Denver Arts Week, Nov 4-12, 2011

I have some public events planned for Denver Arts Week. The First Friday (Nov 4) I will be in my studio offering some artificial light demos and then on Second Saturday, I will offer the public a rare glimpse at witnessing an ultra-large Wet Plate Collodion image being made with my 20"x24" Camera, aka, "The Mighty Quinn". CBS Denver (Channel 4) will be doing a piece on me as well. They are featuring three of us in the RiNo Arts District; Jonathan Kaplan (Ceramics), Yoshi Saito (Bronze) and me. Thank you, RiNo!

If you're in the area, please drop by. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Southern Utah University Art Insights Lecture

Last Wednesday, I traveled to Cedar City, Utah. Southern Utah University asked me to be a speaker for their Art Insights program. 

My wife, Jeanne, joined me and helped me with the Wet Plate Collodion demonstrations during the day. And Thursday night, she had to listen to another 45-minute talk about my work and process (thank you, Jeanne!).

It’s always a huge honor for me to do these kinds of things. I’m both encouraged and humbled by the response and comments from people.

Southern Utah University has a beautiful campus and I was surprised how nice Cedar City, Utah is – I’d never been there before – gorgeous views of the land and bright blue skies. The students and faculty were very kind and seemed to enjoy what they saw and heard from me. 

They had me give my lecture in the Great Hall. The references to Harry Potter they made about the space were spot-on. It’s big, elegant and holds a lot of people. I’m not sure how many people were there, but it was full (200+?). 

I’m always amazed that people come out to hear (and see) someone like me when they could be doing a thousand other things. It’s very humbling to me. I always try to be as sincere and honest (authentic) as I can be when talking about my work and my intent for the work. I think that most people want to listen about (and see) work that’s authentic and not gimmicky or made for consumption (shocking, crude, etc.). That’s what I try to give them – honest and real – like the people I photograph.

We would like to say, “THANK YOU!” to Deb and Harold Snider for hosting us in their beautiful home and for all of their wonderful hospitality.

Thanks to Jeremias Paul and Rheana Gardner from the photography department – I appreciated all the help and encouragement. I look forward to working with you again. And I would like to give a big thanks to all of the students of SUU and the general public that attended my “performative lecture” (Wet Plate Collodion demonstrations) and/or my Great Hall lecture. 

All photos by Jeremias Paul and Harold Snider (thank you!)

The Southern Utah University Photo Group! Half Plate Black Glass Ambrotype by Quinn JacobsonHarold watches as I flow the plate with Collodion - his image.Harold's Half Plate Alumitype in the wash pan.Jamie's in the sitter's seat and waits as I explain what I'm going to do. Getting ready to make a Half Plate Clear Glass Ambrotype.Fresh out of the wash - against my black t-shirt, I show the group how thin negatives appear as positives against black.Jeremais shot this - I love the shadow of the image!Kallie (forgive me if I spelled that wrong) sits for her portrait - the texture of her hair looked very cool!Do you see what I mean?Getting her "dialed in" as Jeremias makes a crack about Muybridge ;-)My brother in the blues, Steven Swift, sits for his portrait. (http://www.stevenswift.com/)Steven on metal!A closer look - Steven.This was the test plate to start the day. It's a portrait of Rheana.The Bunny Girl's work, Jamie - I was asked to look at some of the students work. Jamie's work had Gummo written all over it - she's from Ohio, too!

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts - Ghent, Belgium

I was invited to do a Wet Plate Collodion Perfomative Lecture at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium.

Thanks to Willem Vermoere, Saartje Van de Steene and Thomas Weynants the turnout was great. I would guess there were 50 or 60 people in the auditorium.

The space was wonderful. An old lecture area that was used to dissect cadavers in 80 or 90 years ago. The students could sit and watch the professors/doctors slice and cut without obstruction.

I wasn't cutting bodies up, however, I was dissecting the concept of photography and questioning what it is today and why we shoud care about definition and intent.

There were three sections of seating in the lecture hall. It felt like I was praying the whole time. Looking up, scanning the audience and looking toward the heavens. It was cool.

Willem took us on a tour of the facilities. It was impressive. Beautiful spaces, studios and WET darkrooms. Yes, WET darkrooms. God bless you!

I asked what it costs for a student attend - he said about 600 Euros a year! America needs to wake up. I'm from a country that can afford to educate their people, provide medical attention and we do neither without charging exorbitant fees and/or creating lifelong debt. It's sad. It seems that the powers that be are out to create classes - keep the people that can't afford education in the dark, ignorant and afraid. And when they get sick, let them die. Again, it's sad.

As an American in Europe, I can see we have a lot to learn about all of this. Call it whatever you want to - education and health care should be available to everyone. I mean everyone!

Ghent is a beautiful city full of very friendly people. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we are winding down now and had to get back to Germany to attend to other obligations.

Thanks to Saartje for the photos! If I can get someone to send me some photos or videos of the plates I made that afternoon, I'll post them.

Quinn preaching to the crowd. They are actually looking at my slide show.

The slide show - it was much bigger than it looks - my dark box, lights, etc. all there, too.

There were three sections of seating - mostly all full - a great crowd. That's Thomas on the right.

Jeanne cleaning the plates - the best assistant you could ever ask for. We have fun doing these!

Making the exposure of Erick - this was a very nice plate - 8x8 Black Glass Ambrotype.