel for most of our wanderings and just focus on being present in this special moment.
The two spots that I did determinedly drag it along for was a visit to McGill University's Redpath Museum of natural history and the Mont-Royal Cemetery, where we paid our respects to Leonard Cohen.
Above image: courtesy of my mom, documenting me peering through the Rolleiflex.
Spring Desert Camping
With the Rollioflex in hand, we struck out this spring on a camping excursion to Picacho State Recreation Area on the Colorado River. Photographs taken with Kodak TMax 400 B&W film.
With the Rollioflex in hand, we struck out this spring on a camping excursion to Picacho State Recreation Area on the Colorado River.
Photographs taken with Kodak TMax 400 B&W film.
Women's March Oakland
The Women’s March is a national movement to unify and empower everyone who stands for human rights, civil liberties, and social justice for all. We stand together in solidarity for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families — recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.
The Women's March is a national movement to unify and empower everyone who stands for human rights, civil liberties, and social justice for all. We stand together in solidarity for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families -- recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.
Full statement of the Women's March Bay Area available here >
Photographs taken on January 21, 2017, at the Women's March Oakland with a twin lens reflex camera.
Isabella
Shortly after the new year began, we went back in time with a visit to the Isabella Steward Gardener Museum.
Shortly after the new year began, we went back in time with a visit to the Isabella Steward Gardener Museum.
Founded by Bostonian art collector and patron Isabella Steward Gardner in 1900, the museum operates under a mandate by Gardener that her collection be open to the public according to her "aesthetic vision and intent." The museum is housed in a villa she fashioned after a fifteenth century Venetian palace that wraps around a central courtyard. The notorious lighting varies from flooding skylights to dim interior rooms in a nod to authenticity and a bow to conservation concerns.
With an old twin lens reflex camera and slow Kodak Portra 160 film, I photographed select spaces that felt especially charged in their interplay of her objets d'art and the day's winter light.
Found Forgotten Film
Over the last few months, I have been turning back to film…
My studio practice has been so consumed with archaic photography printing processes, that it only seems fitting to now turn my sights back on the medium of film for image capture. With this turn, I have once again begun taking out my inherited Canon SLR, the camera that I first learned on in art school. The SLR was housing a half shot roll of four-year forgotten film, and so I took it to Stanford’s cactus garden to become re-acquainted. The space has the feeling of existing outside of time, so it seemed like an appropriate locale for such an activity. The results were rather satisfyingly strange.
Over the last few months, I have been turning back to film...
My studio practice has been so consumed with archaic photography printing processes, that it only seems fitting to now turn my sights back on the medium of film for image capture. With this turn, I have once again begun taking out my inherited Canon SLR, the camera that I first learned on in art school. The SLR was housing a half shot roll of four-year forgotten film, and so I took it to Stanford's cactus garden to become re-acquainted. The space has the feeling of existing outside of time, so it seemed like an appropriate locale for such an activity. The results were rather satisfyingly strange.
Open Studios
We’re opening our studio door for East Bay Open Studios 2016: Saturday 6.4 + Sunday 6.5! Read more…
OPEN STUDIO
Sat 6.4 + Sun 6.5.16 / 10a - 7p3246 Ettie Street, Studio 15, Oakland, CA
Jillian Piccirilli showing archaically printed photographs
Carol Ladewig showing paintings, drawings, prints
The Process
Having worked in archives and history being a central crux to my art, I thought it worthwhile to arrange to have my ongoing archaic printing process documented. Here is a selection of images following me through the cyanotype process from studio, to dark room, to rooftop sunlight exposure, and back to the darkroom again.
Special thanks to my talented and prolific photographer, Aaron Piccirilli.
Ocean / Ocean
Strong sunlight suitable for printing my cyanotype, gum dichromate, and Van Dyke prints has become a rarity over these winter months. So, I have been plotting out new projects while I await the sunshine’s return.
Strong sunlight suitable for printing my cyanotype, gum dichromate, and Van Dyke prints has become a rarity over these winter months. So, I have been plotting out new projects while I await the sunshine's return.One such gestating project takes the oceans as its subject. These are obviously deep entities with storied pasts and uncertain futures with geopolitical implications. But growing up along the Atlantic and now living by the Pacific has allowed them to be familiar fellow bodies. As I begin taking my initial studies, though, I do not yet know what direction my own inquiry might take.But there is perhaps something poetic about turning to the ocean while awaiting the sun.
Mamas
For the past year+, I have had my head down working on my third alternative photography project. Following the Hemland and Robinwood series, I decided to tackle my Mama series through the fresh lens of archaic printing.
For the past year+, I have had my head down working on my third alternative photography project. Following the Hemland and Robinwood series, I decided to tackle my Mama series through the fresh lens of archaic printing.It's really been more like three projects than one, and it's been slow going with seemingly endless months of experimentation and testing of various approaches and color combinations. With our fantastically long and hot summer, I was able to accumulate an obscene pile of test prints...for better or for worse.
Now, in the midst of winter, I am pleased to have the Mama Brolly series down pretty well pat, though it's through a terribly labor intensive printing process that allows for ruining your print at ever turn. Mama Vinter is finally resolved and ready to go full speed ahead. And Mama Yaga is just at the cusp of resolution.It's terribly exciting and all I want to do it print! But, again, it's winter. The sun is scarce. Clouds are plentiful. Much needed rain is perpetually lurking. So, I quietly and selfishly mutter to myself...Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun...
Ordinary Time
After attending Catholic school for 12 years, I sometimes conceptualize time within the liturgical categories of "Ordinary Time" -the ordinary everyday periods- and ... Exceptional (?!) Time -e.g. Advent / Christmas, Lent / Easter, et cetera. However, since moving to California, it feels as though the patterns of our seasons have yet to settle into any "Ordinary Time." Once daily rhythms settle into one groove, something (an exhibition, a new job, et cetera) comes along to shake it all up again.
In keeping with this truism, the year has seen its share of re-adjustments, marked significantly with the decision to dramatically scale back my free lancing "day jobs" to take on a post more resembling a 9-5. In the studio during this time, I have been plugging away at a new body of work...or, rather, I have picked up an old thread that was lying dominant and unresolved as my current main studio project. Loaded with struggles on technical, conceptual, and formal fronts (like all new bodies of work) PLUS my reliance on midday sunlight for my archaic printing processes, the project has been slow going with this new schedule.
But enough is enough! There is work to be done, and it is time to find ways to do it. There are fresh prints cooking, and new testers in the pipeline. Fresh colors have been added to the stock (thanks!! to generous benefactors), and new combinations are being mixed.
Pictured is a second (third? fourth? fifth?) generation test of different color combinations and negative processing for one of the subprojects.
What's so special about Ordinary Time anyway.
Eastward / Westward
I love roadtripping. It might be one of my favorite things. And I have recently discovered how awesome roadtrip-image-making can be.The mix of chance and purposefuliness is fantastic. And the pleasure of going through the hundreds of snaps brings me right back to the open road. Most are crap, but there are a few winners you knew would be there. But best of all is the surprise gems.Here are a few favs from a springtime trip from Oakland to Denver on the occasion of the unparalleled Monique Crine's wedding + solo show at Denver MCA.
Cali to Colo. And back again.
TechnoColor Alt Printing
New adventures in archaic alternative photography printing: cyanotype + 3-color gum bichromate + van dyke. Voila!
New adventures in archaic alternative photography printing: cyanotype + 3-color gum bichromate + van dyke. Voila!
The idea of incorporating color and more painterly techniques into my darkroom work has led me to delve into gum bichromate printing, which uses watercolors and split tone negatives to make "full color" images. Pulling upon all my various printing medium experimentations, I have found myself with a five negative process that gives some exciting results.Preview pictured. Hopefully more to come...
Glass Experiments
With the new year has come new studio experiments, such as printing cyanotypes on glass.
With the new year has come new studio experiments, such as printing cyanotypes on glass.After immersing myself in the cyanotype on paper process for my Hemland and Robinwood projects, I have been trying my hand at printing cyanotypes on glass (plus some coffee toning). The experiments have been quite hit or miss, and it may not turn into a process that I pursue with any seriousness. But there is some pleasure in the trail and error process.
Credit to Joseph J. McAllister, whose videos and documentation have allowed me to get as far as I have on this lark.
New Work, Upcoming Exhibition
Exciting announcement: Denver’s Hinterland Art Space will premier my newest series of photography/painting works this autumn.
Exciting announcement: Denver's Hinterland Art Space will premier my newest series of photography/painting works this autumn.
ROBINWOOD
Sept 12 - Oct 3, 2014
Hinterland Art Space
3254 Walnut St, Denver, CO
ROBINWOOD
A three-bedroom-two-bath set on northern Michigan cow pasture land and inspired by blueprints lifted from a Better Homes & Gardens, Robinwood was the house that my grandparents Jim and Mae King built together. Through a merging of archaic photographic printing methods and painting that mines the family’s archives and artifacts, I have attempted to mime Jim and Mae’s impulses of creation and sharing. Robinwood is a re-creation and re-telling of the story of the space, which seeks to both contain and extend the homestead's life.
HINTERLAND
HINTERLAND is Sabin Aell and Randy Rushton. Early 2008 the couple opened the art space, where Sabin curates and exhibits adventurous contemporary art. The term HINTERLAND originates in the german language, has been incorporated into the english vocabulary and means: Beyond what is visible or known.
Reflecting on the name, HINTERLAND is explicitly featuring artists who work with extravagant and coherent visions. The art highlighted plays and seduces with compelling concepts within the roam of contemporary art. HINTERLAND shows artists who practice in a variety of medium, including: painting, photography, sculpture, video, glass art, textiles, fashion and design.
HINTERLAND is entirely built with reclaimed and salvaged materials. All artists and guests are appreciated who are in resonance with the desire to share, exploit fun and co-create within living as energy efficient as it gets. HINTERLAND is part of the Rino Art District.
X-Country II : This Time, It's Colder.
We took our first x-country road trip in October 2012 to get ourselves, the dog, and a small selection of belongings relocated from Ithaca, New York, to Oakland, California. It was such a great experience that we decided to do it again!
We took our first x-country road trip in October 2012 to get ourselves, the dog, and a small selection of belongings relocated from Ithaca, New York, to Oakland, California. It was such a great experience that we decided to do it again!In December, we left sunny California and sped east, travelling through blizzards, ice storms, and under one persistant rain cloud all the way up the eastern seaboard. The return trip was more leisurely with nights spent camping and days meandering along desert highways.
Vikings / Pirates
On January 31st, I will be taking part in an exhibition in Denver’s Pirate Gallery.
On January 31st, I will be taking part in an exhibition in Denver's Pirate Gallery.Fellow Bay Area painter Leah Thomason Bromberg and I have been invited by Monique Crine to show with her at Pirate, an artist-run gallery cooperative in downtown Denver. With our commonly held Cornell art educations tucked under our belts, we are bringing our work back together in another frigid setting. It promises to be an exciting showing of fresh new work from each of us.Between then and now, I will be printing over fifty cyanotypes for a new series that draws upon my own and my fellow matriarchal family member's pilgrimages back to the Sweden. A bit about my recent trip can be read here.
Stay tuned!
Ghost Town Farm Harvest
On a recent beautiful Saturday, Novella Carpenter hosted the last Open Farm Day at her West Oakland Ghost Town Farm.
On a recent beautiful Saturday, Novella Carpenter hosted the last Open Farm Day at her West Oakland Ghost Town Farm.
There were pumpkins, tomatoes, kale plants, honey, t-shirts, and books for sale. There was a honey extraction tutorial and a round of lemonade made with the Farm's honey. A lovely time was had by all!
Here is a selection of photos from the Farm: first its opulent August incarnation, then its autumn harvest expression.
