Openings Connecting: TAOS/ PEACE~LOVE: THESE ARE THE DAYS, my friend, but so were THOSE

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

TAOS/ PEACE~LOVE: THESE ARE THE DAYS, my friend, but so were THOSE

Somewhere along the way I've learned to INTEGRATE the then and now, for the good of all. I am the fortunate person that I am now because of all the experiences along the way. 40 years ago, 23 years old, a year out of college, out on the new frontier of HOPE, the promise of that time...Barack Obama was just 8, son of a very interesting, independent mother. Happy mother's day to her, and his grandma, and my mom, who survived all the worry I put upon her. And I survived all the worry I'd put upon myself!!
(record album cover, 1969. i'm the "den mother" with colorful clothes)

2 comments:

Leslie Avon MillerMay 10, 2009 at 12:58 PM
I’m so very curious to know about this time, these photos, the person you were at that time, as a way to learn more about you as a person in this time. I feel nostalgia for the times. But glad I'm here in these now.
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Caterina GiglioMay 12, 2009 at 5:43 AM
Oh how I remember THOSE days... love your pix and your blog which I just found surfing this am. Taos has been my town of choice for many years now and my gallery is in Ranchos de Taos. Thanks for the memories which come flooding back of the times, they were good times, but also for the new appreciation of the NOW, which is the best of times. blessings, caterina
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FOUR DIRECTIONS/FOUR VISIONS: Two Graces: First showing for me, JUNE 3, 2011

With no directions home, I found Taos in the late 60s. It felt like home immediately. It still does. I know this sentiment is familiar to countless others.

The mountain stopped me in my tracks, and I stayed for several years. Since that time, I circle back annually.

To me, that circle is symbolic of this body of work at Two Graces. This is a time in my life when I've been fortunate enough to experiment with art making. Not surprisingly, I found myself drawn back to the images in the Ektachrome slides that I'd taken in the early 80s of Chaco Canyon, the San Francisco de Asis Church, dusty roads, and the ever changing skies of Northern New Mexico. The spirit of this adobed land lingers in my core and manifests itself within these works.

This past Michigan winter was spent creating enlarged negatives from my thirty year old slides, pulling part of my past into the present via today's tools of scanner and computer. Using traditional silver-gelatin darkroom processes, these resurrected and modified negatives acquired a new life. The majority of these prints are the result of this mediated reincarnation.

The smaller images took me into photographic processes from the mid-1800s. These handmade platinum/palladium prints are created coating vellum, for translucency, with these metal salts and exposing them to ultraviolet light. They are then bathed in the alchemy of the darkroom. The tonal qualities are unique in each print. Finally, 24k gold is layered to the backs of the prints, emanating the warmth, glow, and depth of these beloved places.