Bio
I was born in Milwaukee and attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where I received a B.F.A. and M.F.A in Film and Video Production. My body of work has ranged from film and animation to graphic design and performance art. With my latest work exploring historic processes, I am returning to a time when there was a true appreciation of photography and its artifacts.
I currently work out of my studio in Wilton, a small town in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin.
Artist Statement
My work focuses on historic, analog methods of photography and image making. For me these methods counteract the sanitized perfection of today’s digitized culture. They allow me to be actively engaged in the process of image making. Experimenting with light, chemicals, and the environment allows the process itself to become visible in the finished product. The objects I make are often infused with the scars of this process … collodion and developer pours, dust and scratches, fog and light leaks. Subsequently, Imperfection and unpredictability are themes that resonate throughout my work.
My subjects are wide ranging, but I find particular interest in natural, organic materials and spaces. I strive for my work to have a timeless quality, often with no clear historic reference point. The faces of people, organic studies, landscapes … all become tangible artifacts focusing on attentiveness and contemplation. And all tell the story of their own creation.
Wet Plate Collodion
Invented in the 1850s, the wet plate collodion process produces a positive image on metal or glass. When using a metal plate to capture an image, the photograph is commonly known as a tintype.
This photographic method requires the plate to remain wet throughout the process. First, the plate is coated with a salted collodion solution. The plate is then placed in a silver nitrate bath for several minutes, making it sensitive to light. Once it is sensitized and placed in the camera, an exposure is made and the plate is immediately developed in the darkroom.
Finally, the plate is placed in a fixing bath, turning the developed negative image into a finished positive. Every plate produced by this handmade process is a unique, one-of-a-kind photographic artifact.