Side Street Studio Arts presents tintype exhibit
Side Street Studio Arts, 15 Ziegler Court in Elgin, presents "Silver Moments In Time," a solo photography exhibition of the work of area artist Doug Hanson Sept. 24-28.
The exhibit featuring Hanson's original tintypes or prints from glass negatives handmade with the 1850s photographic technique called wet plate collodion, will feature a Blue Box Café Side Street "Lunch with the Artist" and an artist reception featuring a live DJ. Both events, held at the studio, are open to the public, and include a suggested donation of $5 at the door.
"Silver Moments In Time" features "a handmade process fraught with uncertainty, mishaps, and artifacts that imbue a timeless and often haunting quality to the images," said Hanson. "Modern themes rendered in this way present a degree of chronological conflict, which opens this door to new reflections." The exhibit explores "common yet important themes of mortality, intimacy, and self through new images made in this old way."
Hanson's exhibit will kick off the Blue Box Café Side Street "Lunch with the Artist" series. Arts lovers can bring their own food or sample the lunch fare of downtown Elgin's Blue Box Café, including sandwiches, coffee and sweets, explore "Silver Moments In Time," learn about the artist's techniques and ask questions. The event will run from noon to 12:50 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24. The artist reception will be held Friday, Sept. 26 from 6-10 p.m.
Doug Hanson's artist statement: "Being dislodged from our normal and modern expectation of photographic style and appearance permits a new look at the familiar things around us. A vantage point poised in a slightly altered sense of time that can reacquaint us with the beauty we have taken for granted and the emotion we long to feel. In 'The Time Machine' by H.G. Wells a man was able to reflect on society, humanity, mortality and self through his travels in time. My Time Machine is a camera and the antiquarian processes that transport the viewer to that slightly different vantage point. A place where one's own portrait may appear to be a picture of something much deeper and even startling. A place where an image of something familiar is rendered in a way that opens a door to a different kind of reflection on the moment, the story, and one's self."
Side Street Studio Arts was founded by Tanner Melvin and Erin Rehberg in 2013 as an outlet for the Elgin arts scene. Currently under the direction of Amanda Harris, Melvin and Rehberg, its mission is to provide educational and creative resources and an accessible space, run by artists, encouraging all aspects of the artistic process from creation to curation.
Visit www.sidestreetstudioarts.org or follow www.facebook.com/sidestreetstudioartselgin on Facebook.