Openings Connecting: October 2012

Monday, October 22, 2012

WHERE? WHAT? HOW have I been?

these are from my time in and around Taos in August:
perfect for those of us who are
IN LOVE WITH THE LIGHT

a new exhibit coming up with my "gang of five"...
i'll actually be showing new work from New Mexico,
but we needed a "gold image" above

During my time in New Mexico, one day was spent around Abiquii... That Georgia O'keefe country.

Pedernal in the distance from the walk up to Chimney Rock at Ghost Ranch

a hike from 6000 to 7000 feet

Cameras ready to capture the vistas!

at the 'top' of Chimney Rock

THEN ON TO "THE WHITE PLACE"...

another O'keefe 'haunt'

FOUND, some industrious souls left this for us...not an easy task to create, i'm sure

like my 'journey' with my chapter three of life, going round...

fabulous space...

BACK IN TAOS, UP EARLY FOR SUNRISE AT THE GORGE, FACING THE MOUNTAIN THAT WAS CLOAKED IN CLOUDS...morning mist? fog? it had rained a lot during the night..

THOUGHT I'D CHECK IN... Before my iMac goes in on its harddrive recall! and after my long time away from the blog....can't wait to have my computer back to check in on my favorite sites.

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.