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Henry Fox Talbot: Exhibition pays homage to photography pioneer

By in Photography

Henry Fox Talbot: Exhibition pays homage to photography pioneer
William Henry Fox TalbotBodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
By Rachel Candlin
BBC News

The contribution played by Victorian photography pioneer Henry Fox Talbot will be showcased in a new exhibition. BBC News has taken a look at the impact of his work in creating the world’s first negative and how it inspired artists for generations to come.

Ever since the 1830s, when Mr Fox Talbot was experimenting with his technique, the medium has been continually developed towards the digital processes used today.

The new exhibition is paying homage to Mr Fox Talbot by displaying the work of an internationally-renowned photographic artist who has spent her career furthering his legacy.

Ellen Carey’s work is being shown in the apt surroundings of Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, Mr Fox Talbot’s home in the 19th Century and Britain’s birthplace of photography.

Born in 1800, the story of Mr Fox Talbot’s discoveries began with creative frustration. Married to Constance Fox Talbot, who was far better at drawing than he was, Mr Fox Talbot sought to create an alternative method of drawing with light whilst ensuring the image lasted forever.

Of scientifically curious mind, his experiments with paper, light sensitive solutions and early cameras led to the development of the first negative.

Fox Talbot photograph of Oriel window at Lacock Abbey

The Metropolitan Museum New York

The earliest surviving example is of the Oriel Window at Lacock Abbey; an enigmatic image of a diamond-paned window made in 1835 and now owned by the Media Museum in Bradford.

To make the image, he brushed a piece of writing paper with salt and silver nitrate and placed it in a small wooden camera stationed on a mantelpiece opposite the window for an exposure that may have lasted hours.

The image is totally reversed as the paper darkened most where it recorded the bright light coming through the window.

This was one of the first and most significant breakthroughs in the discovery of the medium.

Exhibition artwork Fox Talbot Museum

National Trust

Another of his well-known negatives or photogram’s, Cascade of Spruce Needles, inspired Ms Carey to develop her work Crush & Pull with Hands, Penlights & Spruce Needles (2023).

It models the earliest photographic processes, like those of Mr Fox Talbot and his contemporary Louis Daguerre, who was also recording pictures ‘drawn by light’ in France.

Andy Cochrane, property curator at Lacock Abbey, said: “In the hands of Carey, the negative becomes a significant artwork, as should all negatives.

“Everything we’re doing here now at Lacock is a direct result of that moment in time (when Mr Fox Talbot invented the negative).

“It’s impossible to go throughout the day without being exposed to an image.”

Ellen Carey in a supersized Polaroid 20x24 camera

National Trust

Ms Carey produced her artwork using a supersized Polaroid 20X24 camera to connect Mr Fox Talbot’s 19th Century work with Polaroid’s 20th Century instant technology.

Mr Cochrane said: “The exhibition is the beginning of the answer to the question – ‘What exactly is photography in the 21st Century?’

“It’s increasingly democratic throughout the world, which continues its relevance today.”

Mr Fox Talbot was not only a pioneer of photography, but as a keen amateur scientist, he was interested in how his discovery could be utilised more widely.

A concurrent exhibition, Bright Sparks at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford, is displaying for the first time its own significant archive of the inventor, looking at the legacy of his life and work.

Exhibits in the Brights Sparks exhibition in the Bodleian Library

Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

Curator of photography Philip Roberts said: “It’s about how Mr Fox Talbot initiated a lot of ideas that have since been picked up by artists and photographers, and they’ve taken them to all kinds of strange places with a contemporary eye.

“Mr Fox Talbot was interested in exploring the different potentials this new process could lead to, and each of those different techniques, for example, publishing in books, creating portraits, doing landscapes, recording the shapes of leaves, were significant.

“They’re all things that became super important and he had a hand in all of them, which is incredible.”

Very early photograph of seaweed

The Metropolitan Museum New York

Mr Fox Talbot continued to experiment with the placement of objects in photographs.

“We have a really nice photo of his wife, Constance, looking away from the camera.

“He was playing around with how people should look in a photograph,” said Ally McConnell, principal archivist at The Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre (WSHC), which acquired and catalogued the nationally important Lacock Archive in 2013.

“Mr Fox Talbot was certainly recognised in his time, but there was probably more of an appreciation for him after his death.

“He actually made a really, really big difference to people’s lives and he continues to inspire,” she said.

The exhibition opens on Saturday at the Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock Abbey.

William Henry Fox Talbot

Hulton Deutsch/Corbis/Getty Images

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‘Sun Breakers’ book sees Jürgen Beck’s photography celebrate Eileen Gray’s E-1027 house

By in Photography

‘Sun Breakers’ book sees Jürgen Beck’s photography celebrate Eileen Gray’s E-1027 house

Photographer Jürgen Beck and Spector Books have launched Sun Breakers, a tome celebrating the architecture icon that is Eileen Gray’s E-1027 house. Presenting the home as an intimate, personal space, nestled into its landscape, instead of offering wide views that would ‘falsely enlarge the space’, the artist has captured a unique perspective on the modernist architecture piece that we are now all so familiar with – yet which still holds layers of experience and secrets to offer.  

sun breakers book cover shot

(Image credit: Jürgen Beck)

Sun Breakers by Spector Books

Sun Breakers, which launched in spring 2023, features a delicious selection of Beck’s expert photography – the Zurich-based artist is a graduate from the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig, Germany – and essays by art writer and translator Dorothee Elmiger. Graphic designer Ina Kwon is behind the book’s overall look and layout. The team’s aim was to create a dialogue between the natural landscape and the building, as well as between photography and architecture.

inside pages of sun breakers book

(Image credit: Jürgen Beck)

Looking at the building, inside and out, through the overgrowth around it, as well as peeking from inside out, Beck’s work searches for an ‘expression of openness’ and at the same time, intimacy. 

living spaces in eileen gray house from inside the book sun breakers

(Image credit: Jürgen Beck)

‘Beck moves inquisitively around the E-1027 house, which has only recently been elevated to an architectural icon. He takes summer strolls beside and into it, and avoids clear horizon lines or overviews that would enlarge what was planned as an intimate space for work, leisure and sport,’ write the team. 

Beck’s approach to the project is ‘to encapsulate the design, characterised by its openness and lightness and what comes alive within it, in a story poised between glamour and critique’.

interior of eileen gray house from the book sun breakers

(Image credit: Jürgen Beck)

‘Through the titular sun breakers, shutter-like screens from the Mediterranean sun, photographic and architectural locations lose their objective frames, and the space opens into an expression for other forms of living and working, a malleable structure for flexible days and relationships. He reveals a design that addresses psychological and emotional needs, that inscribes things with their own names and relationships long before auto-fiction and the affective turn.’

view from inside eileen gray house from the book sun breakers

(Image credit: Jürgen Beck)

spectorbooks.com 

Not child’s play: Dad and his daughter bring the sidewalks to life through colorful chalk art

By in Art World News

Not child’s play: Dad and his daughter bring the sidewalks to life through colorful chalk art

Concrete is the canvas for the father-daughter duo who creates images done with chalk — reminiscent of the dad’s first drawings for his little girl and her younger sister in the driveway of the family home in North Huntingdon.

Colorful characters appear to be smiling or laughing. Some have an optical illusion that makes them look three dimensional.

They are bold, bright and fun.

“Chalk art is like life,” said Erik Greenawalt, known as The Chalking Dad, a name given to him by friends and neighbors who saw him drawing in the driveway with his daughters. “It’s beautiful, but messy — and temporary. But the memories last forever.”

They certainly do, said Jaycie Greenawalt, 20, who with sister Jenna, 17, recalled those remarkable years with their dad. The two have traveled with him to chalk art events around the U.S.

“Chalk art has taken me so many places and created so many memories with my dad and my sister,” said Jaycie, who is following in her father’s footsteps as a chalk artist.

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Courtesy of Erik Greenawalt

Erik Greenawalt (right) poses with his daughter, Jaycie, next to a piece of chalk art of “The Princess Bride” at a festival in Colorado.

She and her dad are two of the more than 20 artists from 13 states who will be decorating the concrete at the second annual Pittsburgh Riverwalk & Chalk Fest on Saturday and Sunday on the North Shore.

It will include pieces from wildlife to river designs. There will be an area where people can help create art.

Becasue it’s located close to the Andy Warhol Museum, there will be images inspired by the iconic artist and leader in the pop-art movement that imitates popular culture such as a 3D Campbell’s Soup Can and a Brillo Box.

The Pop District and The Warhol Academy are thrilled to join forces with Riverlife and the artists for this year’s Pittsburgh Riverwalk & Chalk Fest, according to Matt Thornton, director of digital marketing for The Warhol Academy and producer for The Warhol Creative.

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JoAnne Klimovich Harrop | Tribune-Review

Jaycie Greenawalt of North Hutingdon works on pop-art donuts Friday, May 26 for the second annual Pittsburgh Riverwalk & Chalk Fest being held on the North Shore. The event is Saturday and Sunday.

Jaycie Greenawalt, 20, a student at Slippery Rock University who will be making pop-art donuts.

“Being part of this event has been a wonderful experience,” she said.

That experience began when Erik Greenawalt, who is self taught, began doing chalk art when he was working nights. He would spend days with his girls. They would ask him to draw princesses, Cinderella and Snow White. He broadened his repertoire to include animals and other designs — including some in 3D so his girls could pose with them.

6229415_web1_ptr-chalkart

Courtesy of Erik Greenawalt

Erik Greenawalt (left) sits in the family’s driveway with his daughter Jaycie, then 4, next to a piece of chalk art of Dora the Explorer.

He currently works a day job in finance for Giant Eagle but continues to do the sidewalk art as a hobby. He’s created the late Queen Elizabeth II in a fashionable pink suit and hat, and the late Steve Irwin host of “The Crocodile Hunter” at an event in Australia.

He and Jaycie collaborated on drawing the Georgia Bulldog mascot for an event in Georgia.

An often requested character is Dora the Explorer, which Erik Greenawalt created when the girls were little. It’s still one of Jaycie’s favorites.

She hopes the art form will continue to grow.

“Showcasing art this way also brings it to the people so everyone can see it and experience art, “Jaycie said.

Erik Greenawalt said it’s exciting to welcome so many artist friends to Pittsburgh and to show off Pittsburgh.

Artists use various materials from soft pastels to tempera paint — which is like liquid chalk — and makes the design more vibrant.

Every artist does it differently, Greenawalt said. Some do it free hand. Others used a grid method, which takes a reference drawing and creates even squares on it and then makes a similar grid over the larger drawing.

Chalk art, of course, washes away over time.

Artists started working on their street murals Friday morning.

Onlookers are welcome.

6229415_web1_ptr-chalkart-17

JoAnne Klimovich Harrop | Tribune-Review

Chalk artist Erik Greenawalt of North Hutingdon works on a three-dimensional image of the late Pittsburgh Steeler Hall-of-Famer Franco Harris on Friday, May 26 for the second annual Pittsburgh Riverwalk & Chalk Fest being held on the North Shore. The event is Saturday and Sunday.

Erik Greenawalt plans to do a 3D piece honoring beloved Pittsburgh Steeler Franco Harris who died in December, two days before he was to be recognized for the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception. The Franco image will be 10 feet wide by 20 feet tall.

People will be able to pose with the image.

“I have wanted to do this for several years,” he said. “It will look life-size when you take a photo with it. The magic happens in the camera.”

That same kind of magic he created for his daughters in the driveway all those years ago.

JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact JoAnne by email at jharrop@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Categories:
Editor’s Picks | Lifestyles | Northside | Pittsburgh | Top Stories | Westmoreland

“4-H Grows Here”: Holter Museum exhibits Lewis & Clark County 4-H photography works

By in Photography

“4-H Grows Here”: Holter Museum exhibits Lewis & Clark County 4-H photography works

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Welcome to a showcase of photographs submitted by 4-H club members from the greater Lewis & Clark County community. We are grateful to the Holter Museum of Art and curator Ramsay Ballew for the privilege of displaying 4-H’ers work in Helena’s treasured gallery.

This year, 4-H youth enrolled in the photography project are exploring the concept of growth in their lives, both metaphorically and figuratively. “4-H Grows Here” is a national slogan of the 4-H program, and promotes the goal to develop citizenship, leadership, responsibility, and life skills of youth through experiential, hands-on learning programs in a positive environment.

In the photography project, we focus on creativity and composition. We work at promoting imagination and finding visual solutions to challenges. We explore different careers in photography, and photographic styles, such as portraiture, photojournalism, scientific astro, macro and micro photography, photographic artwork, commercial product and food photography, landscape and wildlife photography,

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Most youth start out with camera phones, but as they pursue the photography project over multiple years, they learn to explore more of the technical aspects of photography, using DSLR cameras, lenses and lighting techniques. 4-H members pursue monthly photo challenges, attend workshops with presentations by professional photographers, engage in local photo safaris, pursue their photography independently and through 4-H curricula, and exhibit their work at the Photo Show and the Lewis & Clark County Fair.

The 4-H Photo Show is on exhibit at the Holter Museum of Art now through June 18. Presented by Lewis & Clark County 4-H members and Luke Duran, photography project superintendent.

Learn more about the 4-H Photography Project here: https://lc4hphoto.com



Cherith Irvin

“Growing Through the Years: Four young brothers happily skip up the road together, a striking example of growth.” Cherith Irvin, 14, is a member of the Montana City Mavericks 4-H Club.



Cherith Irvin




Stella Duran

“While it might be obvious by first look, this is the Washington Monument. No, I didn’t spend hours trying to find the perfect shot, but that’s what this image is for me. It represents every bit of growth I’ve had through 4-H. I’ve been in 4-H member for nearly 10 years. I started as a Cloverbud making crafts once a month to a responsible young adult who was lucky enough to attend the National 4-H conference in Washington D.C. Opportunities like this, and the connections made through them, is truly my driving force. So from Lewis and Clark County 4-H, to Washington D.C, I’ve grown, and learned so much.” Stella Duran, 15, is a member of the Prickly Pear 4-H Club.



Stella Duran




Alyssa White

“My family and I went down to my great aunt’s ranch to help with calving. This is calf #325. He is a little bull, and he caught my eye from the start. “This little guy is only two days old,” says my aunt Gail, owner of Keystone Herefords. I look forward to seeing these calves every year and I’m excited to watch them grow.” Alyssa White, 14, is a member of the Gold Nuggets 4-H Club.



Alyssa White




Cassidy Holm

“Winter Romp,” Cassidy Holm, 11, is a member of the Wild Roses 4-H Club.



Cassidy Holm




Alaina Greaney

“When I think growth, I think of the mind set of plants and how they grow.” Alaina Greaney, 13, is a member of the Silver Spurs 4-H Club.



Alaina Greaney




Macey Rude

Macey Rude, 11, is a member of the Prickly Pear 4-H Club.



Macey Rude




Jack Ellis

“Accidental Beauty” Jack Ellis, 15, is a member of the Big Sky 4-H Club.



Jack Ellis




Emma Williams

“Over the last few years, archery has practically become a part of me. I have met a bunch of amazing people and formed great friendships through the 4-H Archery project, and honed skills such as perseverance, focus, and patience. I have learned so much from my two years in the program, and I’m sure that as the years begin to pile up, my love for this sport and its people will only grow further.” Emma Williams, 15, is a member of the Clancy Golden Nuggets 4-H Club.



Emma Williams




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