(re)VIEW : Explorations in Human Nature ...

(re)VIEW : Explorations in Human Nature - Dec 12,2015 - Jan 9. 2016 at Art Intersection, Gilbert Arizona

(re)VIEW : Explorations in Human Nature

Art Intersection, 207 N. Gilbert Rd #201, Gilbert AZ,  Exhibition Dates: Dec 12, 2015 - Jan 9, 2016. Closing Reception Jan 9, 2016 from 5-8pm.

In the exhibition (re)View, we take an extended look at work from four exceptional artists who exhibited work earlier this year in our annual Light Sensitive exhibition of hand-made darkroom works, juried by Robert Hirsch. Artists: Jonah Calinawan, Karen Hymer, Amy Rockett-Todd (Director’s Choice), and Rebecca Sexton Larson were selected by the Art Intersection curatorial staff and invited to exhibit additional pieces from the bodies of work they showed in Light Sensitive.

All four artists are making work that relates to the natural world with the clear influence of man. Although each uses different light sensitive processes, their subjects and scenes tie nicely to one another with a quality of surrealism and mystery. Join us for a Walk and Talk with the Artists on Saturday, January 9, as well as a Closing Reception in the South Gallery at Art Intersection.

Visit Art Intersection's website for more information:

http://artintersection.com/event/review-exhibition/

ALL THINGS ANALOG AT REVELA-T 2015 ...

Collodion Exhibition at REVELA-T 2015 in Vilassar de Dalt, Barcelona Spain.

My friend and REVELA-T volunteer, Jesus Joglar, beside my image "Gathering Pieces" in the Cal Garbat, Vilassar de Dalt.  

Opening June 19th, noted as the only analog photography festival in the world, REVELA-T in Vilassar de Dalt, Barcelona SP, will be host to more than 50 exhibitions of top photographers and gallery owners in the world as well as over 50 micro-exhibits in the surrounding shop windows of Vilassar.  

The festival will include a "Fotomercado" (Photomarket) where amateurs and professionals will have the opportunity to show and sell their work, as well as international presenter gatherings of collodionists, street photographers, pinhole photographers, and even Leica M lovers.  

I am thrilled to have my collodion image "Gathering Pieces" (shown above) in the Collodion Exhibition at REVELA-T this year!  (I am beginning to think she (my image) has many more travel adventures than I do!)

Please visit reveal-t.cat to learn more ... 

"Gathering Pieces" ...

"Gathering Pieces" by Amy Rockett-Todd.  2014.  Wet plate collodion ferrotype. Original plate 3.5"x4.5".

Light Sensitive 2015 at Art Intersection, Gilbert AZ ...

"Root" collodion ambrotype 5"x5" (matted & framed in all black to 15"x15").  Amy Rockett-Todd 2014.

Thrilled to announce my collodion image "Root" will be included in the Light Sensitive 2015 exhibition at Art Intersection in Gilbert, Arizona.  The exhibition opening is on March 7, 2015 6-8pm at 207 N. Gilbert Rd.  and runs through April 18, 2015.

Art Intersection's signature exhibition, Light Sensitive, celebrates the art of handmade darkroom processes with guest juror, Robert Hirsch; artist, curator, and author.

Stay tuned for more ... 

The Story Behind "Tower" ...

"Tower" ferrotype mosaic assemblage.  MANUS portfolio.  Amy Rockett-Todd 2014.

"Tower" (detail).  Amy Rockett-Todd 2014.

My design and architecture background helps guide my artistic endeavors, which led to this new work, MANUS, combining art, architecture and photography.  With the creation of each piece, I am inspired by historic buildings in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

The Tower piece is based off of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower in Bartlesville, OK.  There are 8 image sections symbolic of the 8 residential balcony levels within this building.  The images are adhered to a 30.60.90-degree triangular substrate.  The angle degrees match the angle degrees used within the Tower’s structure, as all angles within the building are either 30.60. or 90 degree angles.  The 8 (4x5) ferrotype images on the right of the piece are abstracted images taken digitally directly from the exterior of the site, then printed onto OHP film and exposed via the wet plate collodion process in the darkroom.  The 8 ferrotype images on the left of the piece are abstracted ginkgo leaf images, symbolic of Frank Lloyd Wright’s beloved ginkgo tree.  He had his home and studio originally built around his beloved ginkgo tree.  This piece stands roughly 4 feet tall and includes 16 one-of-a-kind ferrotype images.  The ginkgo images have all been hand-tinted with archival pastels in oranges, yellows, and blues, and have been varnished with a sandarac lavender oil varnish, as all of my collodion images are sealed with this protective varnish layer. 

Most of the architecture-based pieces in the MANUS portfolio are directly born from a building's design.  It's aesthetics and structure is reflected in the way each art piece is photographed, designed, and created.

The Story Behind “Abundant Life” …

"Abundant Life" ferrotype mosaic assemblage.  MANUS portfolio.  Amy Rockett-Todd 2014.

Abundant Life Building on South Boulder in Tulsa, Oklahoma, built in 1957 for Oral Roberts Ministries.

My design and architecture background helps guide my artistic endeavors, which led to this new work, MANUS, combining art, architecture and photography.  With the creation of each piece, I am inspired by historic buildings in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

“Abundant Life” in the MANUS portfolio, was inspired by a building in Tulsa called Abundant Life.  It was built in 1957 to house Oral Roberts Ministries.  I found it curious that an evangelist healer would build a structure devoid of any windows.  The exterior is clad with triangular facets with small golden adornments central to the façade.  Contrary to many beliefs that gold was used symbolically for his “riches”, gold is said to be the only color that the color-blind Roberts could differentiate from all other colors. 

MANUS’ “Abundant Life” consists of 46 ferrotype triangles.  Each triangle was contact printed with an enlarger.  They are each 2.5 inches.  Alternate triangle pairs are mounted onto thick plex mounting blocks, which are acrylic-welded onto a sheet of clear plex as the final substrate.  Then matted and framed in a 3 inch thick white-washed maple box frame.  The overall framed piece measures 36x40. 

Each triangle’s imagery is an abstracted design, digitally captured from the building.  The building was abandoned in the mid 70s and has been in a continual state of decay since.  Walking around the building, smells of rotting materials escape the large rear grade-level vent, as well as from the slight overhang around the perimeter of the building.  There is a mail chute on the south side of the building that has been boarded over and has “WASTE” handwritten on it.  (This “WASTE” image is hidden on one of the “Abundant Life” triangle art pieces.)  I added hand-painted gold details on a singular triangle art piece for the golden adornment on the façade.   The triangular pieces are also falling from the building, leaving gaps on the building’s skin.  This is also reflected in the visual arrangements of “Abundant Life”. 

Most of the architecture-based pieces in the MANUS portfolio are directly born from a building's design.  It's aesthetics and structure is reflected in the way each art piece is photographed, designed, and created.

MANUS ... Oct 3 - 25, TAC Gallery Tulsa OK

Manus : Solo Exhibition at TAC Gallery (Tulsa Artists' Coalition) October 3 - 25, 2014  

Opening Oct 3 from 6-9.

Manus explores the relationships between the hand and technology fusing Rorschach-like imagery of architecture and flora, visually interjecting the hand as the conceptual spine of the work.  Weaving historical photographic processes with digital photographic processes of today,  Amy creates a dialogue between time with her abstracted collodion images.

TAC Gallery  9 East Mathew B. Brady St.  Tulsa,  OK  74103   www.tacgallery.org

Charmed by Charmed Magazine ...

Interview excerpt:

What do you think defines an image or an artistic vision, and how can one gain a personal voice in photography?

I enjoy finding something small, a secret, or the byline of the overall story … and that is what intrigues me.  Using a traditional process helps me keep things simple and personally invested, from loading, seeing, and processing … hands-on.  

Developing your personal aesthetic and how it combines with your internal story is important, but some times you just don’t know what that is until you go out and look … and shoot … and do that over and over.  Eventually you will see something emerge.  But I’m also glad to be looking for something too.  To not find the destination.  If we reach the destination, then why keep looking?

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You can find the interview in Charmed Magazine in the ARTS section at http://www.charmed-mag.com/#!arts/ctzx

Direct link to the interview can be found at 

http://media.wix.com/ugd/b276a9_14f9a32d1477435197473d464b3e14e5.pdf