Archive for the 'art' Category

Lumen Breakthrough

Published
by
Andy
on October 1, 2008
in art, lumen prints, photograms and photography
.

Monday I finally had a pretty big and very exciting breakthrough with the Lumen prints I have been doing for the past four years.

Ever since I saw Jerry Burchfields Lumen prints four years ago, I’ve been following that same vein all along. I’ve never been truly satisfied with that, as it wasn’t truly my work. I might as well have been Burchfields’ apprentice. So I’ve been trying to find some way to spin the process in my own way. Add to that the pressure (it’s positive pressure) of coming up with a project for my thesis, and that desire to make my own Lumens has been even greater.

My friends Darren, Jon, and Scott have all given me suggestions; some I’ve tried, other’s I haven’t simply out of laziness. Two of the ideas one or the other of us had come up with during the past couple years were to use color paper, instead of the black and white that I have been using, and to try using film.

Until now, the largest pieces of film I’ve had were 5″x7″, and it’s very difficult creating decent compositions on something that small. I also never had access to color paper. Now that I’m in grad school, people have given me lots of new papers to try, including color paper, and 20″x24″ enlarging film.

Monday I decided to give them both a shot, and was very excited with the results to say the least (please forgive the imperfections; they’re just very crude, quick digital captures):

Film:

film

Kodak Supra II Color Paper:

supracolorpaper

I was thrilled with the results from both new media, but after seeing how transparent the film print went, I began to wonder at how they would be presented, if that was the direction I took. As the two prints were hanging to dry, the film was in front of the paper, and it hit me: combine the two. Here is what I got:

Film Overlaid on the Supra Print:

filmpaperoverlay

All this happened at about 7:00 p.m. or a little later, and until 12:00 a.m. my mind was still reeling from the excitement of just how beautiful each were separately, but how much more so when paired together.

I think the thing that excited me the most was the fact that this combination helped remove the strong reference to “plant.” They took on a fossilized character, as if a pre-historic squid, while attacking some other pre-historic, deep sea creature were instantly fossilized.

Lumen Prints Statement #3

Published
by
Andy
on September 25, 2008
in art, lumen prints and photography
.

Here is the latest revision of the statement. I still have to make a few connections and make a better link between the Lumen print and the subject matter.

The Lumen process is serendipitous, unpredictable and liberating. Some plants record their leaves’ vein structure on the photographic paper with great detail and exactness, while others wither very rapidly from the solar heat, leaving ghosts of themselves on the paper as they die. I have learned what colors will be produced by certain exposure times, but something new happens every time—a new color is produced, chlorophyll from the plant is pressed into the paper—and is never again replicated. The ever-surprising nature of this process is what draws me so intensely to it. I escape the exact, precise nature of working with the conventional camera. Choosing plants to create these prints, I find my place in Nature, and the plants’ place in art.

Lumen Prints Statement #2

Published
by
Andy
on September 24, 2008
in art, lumen prints and photography
.

Last week we looked at our artist statements in class, and edited my statement down to this:

The Lumen process is serendipitous, unpredictable and liberating. I never know exactly what the results will be—some plants record their leaves’ vein structure on the photographic paper with great detail and exactness, while others wither very rapidly from the solar heat, leaving “ghosted” images of themselves on the paper as they shrink. Through experience, I’ve learned roughly what colors will be produced by certain exposure times, but something new happens every time—a new color is produced, chlorophyll from the plant is pressed into the paper—and is never again replicated. The ever-surprising nature of this process is what draws me so intensely to it. I am allowed to put off the very exact, precise nature of working with the mechanical camera, and completely let go. By going out and collecting plants to create these prints, I am able to find my place in Nature, and discover the plants’ place in art.

Today we went over our revisions/edits and clarified them even more. Unfortunately I left my print out of my statement that has all my edit marks on it in my darkroom. I’ll post that revision tomorrow. Please feel free to edit and comment about this revision in the meantime.

Lumen Prints Artist Statement Draft

Published
by
Andy
on September 15, 2008
in art, lumen prints and photograms
.

I’ve been meaning to write an artist statement for my Lumen Prints for ever, and I’m finally getting to it (an assignment to come up with an artist statement for my Graduate Seminar class certainly helped me get my butt in gear). I’d very much appreciate feedback, and edits, so please leave a comment and let me know what you think. Oh, and the assignment is due Wednesday, so no pressure.

An Artistic Study of Southeast Idaho’s Aquatic Vegetation

One of my first experiences in photography that I remember is of making photograms, where various objects such as plants, fabrics, pencils, paper, hands, are placed directly on photographic paper, which is then exposed to light. After development, areas where the objects were blocking the transmission of light are left white, or turn varying shades of grey, depending on how translucent the object is, and areas void of any object become black.

The Lumen printing process expands on the principle of the photogram, but skips the development step. Plants and other organic materials are placed on black and white photographic paper, then left to be exposed under sunlight. The sun’s intense UV light and solar heat react with the paper and plant, and the chemical make up of the plant and paper all combine to produce various colors (development after the exposure would eliminate these colors and render everything in black and white and various shades of grey); papers from different manufacturers react differently from one to the next, and varying exposure lengths affect the vibrancy of the colors produced.

It is a very serendipitous, unpredictable and liberating process. One never knows exactly what the results will be—some plants record their leave’s vein structure on the paper with great detail and exactness, while others wither very rapidly from the solar heat, leaving a “ghosted” image of itself on the paper as it shrinks. Through experience, one gets to know very roughly what colors will be produced by certain exposure times, but there is always something that had never happened previously—a new color is produced, chlorophyl from the plant is pressed into the paper—and is never again replicated. The ever surprising nature of this process is what draws me so intensely to it. I am allowed to put off the very exact, precise nature of working with the mechanical camera, and completely let go, and I find great joy and relaxation in that.

Leaf Wrap Time Lapses

Published
by
Andy
on September 1, 2008
in art, environmental art, photography and time-lapse
.

Here are the time lapses of the two pieces I made today.


Making Leaf Line, Logan River from Andy Duncan on Vimeo.


Wrapping Fallen Willow Branch in Leaves, Logan River from Andy Duncan on Vimeo.

Leaf Wraps on Trees

Published
by
Andy
on September 1, 2008
in art, environmental art and photography
.

I went out for a little while along the Logan River Trail here in town and after two passes I chose this spot and made these:

Willow Leaves, Exposed Willow Roots

Fallen Willow Branch

Time lapses coming soon.

An Explanation

Published
by
Andy
on September 1, 2008
in art and photography
.

I figured yesterdays post deserves some sort of explanation or description.

I’ve been looking at a lot of environmental art lately, specifically by Andy Goldsworthy, as a lot of the most recent photographs done at Bear Lake have a lot of similarities with Goldsworthy’s works. One of the only differences is that the alterations/sculptures (for what is a sandcastle but a sculpture) were not created by myself.
Thinking this very well may be the direction I want to take the Bear Lake work and perhaps what I may pursue for my thesis, I decided to go out and start practicing making my own sculptures, even if right now they are a blatant copy of what Goldsworthy is doing.

So on Saturday I got on my bike and rode up Logan Canyon, and came to spot in the river that looked as though it had potential to do something with rocks. After a few minutes there, I decided that the water was too deep and fast to do what I wanted to do, and decided to wrap some rocks in leaves. I made a star pattern on one rock from seven leaves.

Seven Point Leaf Star, Logan River

After the star, I wanted to move on to something bigger, and completely cover a rock in the middle of the river. So set out covering a rock with a real lovely eroded cavity, and got about 1/3 of the rock covered when I went to check my camera and the photographs, when I lost my balane in the current of the river and fell, and in catching my fall, my left hand landed on a very sharp rock which cut my index finger pretty badly. My hands were so cold and numb from having them submerged for an hour and a half that there was almost no blood or pain. After examining the cut I admitted that it would be best to halt work and come back home and get the cut dressed. It’s bad enough that I fear working in water for at least another three to four days. So the last frame in the video clip was seconds before the injury occurred. Overall it was a good, educational experience that taught me many things about leaves, rocks, and flowing water.

What Art Is

Published
by
Andy
on April 19, 2008
in art
.

Definition of Art, found via Conscientious (pretty funny video):