- Series Statement
- January: Vertical Chill
- February: Reduced Opacity
- March: Reading Between the Lines
- April: Janice's Mom
- May: After Monet's Houses of Parliament
- June: Photographic Memory
- July: After Picasso's Woman Ironing
- August: 44,640 Minutes
- September: Remembering Lydia
- October: Altered Perception
- November: Reconstructing the Golden Rectangle
- December: American Graffiti
- Creative Process
Statement on The Compression of Time
Driving east on Winona Avenue, toward Grace College, I often noticed the silhouette of Dalton Foundry against the morning light. Intrigued, I stopped to take a picture, and stopped again, and again. Over the course of a year, from December 2011 to December 2012, I stopped more than 225 times and photographed over 2,500 images.
Seeing the changes of season beyond this industrial giant, I thought often about time. The composition of fabricated metal siding, furnace piping, and iron grids continually recast shadow patterns as the sunlight moved across the forms. The deterioration of the railroad ties, missing spikes, and broken glass revealed lost glory in a modern era. The mid-day sun highlighted the abstract colors featured on a boxcar, illuminating the talents of Canadian graffiti artist, Servo. I saw much beauty in the context of time.
Compression of Time includes 12 representative months of photos taken of the Dalton Foundry. The photos from each month are compiled into one image. Much like life....we often compress many moments into a singular visual frame. This enables us to manage the passing of time. While a photograph depicts a moment in time, the image conveys meaning differently to each viewer. I invite the viewer to find individual meaning within this work.
January: Vertical Chill (2012)
Vertically cropped, each strip represents the
day the photograph was taken. Like marks on a thermometer, the temperatures range in degrees of cold.
Media: Digital
Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x 1”. 19 photographs. 25 composition layers.
February: Reduced Opacity (2012)
Each photo was reduced in opacity from 100%
to 10%. The combined layers visually convey the interlude between winter and spring.
Media: Digital
Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x 1”. 16 photographs. 33 composition layers.
March: Reading Between the Lines (2012)
The horizontal lines represent
directional winds...and the fact, as family recently stated, “Viewers have to read between the lines to
understand an artist’s intent.”
Media: Digital
Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x 1”. 20 photographs. 25 composition layers.
April: Janice's Mom (2012)
This photo shows Janice Byer’s mom working in
Dalton Foundry during the mid-1940s. Although, memories for a daughter, this image conveys much to all of
us about a significant time in American history.
Media: Digital
Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x 1”. 21 photographs. 43 composition layers. Janice’s Mom
photo c. 1945 courtesy Janice Byer.
May: After Monet's Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog), 1903-4 (2012)
French artist, Claude Monet, painted over 100 canvases of the London Palace. 37 were
exhibited for the first time at Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris, May, 1904.
Media: Digital
Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x 1”. 22 photographs. 53 composition layers.
June: Photographic Memory (2012)
This image reveals my visual perceptions.
Sometimes, recollections are in black and white, and other times, in purple.
Media: Digital
Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x 1”. 13 photographs. 47 composition layers.
July: After Picasso's Woman Ironing (La repasseuse), 1904 (2012)
Painted during his Blue Period, Picasso’s iconic figure represents social and economic
realities of the working class and his empathetic portrayal of the laborer.
Media: Digital
Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x 1”. 11 photographs. 42 composition layers.
August: 44,640 Minutes - How Do You Measure A Month? (2012)
“525,600 minutes
- how do you measure a year?” Lyrics written by Jonathon Larson for his rock musical Rent. He died at 35,
before the production opened off-Broadway (1996) to later become a world-wide sensation.
Media: Digital
Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x 1”. 20 photographs. 34 composition layers.
September: Remembering Lydia, a Seller of Purple (2012)
“And a certain woman
named Lydia, a seller of purple,...” (Acts 16:14 KJV). I am inspired by the notion that this Christian
businesswoman must have had an artist’s eye - detecting perfect violet hues in cloth dye used by the
wealthy.
Media: Digital Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x 1”. 19 photographs. 28
composition layers.
October: Altered Perception (2012)
Since childhood, I have loved psychedelic
colors. As a ‘60s counterculture art movement, the “psychedelic” hues moved through ‘70s mainstream
consumerism, ‘80s computer “fractals,” and into today’s digitally generated fine art.
Media: Digital
Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x 1”. 21 photographs. 25 composition layers.
November: Reconstructing the Golden Rectangle (2012)
Considered aesthetically
pleasing, the structural proportion of the ideal rectangle, 1:1.618, is the compositional foundation for
artists in the creation of artwork.
Media: Digital Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x
1”. 26 photographs. 63 composition layers.
December: American Graffiti (2011-12)
From September to December, a graffiti-
tagged freight train waited to be pulled from the Foundry’s east side on Winona Avenue. Servo’s signature
artwork could be viewed for those four months.
Media: Digital
Photography.
Size: print: 6” x 4”, glass block installation: 6” x 4” x 1”. 15 photographs. 44 composition layers.
Creative Process
The production of this work has also allowed for reflection about changes in the creative process. Advanced technology has enabled me to use a digital camera, upload photos to MacBook Pro, compose multiple images in Adobe CS6, and print using my HP DeskJet.