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LIGHT + METAL Installation View, West Wall
Left to Right: Julie Weber, David Emitt Adams & Claire A. Warden, Heather Oelklaus, Anne Arden McDonald

Historically, the key elements to any photographic image have been light and metal, and while the photographers in our LIGHT + METAL exhibition all use traditional materials, none of them are creating entirely traditional works. These artists are experimenting, pushing the materials to make original, unique physical objects that return to the medium's original magic. Most photographers who came up working in the darkroom recall the delight and fascination of developing a photograph for the first time and watching as an image slowly appeared in the tray. They were hooked. That is how I fell in love with photography – I used to spend hours in the darkroom after school contact printing images over and over, just doing things to see what the results might look like.

The introduction of digital technology dramatically altered the photographic landscape and created an approachable, flexible, and prolific means of creating images in the 21st century. For the most part, I think the digital process is excellent, high-definition capture is more portable than ever, and images can be printed in the light on a heroic scale. While digital technology is complex, its practice is understandable and doesn't elicit the same sense of wonder as chemical photography.

In reaction to, and in some cases liberated by, the elevation of digital photography, the artists in LIGHT + METAL are a part of a resurgent movement playfully exploring the possibilities of traditional processes like cyanotype, platinum, silver gelatin, and wet-plate collodion, among others. Here, we've constructed a process glossary for the myriad techniques seen in the exhibition in order to explain more about how the works were made. In the following weeks, we'll be delving deeper into the artists' specific contribution to the show, revealing more about their practices and intentions.

LIGHT + METAL is a passion project, and we are extraordinarily proud of the exhibition. The work is installed at photo-eye Gallery through September 15, 2018; please feel free to contact the Gallery if you have any questions regarding the artists, artworks, or techniques used in the show.

– Anne Kelly, Gallery Director

LIGHT + METAL installation view

Cameraless – (Anne Arden Mcdonald) A cameraless image is produced on photographic material without the aid of a camera or lenses.

Chemigram – (Anne Arden McDonald, Heather Oelklaus) A Chemigram, from "chemistry" and gramma – Greek for "things written," is a photographic practice where an image is made by painting with chemicals directly on light-sensitive paper. In LIGHT + METAL, both artists pre-coat the paper in varnish to prevent chemical action, subsequently scraping away at layers of the varnish to allow areas of the paper to develop. Chemigrams were invented in the 1950s by Belgian artist Pierre Cordier.

Collage – (Vanessa Woods) Collage (from the French: coller, "to glue" is a technique where a new image is created from an assemblage of different forms, such as vintage photographs.

Cyanotype – (Meghann Riepenhoff) Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. The process uses two chemicals: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide, and uses water as a developer.

Meghann Riepenhoff's Dynamic Cyanotypes, courtesy of EUQINOM Gallery,
and Kevin O'Connell's Platinum Printsinstalled for LIGHT + METAL

Digital Enamel Transfer – (Nissa Kubly)
A digital enamel transfer is an image printed on a clear substrate in archival pigment and placed
directly on top of an enamel, at which point it is heated up to 150° F., at which point the enamel liquefies
and absorbs the pigment.

Encaustic Print – (Kate Breakey, Lori Vrba) Encaustic printing employs the addition of heated beeswax, and occasionally pigment, to the prepared surface of a photographic print, giving the object a unique tone and texture.

Hand-colored – (Kate Breakey, David Emitt Adams & Claire A. Warden) In a hand-colored image, paint, pencils, and pigment are typically applied to a processed black-and-white photograph to add color and texture.

Lumen Print – (Vanessa Marsh, Anne Arden McDonald)
A printing process using traditional silver gelatin paper, heat, and sunlight to expose the paper. Gold toner is used as a fixer instead of traditional sodium thiosulfate.

Vannessa Marsh's Lumen Prints Installed for LIGHT + METAL

Luminogram – (Michael Jackson)
A cameraless process pioneered by László Moholy-Nagy in 1922, the Luminogram is simply light, directed onto photo paper in the darkroom. Using their hands, a Luminographer uses gestures and intensities that yield a direct result of their actions on the paper, molding light as a sculptor might mold clay. Gottfried Jäger described it as "the result of pure light design; the rudimentary expression of an interaction of light and photosensitive material… a kind of self-representation of light."

Photogram – (Julie Weber, David Ondrik)
A photogram is a cameraless photographic image made by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material, such as photographic paper, and then exposing the material to light.

Pinhole Camera – (Nissa Kubly)
A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens, but with a tiny aperture, a pinhole – effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through the aperture and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box, which is known as the camera obscura effect. These cameras can take nearly any form.

Michael Jackson's Luminograms installed at photo-eye Gallery for LIGHT + METAL.

Platinum Print – (Kevin O'Connell)
Platinum/Palladium is a black-and-white contact printing process in which the image is formed of metallic platinum or palladium in the fibers of the paper (instead of an emulsion coating on the surface). The hand-coated images are known for their luminosity, extraordinary detail, beautifully rich tonal range, permanence, and stability. Platinum and Palladium printing has enjoyed a revival in recent years as well.

Positive Film – (Nissa Kubly)
In LIGHT + METAL, positive film refers to a silver-nitrate-based black-and-white emulsion suspended on a celluloid base, yielding a unique direct positive image

Wet-Plate Collodion – (David Emitt Adams)
The collodion process, mostly synonymous with the "wet-plate collodion," requires the photographic material to be coated, sensitized, exposed, and developed within the span of about fifteen minutes, necessitating a portable darkroom for use in the field. In photography, collodion is a syrupy solution of nitrocellulose, alcohol, ether, and silver nitrate, used for coating things, chiefly in surgery and in a former photographic process. The emulsion is typically applied to a prepared glass or metal plate.

Over the next seven weeks, we will continue to explore the work included in LIGHT + METAL.

LIGHT + METAL is currently on view at photo-eye Gallery through September 15, 2018.

For additional information regarding the artists in LIGHT + METAL, or to inquire about purchasing artwork, please contact Gallery Staff at:
505.988.5152 x202 or gallery@photoeye.com.

» VIEW our Gallery of Installation Images

» VIEW Artwork from LIGHT + METAL

» READ a write-up of LIGHT + METAL published in Pasatiempo

» VISIT photo-eye Gallery

541. South Guadalupe Street
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(click for map)

photo-eye Gallery is thrilled to announce Light + Metal, a major group exhibition featuring 60 unique photographic works by 14 artists printed in an array of alternative and non-standard processes.

Participating artists include David Emitt Adams, Kate Breakey, Vanessa Marsh, Nissa Kubly, Michael Jackson, Anne Arden McDonald, Heather Oelklaus, Kevin O’Connell, David Ondrik, Meghann Riepenhoff, Claire A. Warden, Julie Weber, Vanessa Woods and Lori Vrba.

» VIEW LIGHT + METAL

An opening and artist reception for Light + Metal will be held this Friday, July 27th from 5 to 7 pm during the Last Friday Art Walk in the Santa Fe Railyard Arts District. We are very excited that Nissa Kubly, Anne Arden McDonald, Heather Oelklaus, and David Ondirk will be joining us at the opening.

photo-eye Gallery

541 S. Guadalupe Street

Santa Fe, NM 87501

– View Map –

Anne Arden McDonald, Virus, 2017, Camraless Gelatin-Silver Print, 24x20" Image, Edition of 5, $2100

Now is a very exciting time for photography. The 14 artists in Light + Metal are reacting to the proliferation of digital photographic technologies by experimenting with traditional, metal-based processes and materials, including silver-gelatin paper, cyanotype, and wet collodion, to create unique photographic objects—often without using a camera.

Works in Light + Metal employ 19th, 20th, and 21st-century processes to expand and challenge the notion of a photograph as a convincing representational image. In some works, such as those by Julie Weber and Michael Jackson use light itself as a subject, while others, such as Meghann Riepenhoff, Anne Arden McDonald, and David Ondrik, push the boundaries of physical photographic materials to make statements regarding technology, culture, and the environment. We are truly proud of Light + Metal's scope and scale.

David Emitt Adams, Eagletail, 2014, Wet plate collodion tintype made on object found in the Sonoran Desert,
6.5x11" Image, Price Upon Request

Kate Breakey, Chrysanthemum, Hand-Colored/Encaustic Archival Pigment Print, 26x28" Image, Unique, $2000

Michael Jackson, M, Luminogram on Silver-Gelatin Paper, 20x16" Image, Unique, $4,000

Julie Weber, Two Permutations of Light (Ilford Multigrade FB), 2018 Photogram diptych on gelatin silver paper
(print 1 fixed; print 2 unfixed), 14x11" Image, Unique $1500 Framed

Heather Oelklaus, Meditation, 2017, Chemigram, 14x11" Image, Unique, $750

David Ondrik, Erosion 1, 2018, Photogram, 28x30" Image, Unique, $2000

Meghann Riepenhoff, For Anna, Vol. II. Plate 31, 2017, Dynamic Cyanotype, algae and shoreline debris,
12x9" Image, Unique, $3500
Courtesy of EUQINOM Gallery

Lori Vrba, Portal, Encaustic Photograph on Vintage Cupcake Tin, 28x16" Image, Unique, $1600

Vanessa Marsh, Untitled #45, Photogram on Silver-Gelatin Paper 16x20" Image, Unique, $1500

Vanessa Woods, Waiting for Rainbows, 2017, Photocollage, 11x14" Image, Unique, $1500

Kevin O'Connell, Canyon Series #8662, Platinum/Palladium Print, 14x11" Image, Edition of 3, $1400

Nissa Kubly, Enamel Necklace I, Enamel on copper with digital image transfer, Unique, $280

All prices listed were correct at the time this post was published.

Light + Metal is on view at photo-eye Gallery through September 15, 2018.

For more information about an artist or artwork, and to purchase prints, please contact Gallery Staff

505-988-5152 x 202 • gallery@photoeye.com.

» View Light + Metal

» Attend the Opening Reception

» Directions to the Gallery

Anne Kelly, Gallery Director

Today is the final day our current exhibition, LIGHT + METAL. Though the exhibition has been on view for nearly two months, I feel like it opened yesterday. De-installing a show is always bittersweet; we are always excited about the upcoming exhibition, however, taking an exhibition down can be like parting with an old friend. That is absolutely the case with this exhibition. During the course of the LIGHT + METAL, we shared conversations with all 13 artists from the exhibition, so we're pleased that the exhibition is archived in that sense. If you have not had a chance to read the conversations you can find links to all 13 below.

In the meantime, I would love to share some final thoughts: LIGHT + METAL is an exhibition that

slowly grew out of an exhibition that we mounted in 2014 called Photo Objects and Small Prints. A number of the pieces in that exhibition were one of a kind, hence spawning the idea of curating an entire show of photos that were all unique. I wanted this exhibition to be extra special, so I spent four years ruminating on the idea and making notes of artists I would invite to participate.

The basis of LIGHT + METAL started with the simple criteria that all of the works included would be unique and for the most part made with traditional photographic materials. The title, LIGHT + METAL, speaks to the essentials of photography: light, time, and light-sensitive materials—most of which include metal in their compositions. This show is also a dialogue about photography in 2018.

Technology has transformed the medium, and it is not my intention to paint that in a negative light, but photography is different in the 21st Century. Digital imaging has made just about anything possible and has made the medium very accessible, but it has also limited to the production of chemically-based light-sensitive materials. As sad as it is to watch traditional darkroom materials disappear, this has also caused an emergence of photographers that desire to let go to of the controls of digital and return to the magic of the darkroom—the happy accident, the process of surprising and delighting one's self.

These are the artists that I was watching for inclusion in LIGHT + METAL. Some were artists we have worked with before, others I had been quietly watching, and some I met at portfolio reviews. In the original press release, it states that this show challenges the notion of the photograph as a representational image, and yes it does that, but I came to realize that it also challenges notions about photography as a medium in the digital age.

Photography by definition simply involves light, time, and photosensitive paper, but in an era where it's common to have a high-resolution camera on your cell phone, it is hard for many to comprehend how a photograph can be made without a camera. This exhibition led to many fantastic, delightful, and lovely conversations—even a few uncomfortable ones. I enjoyed all of them. On one level, this show feels very personal; the magic of the darkroom is a key part of why I fell in love with photography many years ago, but I know I am far from alone. Many of the artists in the exhibition and many of the viewers in the gallery expressed similar opinions. I am glad to have shared this experience with you. — Anne Kelly, Gallery Director

LIGHT + METAL Artist Conversations:

David Emitt Adams
Kate Breakey
Michael Jackson
Nissa Kubly
Vanessa Marsh
Anne Arden McDonald
Kevin O'Connell
Heather Oelklaus
David Ondrik
Meghann Riepenhoff
Lori Vrba
Julie Weber
Vanessa Woods

» Select Gallery Favorites

photo-eye Gallery
541 S. Guadalupe St.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
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Nissa Kubly's work installed at photo-eye Gallery for LIGHT + METAL

Skilled in metalworking, artist Nissa Kubly crafts an array of unique objects including photographic sculpture, enamel image-based jewelry, and delightful wearable pinhole cameras. With an interest in optics and image creation, Kubly's practice deftly combines form with function to build three-dimensional functioning artworks that take photography off the wall and place it in the hands of the collector. photo-eye Gallery is proud to work with Kubly for the first time in LIGHT + METAL and have ten of her refined and innovative designs currently on view in the exhibition.

We spoke recently with Kubly, and the artist shared a little about her background and how her obsession creating unique physical artworks began. Nissa Kubly's work can be viewed in the gallery as a part of LIGHT + METAL though this Saturday, September 22nd, 2018.

Nissa Kubly, Flagstaff Courthouse, Brass, positive film pinhole image, glass, 3.5x4" ImageUnique, $800

photo-eye: What inspired you to create the pieces included in LIGHT + METAL?

Nissa Kubly: These pieces in the gallery show started as work in graduate school when the history of photography professor assigned us a challenge to make our own camera and test it to see if it worked. I was in the fine art department studying metals and didn't quite understand the camera obscura so I decided to try it out, making a small scale camera in copper and brass. I cut a little piece of photo paper, inserted it into the camera and lined it up to take an image of a bike on campus, quickly went into the darkroom to develop and was amazed when it actually worked! I loved that I could create a very basic machine and get a result that would be permanent. A lesson in form follows function!

Nissa Kubly, Round Pinhole Ring II, 2008, Sterling Silver, Brass, 2x2" Object, Unique, $2500

pe: What type of work did you make prior to the work you are making today, and if the work was different, what inspired the change?

NK: I loved my beginning/undergraduate work in formal metalsmithing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Here we were making hollowware, functional tableware like chalices, hand raised bowls, serving utensils and custom rings in sterling silver, pewter and copper. I guess I've always liked functional work that is beautiful as an object and well constructed.

Nissa Kubly, St Mary's Basilica, Phoenix
(Pinhole Image) on Camera #9,
Pinhole image on Positive Film,
Brass, Magnifying Lens, Sterling Silver,
6x3" Object, Unique, $2700

pe: Can you tell us about creating one of the works included in LIGHT + METAL?

NK: The wearable cameras started in graduate school also, when I made a belt buckle camera. It was a small rectangular brass box I could load with film and take images (incognito) of party-goers! So, I wanted to continue this idea and next, I made a Pinhole camera bracelet in sterling silver, which I loved, but it sold to a collector. (Now in the Racine Art Museum collection). I liked the idea of functional, spy-like objects that could be worn and it was important the pieces be one of a kind. So I continued with the fabrication of the pinhole rings; they are hollow constructed from silver sheet, formed and soldered. Some patterning comes from etched designs on the sides. I added brass details which are turned on my mini-lathe in the studio and soldered onto the piece. I enjoy the process so much—designing, creating and experimenting. The constructed camera gives me all these opportunities.

Nissa Kubly

Nissa Kubly received her B.S. in Fine Art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She continued her studies at the University of Wisconsin in Art Education, where she was awarded a teaching degree. Ms. Kubly later earned a Masters of Fine Art in Metals from Arizona State University, Tempe. Her thesis, "Macchine di Luce," was an exploration of the optics of the pinhole camera in functional metal fabrication. Kubly was awarded a residency at Anderson Ranch Art Center, Aspen, CO to work in sculpture and photography studios, constructing cameras and experimenting in film. She has been awarded grants from the Phoenix Art Museum and 3M Corporation, and her work has been included in publications such as Design & Architecture and public and private collections around the world. In 2014, Ms. Kubly was included in the largest pinhole collection in the world with numerous cameras and images added to the New Mexico History Museum's permanent collection in Santa Fe. The summer of 2017 took Ms. Kubly on a residency with Biomimicry at the Tempe Center for the Arts, where she researched butterfly optics and vision, consulting with Dr. Ron Rutowski, a professor in life sciences at ASU.

–––

LIGHT + METAL has been extended at photo-eye Gallery

through Saturday, September 22nd, 2018.

For additional information on Nissa Kubly's work,

and to purchase prints, please contact Gallery Staff at

505-988-5152 x202 or gallery@photoeye.com.

» View LIGHT + METAL

» Read More about the Exhibition

» Favorites from LIGHT + METAL

» Visit the Gallery

541 S. Guadalupe St.

Santa Fe, NM 87501

– View Map –

Anne Arden McDonald's prints installed as a part of LIGHT + METAL at photo-eye Gallery

LIGHT + METAL is a substantial exhibition packed with 60 unique artworks produced in an eclectic array of styles including Anne Arden McDonald's energetic and somewhat enigmatic photograms, lumen prints, and chemigrams. photo-eye Gallery has enjoyed a long relationship with McDonald, previously representing her self-portraits and Diana camera work on the Photographer's Showcase. Her cameraless work originally came to our attention about 10 years ago and she was among the first artists included in LIGHT + METAL as we began to curate the exhibition. Interested in transforming her practice after printing performative representational works for nearly 20 years, and feeling pressure from the shrinking pool of available traditional silver-based materials, Anne began to experiment in the darkroom. Continuing our conversations with LIGHT + METAL artists, we've reached out to Anne Arden McDonald in an attempt to shed light on her artistic intentions and material decisions.

Anne Arden McDonald, Molecule, 2017 Cameraless Gelatin-Silver Print, 24x20" Image, Unique, $2,400

photo-eye: What inspired you to create the pieces that are included in LIGHT + METAL?

Anne Arden McDonald: Photography is a very young and exciting medium, and there is a great deal of undiscovered terrain. In some ways, it stands at a precipice: digital photography is eroding the availability of some analog materials, as well as the study and use of silver gelatin papers. I am curious to see what is possible with photo paper, and it never fails to surprise me. It’s possible that we have only scratched the surface of what this medium can achieve.

Anne Arden McDonald, Wasted Flowers, 2016 Lumen Print, 20x16" Image, Unique, $1,600

pe: Why did you choose the specific process you employed to make your work?

AAM: Each of my pieces in the show is a slightly different process, but a few of them are re-imaginings of antique camera-less processes: Shattered is a chemigram, Molecule and Virus are photograms, in that you put an object on photo paper and shine light through it. I’m using these processes to make what appear to be objects which have volume, and sometimes a figure-ground relationship.

Each new process is a new world. You can’t enter this new world and quickly snatch what you want and leave, you have to learn the language of the place, tiptoe in quietly, sit down in a corner and watch. Don't impose your vision on what might happen, wait to see how it speaks and listen to what it needs, what it does, and what it has to offer you.

Anne Arden McDonald, Shattered, 2017 Chemigram, 20x16" Image, Unique, $1,600

pe: What type of images did you make prior to the artwork you are currently creating; what inspired the change in direction?

AAM: Long ago, I made a series of self-portraits, but after 15-20 years of printing them I grew tired of the darkroom experience, so I made experiments. Eventually, this led to a whole body of work where the process informs the resulting image. I’m inspired by the lively dialogue that occurs between painters or sculptors and their chosen medium. I’m also using a scientific method, where you observe phenomena, formulate a hypothesis, test it with experiments, use careful measurements, note variables, observe results, and use this information to build an image.

For example, one morning I noticed that drips of coffee had evaporated from my enamel table and left a series of reticulation rings which resembled a topographical map. I taught myself to make evaporated ink paintings on glass and to used them as a negative to print through to make images.
My processes are an unorthodox collection of materials and techniques from the domestic and scientific realms, brought into the darkroom, often coaxing or scrubbing an image into the photographic paper.

Across all of my work, I am interested in the organic: how everything around us grows, dies, decomposes, and changes into something else.

Anne Arden McDonald is a Brooklyn based visual artist who grew up in Atlanta Georgia. From age 15 to 30 she made self-portraits by building installations in abandoned interiors and performing privately for her camera in these spaces, publishing a book of this work in 2004. She also has a large body of dreamy photographs shot with a Diana camera over several decades. More recently she has been using light and chemistry the way a painter or sculptor would build images on photographic paper.

McDonald’s work has been exhibited widely in the past 30 years, she has had 44 solo exhibitions in 10 countries (about 230 total shows in 14 countries) and has been published in over 215 places in 20 countries, including appearances in Aperture, European Photography, and Eyemazing magazines. Her work is in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Worchester Art Museum, the Houston MFA, the Denver Art Museum, the Detroit Institute of Art and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.

–––

LIGHT + METAL is on view at photo-eye Gallery

through September 15th, 2018.

For additional information on Anne Arden McDonald's work,

and to purchase prints, please contact Gallery Staff at

505-988-5152 or gallery@photoeye.com.

» View LIGHT + METAL

» Read More about the Exhibition

» Favorites from LIGHT + METAL

» Visit the Gallery

541 S. Guadalupe St.

Santa Fe, NM 87501

– View the Map –

LIGHT + METAL installed at photo-eye Gallery

Featuring sixty unique works by fourteen artists, selecting three objects to feature from LIGHT + METAL was a daunting task. Perhaps more than usual, this exhibition with its diverse array of photographic techniques, intents, and expressions has captured our attention and imagination. More than a year in the making, producing LIGHT + METAL was a labor of love and each of us have a strong investment and interest in every work installed at the Gallery. To truly cover our favorites, our lists could have easily run ten or more artworks long. It's possible we may return to highlight a few additional images and artists during the run of the show, but for now, please enjoy our discussion of three unique pieces we find notable and compelling from LIGHT + METAL.

Anne Kelly selects Molecule by Anne Arden McDonald

Anne Arden McDonald, Molecule, 2017, Cameraless Gelatin-Silver Print, 24x20" Image, Unique, $2400 Framed

Anne Kelly - Gallery Director

anne@photoeye.com

505.988.5152 x121

The image from METAL + LIGHT that I keep returning to is Molecule by Anne Arden McDonald. I had a chance to discuss the making of this image in detail with Anne when she was in town for the reception- and learned that it was created by placing soap bubbles directly on top of silver gelatin paper in the darkroom prior to being exposed it to light. I love how playful the process of creating this image was, and every time I pass by this piece I see it differently. Sometimes Molecule appears simply as an abstract image and other times it's a powerful combination of elements capable of making oceans and atmosphere.

Lucas Maclaine Shaffer selects For Anna Vol. II, Plate 31, by Meghann Rippenhoff

Meghann Riepenhoff, For Anna, Vol. II. Plate 31, 2017,
Dynamic Cyanotype, algae and shoreline debris, 12x9" Image, Unique, $3500, Framed
Courtesy of EUQINOM Gallery

I've adored Meghann Riepenhoff's Cyanotypes since Anne first made me aware of the work a few years ago, and am incredibly excited to feature four of her works in LIGHT + METAL. As an artist and collector, I respond to the print's unique nature, physicality, and purpose. En mass, Riepenhoff's work questions the nature of our relationships to the landscape, images, time, and permanence – given the impact of her images, it is no wonder she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship this year.

Lucas Maclaine Shaffer

Special Projects & Client Relations

lucas@photoeye.com

505.988.5152 x114

For Anna Vol. II, Plate 31 is part of a larger series paying homage to prominent 19th-century cyanotypist Anna Atkins and a response to her influential book Photographs of British Algae – widely considered to be the first published using photographic illustration. I've read that while viewing a copy of the original publication, Riepenhoff became fascinated with a progression of impressions left by a previous reader. Here, Riepenhoff witnessed a lasting interaction, a dialogue of sorts, with Atkins work left for consideration by future readers and has responded by creating a series of dynamic cyanotypes printed on location, exposed by the sun and developed in the ocean. Unlike Atkins' traditional photograms produced with dried manicured specimens, Riepenhoff's images are made with wet seaweed on location,

Pre-Order Meghann Riepenhoff's upcoming
monograph, Littoral Drift. Signed Hardbound: $60.00

creating an impression of both the object and its environment. Although the print is unique, it's naming convention indicates it is part of a larger single volume, a new edition of blue photographic drawings for the 21st-century, here Riepenhoff is able to also include a subtle statement about contemporary culture.

As for the print; it's gorgeous. It's deep pervasive blue surface possesses a patina that transforms from a smooth solid at the top to a translucent and granular liquid at the bottom. The central algae impression radiates with a glowing white border and its dark jagged form creates a kind of portal, or nexus, in the surface of the image. For me, the object is delightfully paradoxical, at once exhibiting abstract aesthetics while presenting an utterly exacting representation of a specific object from a specific location. For Anna Vol. II, Plate 31 is a stunning and complex addition to any collection.

Yoana Medrano selects Rose by Kate Breakey

Kate Breakey, Rose, Hand-Colored/Encaustic, 25x27" Image, Unique, $2000 Framed

Yoana Medrano – Gallery Associate

yoana@photoeye.com

505.988.5152 x 116

I’ve become a fan of Kate Breakey’s: she makes a lot of different work that is constantly inspiring me. While getting ready for the LIGHT + METAL show we received many boxes, Kate sent a large box with two pieces. As I peeled back the cardboard, I was stunned for an unexpected moment and then felt like I wanted to cry: delighted and nostalgic tears. I knew the moment that I saw it that it would be my favorite pick and instantly called dibs.

As I looked at Rose, a hand-colored encaustic print, I could only think of my mother. My mother’s hobby and passion are taking care of her rose garden and if I could capture the essence of her this image would be it. There is something about the encaustic wax that just softens the entire piece as well as giving it dimension. I’m pleased to say that I have the luxury of having a perfect view of Rose for the duration of the show as it hangs directly in across from my desk.

LIGHT + METAL is on view through September 15th, 2018 at photo-eye Gallery.

For additional information, and to purchase works from the exhibition, please contact Gallery Staff at 505.988.5152 x202 or gallery@photoeye.com.

» View LIGHT + METAL

» Read More about the Exhibition

» Visit the Gallery

541 S. Guadalupe St.
Santa Fe, NM, 87501
-click for map-

Heather Oelklaus' Chemigrams installed at photo-eye Gallery as a part of LIGHT + METAL

Heather Oelklaus is a Colorado-based photographer making her photo-eye debut in our LIGHT + METAL Exhibition. Oelklaus' practice is based around utilizing traditional photographic materials in non-traditional manners to create unique objects. Heather's obsession with using photographic materials to make one-of-a-kind prints is a reaction to the rise of digital tools within the medium. It's a perfect fit with our thesis for LIGHT + METAL, and we are proud to have a number of her works in two styles installed in the exhibition. We reached out to Heather for insight about her background, her influences, and why she feels compelled to make unique photographic prints.

Heather Oelklaus, Home, 2017, Chemigram, 14x11" Image, Unique, $950

photo-eye: What inspired you to create the pieces that are included in LIGHT + METAL?

Heather Oelklaus: In the history of art, photography is still a very young art form. I have not explored enough of the darkroom techniques to feel comfortable moving onto digital art making. With that said, I would be set back even more if I did not acknowledge the ever-growing digital world of image making.

The familiar saying “if you can’t beat them, join them” comes to mind. After many years of pushing back against the wave of technology, I figured I better find a way to embrace it on my own terms. Collaborating with technology while keeping one foot in the darkroom was my way of “joining them" without losing the feeling of control. I'm pleasantly surprised I find great enjoyment in this new photographic experience.

Heather Oelklaus developing chemigrams in her darkroom

For LIGHT + METAL, I collaborated with two different forms of technology while staying true to my analog sensibilities. The chemigrams were processed in the traditional manner along with the application of the hard resist (varnish) onto the surface of the paper. What differs is the use of digital vector files through Adobe Illustrator while incorporating a vinyl cutter to score the varnished surface of the photographic paper. The control through the vector files is present but it is the introduction of the darkroom chemical process that gives these pieces their “soul”. The act of repeatedly placing the chemigram in and out of the darkroom chemistry makes the varnish soften and break down. This allows the chemicals to affect the exposed areas. One can say that this ebb and flow of eroding and exposing reflects the influence of technology on the world.

Heather Oelklaus,
Kitchen Counter, 2018,
Gelatin-Silver Print,
77x24" Image,
Unique, $1200

A Roomba exposure in progress.

The large-scale light drawings are a playful mix of light-sensitive photographic paper and tiny lights attached to my iRobot Roomba vacuum. As the Roomba confidently zoomed over my countertop and its cliff detection feature prevented it from falling to its doom, the tiny pin light I attached to the side of the vacuum now turned into a drawing device and exposed the photographic paper for over 15 minutes. The robotic movements were enhanced by the fluidity of the light hitting the photo paper and the chance mark making was a delight to witness in the darkroom.

pe: What type of work did you make prior to the work you are making today, and what inspired the change?

HO: For twenty-five years I had been obsessed with film photography. Using the camera to produce beautiful negatives to later enlarge under the red glow of the safelight was where my “happy place” was found. I enjoyed the hardships the darkroom presented for me to overcome. Making laborious images to then be asked “Is that digital?” really took the wind out of my sails.

The change came about when I saw the work of Pierre Cordier and other artists in the Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography publication for the 2010 exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Shifting my viewpoint of how the darkroom can operate to be similar to that of a painter’s canvas, or a printmaker’s etching plate, I found a new and exciting life with photography. Treating photography as an art form that can produce one-of-a-kind works is my new obsession.

Heather Oelklaus, New Orleans, 2017, Chemigram, 14x11" Image, Unique, $950

pe: Who are your influences?

HO: The level of engagement Erwin Wurm puts forth with his One Minute Sculptures has stayed with me throughout my career. Looking at his art prompts questions about my own art-making choices. What work would I make if given limited time in a minimal location? Asking this helps me cut through the clutter and focus on what I am trying to accomplish.

The playful and clever nature of Vic Muniz’s work has reminded me that there are always multiple ways to get my message across. Sometimes the most humorous method is the most effective way to communicate with my viewer.

Oelklaus reviewing her chemigram Heal.

Heather Oelklaus (b. 1972, USA) studied Sculpture at The Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) in the early 1990s. She has exhibited work in solo and group shows in Colorado, New Orleans, Oregon, New York, Texas, and Arizona. She has an upcoming solo show in Ft. Collins, CO at The Center for Fine Art Photography in August 2018. Heather currently lives and works in Colorado Springs where she explores unconventional photography and art making. One of a kind photographic processes such as chemigram, photogram, lumen prints, wet plate collodion, pinhole photography, cyanotype, and light painting are influential in her art making. Photography as an object instead of the traditional reproduced image influences Heather’s art with themes of family, social roles, and abstract art.

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LIGHT + METAL is on view at photo-eye Gallery

through September 15th, 2018.

For additional information on Heather's work,

and to purchase prints, please contact Gallery Staff at

505-988-5152 or gallery@photoeye.com.

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541 S. Guadalupe St.

Santa Fe, NM 87501