Baker's Dozen : A Pinhole Dialogue

What began as a trek through the woods towards Fairy Beach, with canned chairs atop the heads of her children, fusing the paths of two wellie-wearing women … Amy Rockett-Todd met Antonia Small on that rocky beach the summer of 2012.  As Jack, Antonia’s jack Russell, perched himself atop a nearby rock, the two discovered they were both ‘pinholers’.

 A chance meeting on a quiet empty slip of land, a stone's throw from Andrew Wyeth's childhood home "Eight Bells" ... on this beach which isn't even visible at high tide, the two found themselves stepping into a visual pinhole dialogue that would span almost 2000 miles and 13 months.

They began in April 2013, on Worldwide Pinhole Day, with their wooden Zero Image Cameras with 120 roll-film, shooting images specific to their own artistic visions as well as the contrasts of their varied regions – the flatlands of Oklahoma and the rugged coast of Maine.  Each image from both artists includes a backstory, a personal account of the experiences of discovery and image capture.  These backstories can be found alongside all 26 exhibition images within their 90 page book titled Baker’s Dozen : A Pinhole Dialogue, and can be purchased at TAC Gallery (9 E MB Brady, Tulsa OK) during the exhibition (April 1-30, 2016) or online at Blurb.com here:   

                    http://www.blurb.com/b/6943426-baker-s-dozen-a-pinhole-dialogue

What exactly is Pinhole Photography? … Pinhole photography is lensless photography. A tiny hole replaces the lens. As light passes through the hole; an image is formed onto film emulsion in the camera.

(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/

The Story Behind the Diptych series ...

"Diptych 1"  3.5" x 9" ferrotype diptych.  Framed to 11" x 17".  Amy Rockett-Todd 2013.

"Diptych 3" 3.5" x 9" ferrotype diptych.  Framed to 11" x 17".  Amy Rockett-Todd 2013.

The Diptych series (consisting of 4 diptychs) are abstracted images created within a concrete bunker under a midtown Tulsa home as a response to the Cuban Missile Crisis, now used as a tornado shelter.  The images stem from various pipes within the small underground room.  The choice to create images within the diptych format was born of the dual purpose of the original bunker.  

I am pleased to announce I have six pieces of my work, including two from the diptych series, at the 108 Contemporary Gallery in the consignment gallery,  108 East Brady Street, Tulsa Oklahoma.  The folks at 108 Contemporary recently interviewed me about my work.  You can read more here:

http://108contemporary.org/meet-the-artist-amy-rockett-todd/

THE BIG PICTURE ...

"Anna" 3.5x4.5 ferrotype by Amy Rockett-Todd.

"Gathering Pieces" 3.5x4.5 ferrotype by Amy Rockett-Todd.

Several exciting opportunities presented themselves this Spring for my work! Two of my collodion portraits, "Anna" and "Gathering Pieces" were selected by Mark Sink for inclusion in THE BIG PICTURE during the MoP in Denver, Colorado.

THE BIG PICTURE ... at MoP - Month of Photography Denver is a biennial celebration of fine art photography with hundreds of collaborative public events throughout Denver and the region March and April 2015.  We are joining multiple museums galleries and schools surrounding fine art photography creating an exciting artistic and educational event for the city of Denver and the region.

My images will be enlarged to roughly 3 foot by 4 foot and wheat pasted onto buildings around the Denver, Colorado area.  As to the exact location, I am not sure yet, but I look forward to following THE BIG PICTURE facebook site to see images being pasted!  This year, the project has gone global with images being pasted in France, Australia and many more locations.  

To learn more, please visit: (highlight, copy and paste into your browser if links are not active).  You can also see more images as they are pasted in the facebook page of THE BIG PICTURE!

http://www.mopdenver.com/#/thebigpicture/

https://www.facebook.com/bigpicturedenver

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 Backstory of Slow Tide ...

Slow Tide.  Amy Rockett-Todd 2012.

It's the backstories of images that get to me. This one is no different. The ending image is not the image that stays with me when I look at this one.  It's the image of my (then) 10 and 11 yr old children walking through quiet Maine pines with wooden chairs atop their heads, at times obscurred from my siteline ... legs, rungs, and spindles bobbing in the air down to the shoreline, the gentle lapping of tide growing louder.  Of youth going out.  And age coming in.

Don't Take Pictures ...

What an exciting Spring it has been!  It seems as though the first half of the year, I was knee deep into making images, processing, and minor post work ... with lots of what folks don't see ... all the "behind the scenes" type of work.  Organizing, ordering, chemical prep and mixing, storage, searching for opportunities, applying for various grants, volunteering with professional organizations, making connections ... and all the other tasks that can get in line BEFORE making more creative images!  All that work definitely pays off ... 

I am pleased to announce that my pinhole image "Slow Tide" was juried into the online gallery at Kat Kiernan's,  Don't Take Pictures!  Thrilled to be included along side many great pinholers ... Take a look:

Excerpt from the Pinhole Gallery at Don't Take Pictures:

A pinhole camera is a beautifully simple machine capable of rendering complex images. Photographers who choose to work with pinhole cameras are patient, often waiting minutes or hours or days for their images to be rendered through the pinprick in the front of their camera. More time still is spent processing the image, and due to the uncertainty of the camera and its many variables, the photograph may never appear at all. When it does, the reward is tremendous. Few pinhole cameras are the same. Each one’s unique qualities may distort or vignette the photograph in unexpected ways. Pinhole photographers embrace these challenges for the simplicity of the tools and the unexpected beauty of the photographs they produce.

Don’t Take Pictures strives to present photographers who are actively involved in the creative process of making photographs. Many photographers in this exhibition have made their own pinhole cameras. Those who use digital cameras with modified pinhole lenses are challenging the conventional qualities of tack-sharp digital images. Photographers from all over the globe submitted work for this exhibition, and we are pleased to showcase this diverse collection of the genre.      

This gallery will be on view through August 21.

http://www.donttakepictures.com/gallery-pinhole/

Please visit the online gallery at Don't Take Pictures to view the images juried into the exhibit.

Procrastination ...

natural vs manmade scars

throw-away society

pulling up roots

planning. procrastinating. penciling-in. procrastinating. printing. placating. pausing ... panicking. ... processing ... predicating propositions ... procrastinating ... perhaps pinholing.

Even while procrastinating, I cannot stop looking.  Never stop looking ...