alternative process

Griffin State of Mind – Stefanie Timmermann

Posted on August 16, 2021

In today’s Griffin State of Mind, we feature Stefanie Timmermann. Her creative work, Blue Morphs is on the walls of the Griffin until August 29th, 2021. We wanted to get to know more about Stefanie and her work, so we asked her a few questions.

Tell us how you first connected to the Griffin Museum.

Stefanie Timmermann

My friend Janice Koskey told me about the Griffin, and was incredibly positive about her experience. Naturally, I checked the Griffin out a few days later. Just coming up on it, I loved the house and surroundings. And I felt very welcome inside, too. A funny thing happened right away – I only had a $20 bill to pay admission (I wasn’t a member yet), and there was not enough cash in the till, so the staff graciously let me in for free. It kind of set the tone, and I was glad to become a member soon after.

How do you involve photography in your everyday life? Can you tell us about any images or artists that have caught your attention recently?

Photography is pretty integral to my day-to-day life. Of course, I’m usually the dedicated photographer on any outing or party, but that just scratches the surface. On our walks, my teenage daughter and I collect anything out of the ordinary that could be used as a prop, and we do impromptu photoshoots where she might be wearing a fish head or gluing pufferfish spines to her face. I also use my camera as a license to be curious: A question might come up, and I will investigate and document the answer with photography. My most recent research answered whether chocolate burns or simply melts when you use a focused magnifying glass on it.

As to which artists have caught my attention recently – they don’t all have to be photographers, right? – I’m very much enjoying Serena Korda’s bizarre sculpture conglomerations right now (@serenakorda). Very recently, I discovered the phantasmagorical drawings of Anna Zemánková – in a way they feel like kin to my Blue Morphs.

For photographers, I’m really digging Suzanne White (@shepherdess1), Anneli Kunosson (@annelikunosson) and Laura de Moxom (@alibraryoflaura). Then there’s the always incredible Cho Gi Seok (@chogiseok), and also Sarah Waiswa (@lafrohemien) for cool fashion photography.

Anna Zemánková, Untitled, undated.

@Alibraryoflaura: “Anthotype of my spirit city Berlin. Made with a beetroot emulsion, the sun and patience.”

Please tell us a little about your exhibition, Blue Morphs and how it was conceived.

Stefanie Timmermann, “Youth”, 2019

Blue Morphs is a series of cyanotypes layered with marks from paints, pens and the heat from a soldering iron. It is a melding of deliberate photography and expressive painterly gestures, and incorporates environmental and social justice messages in some images.

I started working on Blue Morphs during my Artist in Residence in Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Cazenovia in upstate New York, in 2019. The natural surroundings really inspired me to make a lot of different cyanotypes from the available plants, and to research different ways to make my images multi-layered.

The artist paint manufacturer Golden Artist Colors is located quite close to Cazenovia, and after we artist residents toured the factory, we got a large box of seconds to take home. I started adding acrylics to the cyanotypes and was hooked!

I continued experimenting with overprinting and layering colors on cyanotypes when I came home. At first, I mainly worked intuitively, picking colors and forms subconsciously. During the pandemic, this meditative approach increasingly felt at odds with my escalating worry about social injustices and looming environmental disasters. I read a lot of thought-provoking articles during this time. Soon, I realized that my cyanotypes connected with these theories and constructs, and I developed these ideas further with the help of a paintbrush. My approach therefore shifted to meditating on the forms presented in the cyanotype before picking up the brush. Once I settle on a fitting theme, I interact with the raw cyanotype as if writing an essay.

Has there been a Griffin Museum exhibition that has particularly engaged or moved you?

Oof, there have been so many! Most recently, I’ve been enamored with the sublime and thought-provoking exhibit “Spirit: Focus on Indigenous Art, Artists and Issues”.

‘Balancing cultures’, by Jerry Takigawa, was another standout. Such a beautiful and subtle exhibit on a heart-rending theme (the Japanese-American experience before and during WWII). Having Jerry talk so eloquently about his series in a Zoom presentation really deepened my understanding of his work and his subject matter.

The same can be said for Edie Bresler’s incredible photo/embroidery hybrids (‘Anonymous’). Her talk opened the subject matter to me, and in I engaged much deeper with her show when I visited. In general, being able to zoom into presentation has made it much easier for me to participate in evening talks, and I really hope that this format continues to be offered by the Griffin for quite some time.

Of older shows, Rocio de Alba’s ‘Honor thy mother’ still is very much on my mind. The unabashed campiness of the images hides the rather sordid truth of stereotyped roleplaying that goes on in so many families.

Last but not least, Gary Beeber’s ‘Personalities’ was in turn funny, sad, and poignant and has stayed with me all this time.

I should also mention that the annual member shows, both the juried Summer show and the open Winter solstice shows are also always very engaging. I personally love to see the variety of styles, techniques and thematic approaches that comingle under one roof during these shows.

What is your favorite place to escape to?

The beach in winter, when it’s mostly empty; the woods in summer; and always my own mind whenever I can have a little quiet space.

What is a book, song or visual obsession you have at the moment?

‘Braiding sweetgrass’ by Robin Wall Kimmerer was an eye-opening and hope-inspiring book. I wish books like this would be required reading in high school.

August Photo Chat Chat | Member’s Exhibition Edition

Posted on August 12, 2020

We are so excited to showcase more of our talented artists from our 26th Annual Members Exhibition, curated by Alexa Dilworth.

Join us this Thursday August 13th we see presentations from four photographers followed by a q&a about their work. Dennis Geller, Rachel Jessen, Sandra Klein and Jerry Takigawa. These are the stories we will be seeing and hearing about.

To get tickets to the Photo Chat Chat head to our Events Page.

Introducing our featured artists –

Dennis Geller

Close your eyes, when open them and look at the first object you see. In that first instant, when you think you are seeing an object, your eye is seeing a smear of colors and brightness. It jumps at least three times, and in each jump only a small bit of the image on the retina is in focus. Light impinging on the retina causes chemical changes, which causes neurons to carry signals to the brain. Each change take time to dissipate, but the eye does not stop moving during that time, so that every spot on the retina is affected by light coming from different parts of the object, causing a cascade of overlapping chemical changes. The images here, motivated by processes of vision, ask the question: What has changed in a scene as we look at it? As we look around us, we don’t actually see the changes, just their effects, but we are aware of them. Calling them out, as these images do, offers a different way to experience the ordinary.

Rachel Jessen

This campaign season, I went back to Iowa, my home state and the first state in the nation to hold caucuses for the presidential primary. Not to cover the candidates, no. I turned my camera away from the politics—the faces and speeches of presidential hopefuls, the conventions and rallies, the moments votes are cast—and toward the people and places of Iowa. I’m making my way through a feat known as the “Full Grassley,” an endeavor named for the long-time Iowa Republican senator wherein candidates make a point to visit each of the Hawkeye State’s 99 counties vying for that coveted caucus victory. I wasn’t looking for support at a local town hall or fish fry—instead, I searched for the stories in the individuals and communities that make Iowa the unique, contradictory, and complicated place it is. From Adair to Jasper to Wright, I’m documenting everything from corn shucking to TrekFest to ghost towns to grandparents, and that which lies between, beyond the campaign trail. My hope is that my photographic Full Grassley results in a distinct perspective of Iowa, one that, while alluding to its political significance within the caucus system, demonstrates the limits of such a lens, and reveals it to be much more than the first state to assert its electoral opinion. It’s a portrait of a place—my home—which continues to exist even after all the TV cameras and politicians have gone.

Sandra Klein

“In the dark times Will there be singing? Yes, there will be singing. About dark times.” Bertolt Brecht

Is it possible to portray a grief so deep that it is difficult to endure? For a number of years, I have visited Japan in winter, but this past January, less than a year after the tragic death of my oldest son, I longed to visit this surreal, almost otherworldly land with the anticipation that I could grieve here in a way I couldn’t at home. The stunning snow-covered landscapes I captured for this series, with their muffled silence, hiding almost all color, all vestiges of humanity and the modern world, almost seemed to weep for me. Japan’s unfamiliar religious rituals and ancient objects, with their histories and iconography, affected me deeply. The images in this project straddle the real and surreal. The re-contexualizing of photographs and ephemera, where images are composited to include historical art and objects, reflects my altered state of reality. The materiality of these collages satisfies a need to define my personal despair with a more physical, unique object, as I cut and sew into the photographs as an act of memorializing not only my son, but my own journey into a new reality. Grieving in Japan is a meditation on a life that feels unhinged and unbearable. I experience periods of isolation from all that is familiar as I am pulled far away into the unknown world of loss. And yet, I am reminded, at moments, of the small joys this world reveals, inviting me to experience flashes of utter pleasure, even as I mourn.

Jerry Takigawa

“Jerry Takigawa, “EO 9066”

Balancing Cultures is a personal history project that reveals the racism and xenophobia that permeate American culture. The discovery of old family photographs compelled me to express the impact on my family resulting from being incarcerated in WWII American concentration camps. The emotions expressed in this project bring humanity to the historical record. I seek to give voice to experiences my family kept hidden for shame and fear. If silence sanctions, communication is resistance. The process of researching and creating these images greatly informed my understanding of what happened in the past—and what is important going forward. These images are a reminder that hysteria, racism, and economic exploitation became a force during WWII in our country. Xenophobia can live just under the surface of civility and emerge in a permissive environment. Cathy Park Hong wrote in a New York Times article: “After President Trump called the Covid-19 the “Chinese Virus,” in March (2020), the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council said more than 650 incidents of discrimination against Asian-Americans were reported to a website it helps maintain in one week alone.” Decades have passed since Executive Order 9066 was enacted. Many Americans are only now learning of this transgression. There is no scientific basis for race; race and racism are social constructs. Balancing Cultures recalls a dark chapter in American history—censored in part by the Japanese precept of “gaman” (enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity) and the fear that if my family spoke too loudly, it might happen again. I raise my voice today because it is happening again.

Griffin State of Mind | Marky Kauffmann

Posted on July 10, 2020

Since her first involvement with the Griffin Museum about twenty years ago, Marky Kauffmann has shown a dedication and love for the art of photography. For instance, her work has shown at the Griffin in numerous Annual Juried Exhibitions as well in a solo show of her work “Landscapes and a Prayer.”

Also, Kauffmann has taught professional workshops and lectures for us in an effort the raise up the next generation of photographers. Over the years, her creative spirit has fluidity blended with our mission to broaden the appreciation and understanding of the impact of photographic art to the world.

As a part of our Griffin State of Mind series we interviewed this creatively contagious personality to better illustrate to you the spirit of the Griffin Museum of Photography.

Describe how you first connected with the Griffin. How long have you been part of the Griffin team and describe your role at the Griffin.

In 1996, I had an image in the Griffin Museum’s The Juried Show. That, I believe, was my first association with the museum. But when Paula Tognarelli joined the Griffin team as an intern in the early 2000’s, my interest in the museum grew.

Paula had been my student at the New England School of Photography and when she became executive director in 2006, I was thrilled!

In 2016, after I retired from teaching photography at the secondary school level, Paula asked me to join the museum’s Board of Directors as a Corporator. I have been on the Membership Committee since joining the board. In that capacity, I have used my connections at Boston area high schools and independent schools to create the Griffin Museum Secondary School Photography Teachers’ Alliance.

Every spring the Griffin hosts a luncheon for the Alliance, bringing together public and private school teachers to share ideas and forge bonds. And every winter, we sponsor an exhibit of their students’ work at Regis College’s Carney Gallery. In these ways, I have expanded membership to the museum.

How do you involve photography in your everyday? Can you describe one photograph that recently caught your eye?

Photo by Rachel Wisniewski from her series “Memento”

I remain primarily an analog photographer and have a darkroom in my studio in Somerville. If I am not shooting film, I am printing in my darkroom, so making photographs is part of my daily life.

I recently went to see the exhibit, THE FENCE, brought to Winchester thanks to the vision and foresight of Paula Tognarelli. Many of the images on display caught my eye but “12 years old. My house. A family friend” and “13 years old. High school parking lot. My English teacher” by Rachel Wisniewski from her Memento portfolio held particular resonance.

What is one of your favorite exhibitions shown by the Griffin (see online archive here ).

There have been so many extraordinary exhibits put on by the Griffin that it is difficult to choose just one. But Nancy Grace Horton’s exhibit, Ms. Behavior, at the Griffin’s satellite gallery at Digital Silver Imaging in 2014, is a standout.

When I saw the show, I simply laughed out loud. Horton’s images use wit and satire to skewer prescribed gender roles. As a life-long feminist, Horton’s sly, piercing humor captivated me.

What is your favorite place to escape to in nature…mountains? beach? woods? and why?

In 1990, my husband and I bought 86 acres of land on Cape Breton Island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. We built a small cabin there, surrounded by ocean, mountains, and pine forests.

It is the place where I am most at home and most at peace. We have traveled there every summer for thirty years, and since retiring, we have also gone in the fall. But because of the surging cases of COVID-19 in the US, the Canadian border is closed until further notice. I find it utterly heartbreaking that I can’t go there this summer.

What is one book, song, or other visual obsession you have at the moment?

I recently read the novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong. The visual-ness of Vuong’s writing startled me. You get a glimpse of it just by reading the title of the book! And Sara Bareilles’ songs, especially her version of Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, got me through the spring.

What has been the most eye opening part of our time of physical distancing?

I found and find the act of social distancing to be excruciating. Not setting eyes on my son for several months was hell, quite frankly. So, what is “eye opening” metaphorically, is that this could happen! We can be put in the position of not being able to be with the ones we love.

And literally “eye opening?” It was one of the most beautiful springtimes I have ever witnessed in New England. With less to do, there was more to notice. And that’s what photographers do – we notice, as in, make note of, and call attention to, the world.

If you could be in a room with anyone to have a one on one conversation about anything, who would that person be and what would you talk about?

I would like to be in a room with Francesca Woodman, the young photographer who killed herself at the age of 22. When I read about her life and work, I find parallels within my own life that I would love to explore with her. And I would like to tell her that I am inspired by her creativity everyday.

I find parallels within my own life…”

Pivotal to Woodman’s career was her year spent in Rome, Italy, as part of the RISD’s Junior Year Abroad Honors Program. She was nineteen. I, too, spent my nineteenth year studying abroad – in Paris, France.

There, I studied with French photographer Claude LeMont and artist Tony Thompson. For me, the experience was also life altering, cementing my love for photography. I have always found Woodman’s self-portraiture to be extraordinarily inventive. She experimented wildly with clothing, props, and environments. I also try to be inventive with my photography, experimenting with darkroom techniques and chemistry.

In her essay, “On Being an Angel,” Gianni Romano writes that Woodman “utilized the female body to gain self knowledge.” In Fred Turner’s essay, “Body and Soul,” he states that Woodman “left behind images of an extraordinary inner life.” Her use of photography in these ways resonates with me, as I, too, explore themes around the female body and the female experience as a means of gaining self knowledge and an understanding of the life I have lived.

Why did she jump out of that window on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1981? I wish I could ask her. Her premature death and the loss it presents to the art world are incalculable.

See the work of Marky Kauffmann on her website.

Ryan Zoghlin | Lacus Plasticus

Posted on June 17, 2020

The Griffin Museum of Photography is pleased to announce a new exhibition from artist Ryan Zoghlin. Known for his use of alternative photographic processes, Zoghlin has created a series blending creativity, science, technology and the environment building a fanciful series call Lacus Plasticus.

plastic under black — “lacus plasticus 27”, © Ryan Zoghlin

Many artists look to our surroundings to explore their creativity, and Zoghlin has found that inspiration off the shores of Lake Michigan. Repurposing plastics to create unique underwater environments using the light of the sun with the Photogram process, these one of a kind images tell the story of a natural habitat from unnatural sources.

Hanging in our Atelier Gallery, Lacus Plasticus is a creative adventure of exploration.

royal plastic — “lacus plasticus 31”, © Ryan Zoghlin

In anticipation of his Artist Talk happening Thursday June 18th, we asked Ryan a few questions about his work.

Your whole body of work seems to come from a place of art as object, that each piece is unique and handmade. What drew you to use alternative and historic processes to complete your vision?

“Porthole 1′, © Ryan Zoghlin

I have always been interested in the perceived power of objects. Rabbits feet for luck or an evil eye to ward off bad luck. Even more so with personal objects. Objects owned by lost relatives or the famous seem to have greater gravity. I used to collect daguerreotype cases. Most had portraits in them. How important these pieces must have been to those who knew the folks photographed. Now their value is mostly in the case. The power of these images has been greatly diminished by the loss of personal attachment over time. For me the process I choose is one that I think will best support the subject. I also love to see the hand of the artist in the work. Historical processes lend themselves to this better. I am not against contemporary ways of image capture at all. For my aesthetic, though, I find there are instances where I see it as too perfect.

How did you decide on the photogram process for Lacus Plasticus?

A previous series of work I did titled “Bagged” was done as cyanotype photograms also. These pieces where made to document objects organized in clear plastic storage bags. The shadows created very three dimensional reproductions of the objects in the bag. With Lacus Plasticus, I wanted to be able to translate the plastic pieces’ dimensionality onto the flat paper.

I love the stories that you tell with these objects, yet there is no clear storyline in your titles? Why not?

When I first started Lacus Plasticus, I went to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago to get a better feel for the behavior of aquatic animals. Many of the exhibits are about the same size and shape, very much like windows. Also the descriptions are very scientific, lots of Latin. I wanted the same tone. One of scientific discovery or method. The titles are more about documentation than narrative.

What do you want us as viewers to walk away with after seeing your work?

My work is always personal to me. As the saying goes, what is personal is universal. As an individual views the work, I hope they can relate on their own personal level and make their own decisions about the subject. Some may care about plastics in our fresh water lakes. Some may not care at all. My goal is to present issues that concern me. My hope is it will concern others.

About Lacus Plasticus –

For almost 40 years, I’ve been sailing off the beaches of Lake Michigan. As a kid and now a father with children, I’ve always loved the shore. As time has marched on, I’ve noticed the increase in plastics on the beach year after year. A few years ago, I started collecting and disposing of the plastic bits I would find. Now I collect plastic to create photogram photographs. The images depict plastic parts and pieces as underwater creatures. The pieces dramatize, for now, a fictitious state where plastics displace nature.

About Ryan Zoghlin –

My memory of a love for photography started early on. Using my father’s Pentax Spotmatic during a family road trip to Cape Canaveral, I clearly remember taking photographs of an early rocket sitting on its launch pad. By 14, I had my own darkroom and was very fortunate to have a very good photography department in my high school. This gave me the tools to move on to Rochester Institute of Technology, where I gained a solid technical background in photographic illustration. Wishing to explore photography as fine art and art in general, I moved on to study at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where I received a BFA in photography and sculpture in 1991.

so much plastic — “lacus plasticus 31”, © Ryan Zoghlin

My personal pursuits in photography have not waned through the years. Though my subject matter is varied, the intensity and thought put into each project is the same. While some work has been produced as digital prints from both color negatives and digital files, most of my work is done traditionally in a personal darkroom that I’ve maintained for the last 35 years. In the same time, I’ve used many alternative processes such as kallitypes, ambrotypes, cyanotypes, and orotones in my art. My work in orotones has been included in the Getty Conservation Institute’s Research on the Conservation of Photographs project.My work has been a part of the Museum of Contemporary Photography’s Midwest Photographers Project in Chicago and is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Art in Houston, TX. A recipient of an Illinois Art Council Fellowship and a Buhl Foundation Grant, I have also been featured in publications including Black & White Magazine, Photography Quarterly, Diffusion Magazine, Camera Arts Magazine and Photo District News, as well as many others. I am currently represented by Etherton Gallery in Tucson, AZ and Obscura Gallery in Santa Fe, NM.

Corona | Barbara Ford Doyle

Posted on May 22, 2020

In our desire to reframe the conversation about Corona, taking the narrative of a dark virus and exposing it to light, cleansing our souls, our online Corona exhibition speaks to a new way of seeing. The unique view of Barbara Ford Doyle’s Artichoke is a playful look at light and dark, texture, color and our assumption of a corona of light. In science terms, a “corona” is a usually colored circle often seen around and close to a luminous body (such as the sun or moon) caused by diffraction produced by suspended droplets or occasionally particles of dust. Doyle’s Artichoke comes from a series called Peaches and Penumbras. We loved the idea of the play between the moon with the sun for the natural balance between light and dark, moon glow and sun rays.

How does light play in your work?

My analog background has been an advantage in understanding camera functions (think Pentax K 1000), metering light, mixing chemicals, dodging with a cotton ball on a stick, etc. When I first converted to digital, I used a DSLR camera for “serious” photographs and my iPhone for “other stuff.” No longer. The unfussiness of using an iPhone camera (and the fact that it is always with me) enables me to capture countless images to store in my digital library. To name a few files: Dale Chihuly, antique papers, dumpster textures, lint, oxidized aluminum, clouds, Sonoma tiles, tissue paper, reflected light. My interest is to create a dialogue between my “start” photograph, a computer composite, and a final printed image using an alternative hands-on process. I want my work to have a strong luminous and tactile quality.

Playing on the ideas of Corona, your piece Artichoke comes from a series called Peaches and Penumbras, with the play between the sun and moon illuminating our imagination. Working with organic objects, like artichokes, how did this vision of penumbra come about?

I started this series when I was making relish to save a crop of red peppers from freezing. Cutting the peppers in half, I was fascinated by their mysterious internal worlds. The seeds in some looked like teeth, other concavities were more sexual. At the same time, I was reading Howl and Other Poems by Alan Ginsberg. An on-line analysis explains Ginsberg’s intent this way: The penumbras, a word meaning “shroud” or “partial illumination,” are meant to designate the secrets that such displays of nature and domesticity hide. I started cutting lots of fruits and vegetables in half.

Here are the first few lines from A Supermarket in California:

What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for
I walked down the side streets under the trees with a headache
self-conscious looking at the full moon.
In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went
into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families
shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the
avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what
were you doing down by the watermelons?

You create one of a kind objects with your photo transfer process. This process can often lose sharpness and vibrancy in the transfer. How do you keep your images so filled with light and life?

I use the Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw Filter to correct color and adjust texture and sharpness. The file size is large with a high resolution. The background glow for this series is from a photo of sunlight on a Sonoma floor tile. All my images are photo transfers on to DASS™ film using an Epson printer. I use bright white Yupo paper as the substrate. Each transfer has peculiar characteristics, just as each of my subjects is unique in nature.

In this time of COVID-19, how do you find light in your day?
I live on Cape Cod where the light is ever changing. And I have a dog. We begin each day with an early morning run on the beach.

What is next for you creatively? What are you working on?

I am working on a series of emulsion lift “quilts” for an exhibition titled: Altered Realities.
By shooting multiple exposures, I use the camera to explore and make sense of the world around me.
From different points of view, layers of space-related information superimpose as one print. Choosing to print in black and white further distances the subject from reality by making urban landscapes timeless and the shapes and textures more compelling. Each composite “quilt” is made up of nine emulsion lift “skins.”

About Barbara Ford Doyle –

Doyle was born and raised on a small farm in Connecticut. She attended UMass Amherst and Southern Connecticut University majoring in art education. Moving to Cape Cod, she taught art/photography in public schools and published a line of stationery products.

She maintains a website of Alternative Photo Imaging at www.bfdoyle.com and is a founding member of the digital artists group ArtSynergies www.artsynergies.com.