Sunflower

Sometimes, the details of the work are missed overlooked by the viewer. I’ve always enjoyed reading about or watching documentaries about artists and their work; the “behind the scenes” stuff. It adds so much to the work. If you can get to know the person a little bit, and understand their perspective, it changes the work, empowers it, and really allows the narrative to shine. That’s why I encourage people to write about their work, think about their work, the fine subtle details of the content, or the technical approach that adds to the story. It makes it so much richer and deeper.

I used wet collodion today to create these images. I made negatives of sunflowers in my studio. They are in full force now. They are gorgeous peering east in the morning toward Tava and the sun. The wet collodion process is not sensitive to the color yellow or red. Photographing yellow flowers is difficult. I found a strategy today that worked. I really like these images as a diptych. The “black sunflower” and the “metallic sunflower”. They both can act as metaphors for this project. It was a good day.

These are Whole Plate, Palladium toned, Kallitype prints from wet collodion negatives. The color is exactly what I wanted for this work. I’m happy to be dialing that in through this process.

Symbols and Native American Beliefs

DEER ANTLERS
Deer bones and antlers were made into a variety of tools, weapons, and ceremonial items. The top part of the skull was made into spoons, while leg bones were formed into knife handles. Bone slivers were made into fine sewing needles and awls. Archaeologists have found deer antlers sheathed in copper, which may have been worn ceremoniously by tribal shamans. The antlers were also made into buttons, beads, and carved sculptures.

A Whole Plate toned Kallitype from a wet collodion negative. I used Platinum Palladium + gold toner and Sodium Citrate as the developer. This image is represented by the number 3 as well as showing the parts of the antlers used for buttons.

NUMBERS
Three represents the vertical picture of the world. Man lives in a space defined by the Heavens (the Upper World), the Earth (the Middle World), and the Underworld (the Lower World). The most significant numbers for the indigenous population of North America are three, four, and seven, and they play an important role in the lives of American Indians: in their mythology, rituals, and ceremonies, chants, literature, architecture, and visual arts, households, etc.

SYMBOLS & PHILOSOPHIES
I’m very interested in Native American symbols. I’m interested in how indigenous people view/viewed the world through these symbols and what we can learn from them. The animals, objects, numbers, weather, planets, and patterns. These cultures are rich with meaning and connection. They live/lived their lives in a completely different way from the average American today. In my opinion, it’s a more connected and more beautiful way to live. It’s full of meaning and purpose.

I was out yesterday making photographs of huge rock outcroppings in Red Rock Canyon. The Ute/Tabeguache called them, “the bones of Mother Earth”. It’s where the Ute origin story begins. I was thinking about how disconnected the average American has become from nature. They live in a synthetic world, physically and mentally. They’re geared toward consumption and greed. They feel entitled to ravage and destroy anything and everything if it means they get more. More money or more fame. Money seems to be the biggest driver in their lives. To me, they’ve lost the most important concepts in life; respect, selflessness, gratitude, humility, admiration, empathy, compassion, and the ability to really love. These attributes seem rare in our (American) culture today. However, it’s understandable given our “education” and the “values” we’ve been taught. The drive for money and fame is out in the open. It’s celebrated. People flaunt their desire for both, at any cost. To me, it’s such an empty, and meaningless life to live that way. Conspicuous consumption, the drive for fame and wealth; nothing else. It feels like the American motto now.

PHOTOGRAPHS I WANT TO MAKE
I gathered these antlers from I’m going to try and explore some of the symbols of the indigenous people that lived here. Some images will be more conceptual than literal. This is the kind of work I like making. It’s meaningful and powerful to me. I get to learn new things, contemplate new ideas, and sometimes, even implement new philosophies into my life. What more can you ask for? Making art is a great teacher. It allows time for new world views to soak in and take hold. It can enlighten and inform both the viewer and the maker. I like that is the definition of Art.

The Medicine Wheel Printed as a Toned Kallitype

I love so many of these old printing processes I couldn’t help but print “The Medicine Wheel” negative as a (toned) Kallitype print.

What is a Kallitype? Patented in 1889 by W. W. J. Nicol (1855-1929), the Kallitype print is an iron-silver process. These are generally referred to as "Siderotype" processes. A chemical process based on the use of a combination of ferric and silver salts. The Kallitype uses ferric oxalate and silver nitrate as the sensitizer. The use of ferric oxalate allows for both extended shadow definition (higher DMAX) and contrast control.

Many developing solutions can be used to give a different image color (brown, sepia, blue, maroon, and black). I like the more “red” colors. I used sodium citrate as a developer on this print.

These prints were popular in the 19th century, and then their popularity faded away. Sometimes known as "the poor man's platinum print", when the image is toned in platinum or palladium the result is nearly chemically identical to a true Platinotype or Palladiotype or a combination. It is believed that many Kallitypes were passed off as true Platinotypes and remain in collections as so. Kallitypes have had a reputation over the years as having poor archival qualities and often fading. When properly cleared, Kallitypes are completely archivable and will not fade. Toning with a metal such as gold, platinum, or palladium (like this print was) will give extra image permanence. Ferrous ions embedded in the paper as a result of poor clearing can cause a short life (image permanence) for the print. This can be easily identified by a yellow stain in the highlights.

The wet collodion negative of “The Medicine Wheel”. I use a combination of Sutton’s formulas and my own take on the wet collodion negative making process.

The Medicine Wheel

A few days ago, while I was working on my statement, a piece of information kept coming back to me after reading it and writing about it. It was about the medicine wheel.

The Tabeguache/Ute put one in the center of every new camp, connecting them to Mother Earth. For some reason, I couldn’t get this out of my head. I was trying to visualize it. Was it big? Was it small? What was it made of? I had gathered a lot of white quartz rock on our walks and decided to lay them out on a Ponderosa Pine stump. I wasn’t sure it was going to work. It didn’t look that impressive in real life. Collodion negatives and prints have a way of transforming things and telling their own story.

I really love this print. I’m sure it will be in the final selection of the work. The white quartz is bright and illuminated and the swirl from the old lens gives the image motion - like it’s alive. I really do love it.

Something Different

I wanted to try something different today. I ran out of time printing this - I’ll add to this post tomorrow after I nail the print. I’m at 6 minutes with this one. I’ll run a test of 7, 8, and 9 minutes tomorrow and find the sweet spot.

There is something I like about this a lot. I know it’s underexposed, but there is a quality about it - its contrast and brightness appeal to me. I used an old Derogy f/4 and the movement or “swirl” is very attractive to me - it sets the wheel in motion. There is so much UV up here, this was a 1.5-second exposure and it is very dense. I would say 2+ DMax. I didn’t check it, but I bet I’m close.

Artist's Statement

In The Shadow of Sun Mountain (Tava Kaavi)

“The key to the creative type is that he is separated out of the common pool of shared meanings. There is something in his life experience that makes him take in the world as a problem; as a result, he has to make personal sense out of it.”

― Ernest Becker, from the Denial of Death

Most Americans live their day-to-day lives without ever thinking about the history of their country. Words like genocide, land dispossession, forced migration, and colonization are rarely in the minds of average Americans. It’s the opposite for me. I think about these things almost every day. 

I live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. It’s beautiful here. The landscape is breathtaking. It’s the closest thing to a perfect place I’ve ever been. However, it has a very sordid and sad history. 

With this work, I want to share both the beauty and the tragedy of this place I call home. Through these photographs, I want to esteem the Ute people both past and present. I hope to engage the viewer long enough to put this history and the people into their consciousness.

I’ve approached this work from a place of deference, wonder, sadness, and loss. I’m torn about where I live and what I know. I often think about what happened here and question why it did. It confuses me and creates inner conflict for me; like a type of cognitive dissonance. I struggle with living on this land, and yet I’m in awe every day of how sublime and beautiful it is.

What do I do with this terrible history? My answer is to embrace it, study it, wrestle with it and transform it into a weapon for the human spirit; one that will enlarge my sense of responsibility and strengthen my moral resolve.

This project has also served as a cathartic release for me. That’s why the work was made. While the work is metaphorical, it acts as a catalyst in resolving my relationship with the land, its history, and the people that lived here.

At dawn, Tava-Kaavi (Sun Mountain) is the first Colorado mountain to catch the sun’s rays. The mountain is over 14,000 (4.300m) feet above sea level. The Ute believes it’s where Mother Earth meets Father Sky.

Before it was America’s Mountain, “Pikes Peak” (its colonized name), it stood at the center of the Tabeguache (tab-a-watch) band of the Nuche/Ute tribe’s geography and identity. They were the “People of the Sun Mountain,” placed there by Sunif (the wolf) to grow and flourish amid the foothills of the majestic peak.

The Tabeguache tribe was the largest of the ten nomadic bands of the Ute. They followed the herds of wild animals throughout their lands, harvesting the elk, deer, and buffalo at specific places at certain times of the year. This lifestyle mandated that they move their camp every three or four weeks. They constructed a medicine wheel at the heart of each new camp, linking them to Mother Earth like an umbilical cord. The big rock outcroppings were called, “the bones of Mother Earth”. And the huge red rock formations were considered “grandfathers.”

I live in one of the areas where the Tabeguache tribe lived during the summer months. My photographs are about honoring the people, the plants they used, the rocks, and the trees they dwelt among and used to survive and thrive for many centuries.

The work is made with the 19th-century wet and dry collodion photographic processes in the Whole Plate format (6.5” x 8.5”). I used a period lens circa 1870 for the work. From the glass negatives, I’ve made prints that are Palladium Platinum prints, Rawlins Oil prints, and Kallitype prints. All contact printing processes from the late 19th century and the early 20th century. It was very important for me to use period processes and period gear for these images. The processes and optics have a way of transporting the viewer to that time period (1850 - 1900). 

I called this body of work, “In the Shadow of Sun Mountain” because the photographs are all made with the great mountain watching over. It's constant and nothing escapes its presence. The Ute honored and respected this land and all of the life on it, never taking more than they needed. The fauna, flora, and landscape represent all that they loved. It provided the shelter, food, and medicine they survived on. Their life here was balanced and good.

Ben Mitchell, guest curator of "Edward S. Curtis: The North American Indian" said "...history is a very powerful force, because history, when you’re immersed in it, isn’t just looking at the past, history constantly informs the present you’re living in — or it better, if we’re paying attention...history also points us to our future that we’re going to share. We learn from history how to live in our present, and how to plan to live in our future.”

I can’t change the past. No one can. But my hope is that the viewers of this work will remember these terrible events in history and wrestle with them. I want to put a “pebble in their shoe” and have them think about the past, the present, and the future. I hope to inspire, motivate and create compassion and empathy for the people and the land.

American Aspen Tree

Aspen is noted for its ability to regenerate vegetatively by shoots and suckers arising along its long lateral roots. Root sprouting results in many genetically identical trees, in aggregate, called a "clone". All the trees in a clone have identical characteristics and share a root structure. The bark and leaf of the tree are used to make medicine. Aspen is used in combination with other herbs for treating joint pain (rheumatism), prostate discomforts, back trouble (sciatica), nerve pain (neuralgia), and bladder problems.

Aspen trees - Palladium Platinum Print from a dry collodion negative.

Whole Plate Dry Collodion Negative - March 2022 - Teller County, Colorado - Aspen Trees.

Dried Meadow Barley & Death Denial

I’ve been working on the writing portion of this project. It’s such a vast topic and it’s difficult to condense it into something readable and connected. But I’m getting there.

I’ve been thinking about the genocide and the land dispossession here in the Rocky Mountains where the Utes/Tabegauche called home. And it’s important for me to acknowledge that the people are still here. They’re not a paragraph in a history book or a simple romantic notion of the past.

It’s a difficult balance to write about and think about. I’m troubled by the white man making “romantic Indian” images. I’ve always wrestled with this topic. Imposing and reinforcing white notions of Native American appearance and cultures can be very problematic for me, and for a lot of indigenous people as well. The United States eradicated almost 90 million indigenous people over a century of colonization in this country. Try to wrap your head and your heart around that. And to think that every treaty made with every tribe was broken by the United States government. It’s wrong. shameful and disgusting.

There’s a really good article at Hyperallergic on Edward Curtis’ work. It’s on display in Michigan. The article is written by Sarah Rose Sharp. Guest curator, Ben Mitchell has a really good quote in the piece, “I’ve come away from this two years of work realizing that history is a very powerful force, because history, when you’re immersed in it, isn’t just looking at the past,” said Mitchell. “History constantly informs the present you’re living in — or it better, if we’re paying attention. But even more than that — and this touches upon why this exhibition is so poignantly timely for the time we live in — history also points us to our future that we’re going to share. We learn from history how to live in our present, and how to plan to live in our future.”

The images in my work act more as symbols for me. They are less literal to me than they appear to be. I’ve often thought about approaching this work as a totally abstract concept. I know I could do it, and I think it would be powerful. However, I know I would lose a lot of viewers that I believe need to see the work and think about the concepts behind it. I don’t really like the idea of “chocolate box” imagery, but this work has a lot of beauty. The land, plants, and everything the Utes/Tabegauche had and used can be seen and experienced here. I do like that idea - that it’s somewhat documentary in nature, but still poetic enough to capture a feeling. I would lose that in a purely conceptual or abstract approach.

Am I happy about the work? Yes, I am. The flora portion is coming to an end and I’m planning out what I want to do next. I think the entire body of work, seen together, in context, will be extremely fulfilling and satisfying. In a lot of ways, it’s easy to make a one-off or maybe two images that work, but it’s beyond challenging to make an entire body of images that work. A body of work that you can defend and is not derivative.

Telling a story, but still leaving room for poetry and mystery in the work is important. That’s what I love about doing this. I really enjoy the challenge, the struggle, if you will. Sometimes, I have days where it all fails, every plate, every print, and every idea, they just don’t work either technically, conceptually, or both. I’ve talked a lot about embracing failure. It’s a very important part of making a successful body of work.

In my last post, I talked about “notoriety” and “money”. I wanted to briefly explain what I was eluding to there. I have no interest in making money or gaining recognition for this, or any other work. Especially now, after 30+ years of doing this, I’m really trying to do something beyond the superficial - something truly meaningful. I don’t care about social media or being published or having exhibitions either. The work will find where it needs to be seen. I’ve been there and done that, as they say.

However, I do care about the people who are interested in my work and what I’m doing. Not for my ego, but for what these ideas might impart to them, the viewer. I want to throw a “pebble in their shoe” and make them think about the things I think about. To address these big questions and wrestle with them as I do. To ask questions about why we treat the “other” the way we do, and what that means for the past, present, and future. I want them to think about being present to their privileges and to help other people with that power, not to hurt them or make things worse. These ideas and desires are at the core of my work.

We are living in very precarious times. The social and political environment is primed for really bad things to happen. I’ve never seen this country so divided. And it doesn’t seem like it can heal. It feels like we’re dangling over a precipice - ready to fall at any moment. Every nation that’s gone through terrible times has always said, “It can’t happen here!” and it did. Don’t ever think that terrible atrocities can’t happen where you are, because they can.

Human beings are always looking for a scapegoat - someone to “other” and to blame for their problems. It’s our nature. We suffer from death denial which creates death anxiety which brings with it terror management (acting on that anxiety). The psychology and history are plain to see. We are driven by this force, for good or bad. The knowledge of our impending death is overwhelming. This is why art is created. Art can help us deal with this anxiety. This is why war is started and why genocide happens, too. It’s the driving force of all human activity. I fully acknowledge my death anxiety and I try to channel it for good. Making art, telling stories, and asking questions about our existence is what I do. I encourage you to watch my YouTube show with Dr. Sheldon Solomon. We talk about art, death anxiety, and terror management theory.

“Man cannot endure his own littleness unless he can translate it into meaningfulness on the largest possible level.” - Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death

Blue Grama Grass and Meadow Barley - What's Next?

MEADOW BARLEY

The small grains are edible, and this plant was part of the Eastern Agricultural Complex of cultivated plants used in the Pre-Columbian era by Native Americans.

WHAT’S NEXT
I’ve started the process of laying out a book design. I know I want a book of this work. I have some other plans as well and the book adds a critical element to those plans.

I hope to offer the work as prints, a book, and exhibition material in late 2023 or 2024. Right now, I’m thinking about offering a (hardcover) book with a Palladium Platinum print with it (buyer’s choice). I think that would be a great way to get the work out to people that can’t see an exhibition or see the work in real life.

I think I can complete what I want to do by the end of next summer (2023). If I prepare as I go and do a lot of the “office” work and printing over the winter, it will be easier to have it wrapped up at the end of 2023. However, there’s no “deadline” on it. I could take years if I wanted.

I have plans to help the Ute community with this work, and the proceeds from it. I’m working on those details now. My main objectives are to educate the general public on the history of Colorado (the Ute tribes), specifically where I live, and to help the Ute community in any way I can. I’m interested in helping the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose, Colorado, and/or some kind of higher education funding for Native Americans pursuing visual arts. It’s all in the start-up phase right now, but it’s important for me to make the work meaningful in those ways. I have no desire for financial gains or notoriety, those ships have sailed. I’m in a different phase of my life and desire completely different things. It sounds altruistic because it is - I’m fine and in need of nothing, it’s my time to give back.

Having said all of that, I’m very grateful to those that have supported me over the years. In a lot of ways, I’m where I am because of that support and appreciation. I’m aware and very thankful for it. The emails and kind words from people asking and commenting about this project mean a lot to me as well. I’m not sure what will be next or if there will be a next. I’m living every day as my last and to the fullest, I can. Regardless if I do more work or not, the important things for me are being present each day and being grateful for what I have and who I am.

Muscovite Mica and Quartz

Every other day, Jeanne and I go for about a 2-mile walk on the mountain. It’s so been beautiful this summer. Every summer is, really. That’s what makes the winter bearable. We enjoy the fresh mountain morning air and the cool temperatures. The high temperatures are in the 70s (F)/23C and lows are in the high 40s (F)/9C and 50s (F)/12C. It’s sunny in the mornings and it rains almost every afternoon. It makes the wildfire danger almost nonexistent. We are very grateful for that.

Sometimes, the mountain storms can really pour - a lot of water comes down very fast. That’s created a lot of washes and it reveals a lot of different rocks and minerals. Some that have caught my eye are the mica and the quartz. This is muscovite mica and white quartz. You can read about them in the cutline under the image.

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to photograph the material. First, I tried to mimic Andy Goldsworthy and stack the rocks and lay the mica on them. It didn’t work. Then I thought, why not use L. Posey’s piece - the Ute pot. It’s obvious, but we get stuck in a one-track mindset and it becomes difficult to think about the obvious. That pot is not just for plants, it’s for anything I want to photograph. So that’s what I did.

I didn’t see the gift that was about to be handed to me, I was concentrating on the light and the reflections. I get preoccupied with exposure time too. Since I’m working with the north light, it changes rapidly in the morning, so I was playing all of the technical scenarios and not really looking at the ground glass. I use a 10x loupe to look at the image and then try to see the composition. This gift snuck right past me.

This image is so full of metaphor I can hardly get my head around it. The darkness that the face is peering into is telling, and the face itself is mind-blowing. We are designed to see faces wherever we can. This is super obvious and it makes me wonder how it came to be.

I’m finished for today, but I left this still-life setup in my studio. I’m going to make another negative of it tomorrow and set the focus on the face. I would have done that with this, but again, I didn’t see it until I printed it.

MUSCOVITE MICA

Native Americans used it for ornamental and ritualistic purposes. Sacred birds, dancing bears, and serpents with horns were crafted from sheet mica.
It is common in igneous and metamorphic rock and is occasionally found as small flakes in sedimentary rock. It is particularly prominent in many granites, pegmatites, and schists.
As a naturally-forming silicate mineral, mica occurs in igneous rock, which consists of layers of volcanic material. At this stage, mica is crystal in form and is mined to extract it.

QUARTZ

The Ute made Buffalo rawhide ceremonial rattles that were filled with quartz crystals. The rattle produces flashes of light (mechanoluminescence) created when quartz crystals are subjected to mechanical stress when the rattle is shaken in darkness.

You can see it here, but the print really brings it out.