My work centers on the passage of time—how it transforms the world around us and reveals truths that are exposed only through patient observation. Through still life and landscapes I explore how the accumulation of memory can be represented in both objects and places.
I am drawn to subjects that bear witness to time's effects- the graceful decay of natural forms, the patina of use and history. In these images, I highlight the beauty inherent in impermanence and the stories embedded in erosion and change.
Working primarily with a gelatin transfer process onto Arches Aquarelle paper, each original monoprint is a unique artifact, bearing the marks of its own making.
After more than thirty years as a photographic educator I've come to see teaching and art-making as intertwined practices. Both require sustained focus and attention, quiet patience, and a genuine belief in the transformative power of art.
The Gelatin Transfer Monoprint Process
Each image begins as a photograph. It then undergoes some Markie-art magic, and is printed out using archival pigment-based inks onto a transparent transfer sheet. The transfer sheet is laid face down on top of heavy watercolor paper which has been coated with an alcohol gel (think Purell) and pressed onto the surface. Over the course of a few minutes the emulsion in the transfer sheet dissolves and the ink migrates into the paper surface. After drying the image is embellished further with watercolors, acrylics, and color pencil before being varnished and mounted on a birch panel for presentation, creating a unique, one-of-a-kind archival print.
Two-piece gelatin transfer