Artists are always looking for means of invention, exploring untapped frontiers in search of the original. Then again, sometimes what’s old is new again. In the latest exhibition at the Betteravia Gallery, photographers explore early, low-tech photographic methods to express themselves.
The Santa Barbara County Arts Commission will present Iron and Plastic: Alternative Photography, curated by John Hood, through Sept. 18 at the Betteravia Government Center.
The exhibition displays the work of Allan Hancock College art professor David Passage and some of his students, all now exhibiting photographers in the Santa Maria community. Lori Bell will show Holga and Dianna toy camera photos, Karen Carson will show plastic Lensbaby color photographs, Collette Crystal will show large Van Dyke prints, Ariana Sariñana will show Van Dyke pinhole photographs, and Lynn Andrews and David Passage will show cyanotype images.
Lynn Andrews was going through a rough patch in her life when she was encouraged to go along with her sister and niece on a month-long trip to Italy.
“Everything is beautiful to shoot in Italy,” she said.
In fact, beauty was so abundant she came home with close to 9,000 shots. As she continues tackling the job of poring over her digital shots, she finds some that move her, and those are the ones she has entered into the Iron and Plastic exhibition.
The trip recharged her emotionally and artistically, and Andrews had no problem finding subjects to shoot. Italy has that something she finds irresistible in photography and her trip kept her continually inspired.
“I like lines and shadows and architectural stuff, something with a little mystery to it,” she said.
Her work in the Iron and Plastic exhibition is a small reflection of that trip. She has four Van Dyke photo process prints and three cyanotype process prints in the show. All of the prints are of Italy.
Though the subjects in the photos were inspired by the sights and experience in Italy, a lot of her overall inspiration comes from a person, not a place. Andrew credits her instructor David Passage for inspiring her the most. Passage, whose work is also on display in the exhibit, teaches alternative photo processes like Van Dyke, which is a process that creates a photo with a brownish tint, and cyanotype, which results in a bluish tint.
“He just is so passionate about alternative photography,” Andrews said.
Students who take the class rave about the experience. However, Andrews said she almost didn’t take the class.
“It was listed as materials and process in the catalog,” she said.
The description didn’t do the class justice and Andrews was surprised at how much she enjoyed learning about alternative photography processes.
“This is my third time taking it and I’m going to take it again in the fall,” she said.
Fellow classmate Ariana Sariñana said she always had an interest in photography but when she was introduced to alternative photography, the process instantly appealed to her.
For the Iron and Plastic show, Sariñana said her work was largely inspired by her Mexican heritage. She has about six images in the show, which are part of a series of 10 photos. The shots focus on New World fruits and vegetables that were native to Mexico and domesticated when the Spaniards came.
“The good thing about working with food is you get to eat it afterward,” she said.
Her work was produced with a pinhole camera, made out of a tin can. There’s no zoom option, flash, or lenses to use, but Sariñana said she prefers the low-tech 19th century approach to photography.
“As soon as that camera, that tin can, hit my hand, I fell in love with it,” she said.
Sariñana describes herself as a tactile person and said she enjoys the processing of her film and handling the material, something that’s a must when dealing with a pinhole camera. Even so, with patience and skill a photographer can produce interesting results.
“It’s amazing you can get a photo from a tin can with perfect depth of field and sharpness,” Sariñana said.
Passage said showcasing alternative photography methods is important in our technology-driven culture. He said at its most basic, photography is making marks with light. Digital image making has separated the photographer from the photographic process, he said, whereas iron processes like cyanotype and Van Dyke allow the artist to coat their own material and make their own prints.
“Toy cameras and hand-applied emulsions take us back to the simplicity of the lens-formed image, to the roots of camera imagery,” Passage said. m
Arts Editor Shelly Cone’s best writing sometimes comes from simply making random marks on a blank computer screen. She can be contacted at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 4-11, 2009.
