collaboratory

Just a note. Tonight was the closing reception for "Your Turn" which was an experiment into collaboration with my life partner (OK, wife, spouse, significant other), Bridgette Bogle. 

More on the results when I am recharged. For now here is an image showing her wall painting titled "Snow Window" into which I introduced a photograph of fingerprints from the space.

Maybe it works.

The decisive Anthotype moment

In any medium there can be a moment when you are finished with your making but not recognize it. There can also be a moment when one thinks something is finished and one doesn't recognize that the making needs to continue.

This isn't indecision necessarily but the opposite namely a wrong decision.

Anthotypes are prone to this error in the decision process. I usually stop them too soon, take the whole thing apart, look at the underlying exposure and put everything back together and continue the exposure.

Here is the pokeberry anthotype of Clem Wolfham #2. It's pretty dark but this time I think I'll err on the side of print density. There are subtle details that are difficult to make out in the documentation but I think it will buy this print a few more years of life as it goes from storage to exhibition and back to storage.

Onionskin Anthotype Day 1

Another day and another anthotype. Over the last couple of weeks, I been squeezing in a little bit of time to coat a sheet of paper with brown liquid made from boiling the skins of yellow onions.

The paper has about eleven coats of onion skin broth. The pajama is in-labeled meaning their is no name from a previous owner. It has been cut along the seems to leave only the button front and collar. The paper is Fabriano Artistico Extra White Hot Press.

Icebreaker 4

Forty-six is making its way across the continental divide to be part of Icebreaker 4, an all media, un-themed juried show at Denver's IceCube gallery. The gallery is located at 3320 Walnut Street in Denver, Colorado. The show was juried by Nora Burnett Abrams, the Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.   An opening reception is scheduled for March 8th,  5-9pm and a Juror’s Conversation event is planned for March 14, 3:30pm. 

The exhibition will be on view from March 7th through March 30th. 

upside down and in blue

Once upon a time I frequently posted to this blog. It was an outlet for writing about difficulties and successes in the studio. I used it for exhibition news and for progress updates on the slow goings on of the anthotypes.

It's been a long time since I posted to this site. I have been working on several projects, sending out teaching packets hoping for a sign of interest from academia, applying for a residency (long term project coming due very soon), and of course teaching. I would like to write more about teaching but there are fundamental issues I need to wrestle with including professionalism and articulating those things that make me want to teach. Everyone knows its hard and time consuming but rewarding in unlikely ways.

I'll slowly work a discourse on my teaching in future posts. For now I need to get the blog ball rolling. Why not start with a cyanotype.

In the in vivo exhibition, I showed four of the fungi. There were others that I was working on but for many reasons, mostly placement or shape, I elected to work with the four that I did. There was one that almost made the cut. It was an early one but it was a horizontal and it would stick out in a grid of four. The prints I did make of it happened to be made on a paper that wasn't working well or perhaps I was getting lazy with exposure ( I seldom use step wedges although I should). Regardless, they lacked clean  highlights and seemed much flatter than the other four.

There was a little window of impracticality last Saturday. It was the last day to drop off work for the annual Dayton Visual Arts Center auction. I had an OK print of the cyanotype that didn't make the cut but the only frame I had that could accomodate it would be a natural wood finish. OK with a blue print but I am committed to showing the cyanotype floated in white finished wood frames. I had two downstairs I had bought off a student but they were narrower than what I typically used for the 18" x 23" prints I had been making.

So I reprinted it Saturday morning. It was sunny. It was due by 5 pm. It was not a wise decision.

There is a stack of paper I have been sitting on, waiting to try it out with cyanotype and vandyke brown. It was on sale. It was pH neutral. It was crying out for a test run.

I tore it down to 16" x 23", made a good print on the first try. A terrible print on the second. A really, really good print on the third try once it dried down.  I managed to get it framed, wired and down to DVAC before they closed at 5. Somehow I even squeezed in a short artwork documentation session so I could have an image of it.

But being rushed, I made one mistake amongst lots of little ones which I had no time to undo. I wired the frame upside down.

I think I can live with it this way.

been framed lately?

In case you are in the Dayton area, please stop by Custom Frame Services and see what Dave Crowell did with "Hairy Cemetery Nut". Some really amazing reclaimed wood stock surrounds the floated print.

http://customframeservices.com/content/photography-by-francis-schanberger/

Please visit them during the hours of 10 am - 6 pm Tuesday through Friday and Saturday, 10 am until 2 pm.

1029 Wayne Avenue, Dayton OH 45410

Their phone number is 937. 220. 9020

Registering my patience

The anthotype I've given the working title of "daughter" had a bit of a mishap. The sleeping dress slipped a bit off the paper revealing the amount of image that has occurred. I had to cut the plastic wrap off and carefully re-register it twice. Coming up to its third month of exposure with a few days in the garage during heavy rains, this is where it's at.

Remote Trigger

This could be an archive Monday entry but I haven't really followed through on that concept. Last Friday I had planned to shoot a new Dr. Frangst image. Shooting a picture. Sounds simple unless your Gregory Crewdson.

To resurrect Dr. Frangst, I have to locate the pants, the shirt, the glasses, etc. The coat isn't a problem. I have lots of lab coats laying about and now have two with cyanotype, photogram designs that can be employed as costume. 

The view camera that's another matter. I have to load about three holders for a total of six pieces of film. I have to make sure the shutter is firing after a recent class demo went awry. 

Perhaps the most vexing problem is the Fernauslöser. What, you ask, is a fernauslöser? Translated literally it is a remote trigger. Specifically for the project it is a 10 m long pneumatic cable that activates the shutter on either my 12 inch Dagor lens or the 14 inch Ilex Paragon. 

Quickly before this blog descends into the specifics of view camera dialogue...one small reason the Dr. Frangst project fell to the wayside is der Fernauslöser. I switched, late into the second iteration of the project, to a mechanical self-timer which negated the need for a pneumatic cable release. I was getting tired of the bulb occasionally not doing its job in tripping the shutter. Initially the mechanical remote did the trick but it required a bit of attention. I was in earshot, I could hear the timer winding down and I could also hear the shutter open and close. 

I soon discovered that sometimes I couldn't hear the timer or the shutter. Maybe it was an early sign of my impending tinnitus. Regardless, the Dr. Frangst images became less and less a part of my output. I think the use of the pneumatic bulb was key. 

Friday, I spent a few hours breaking out the remote trigger. I have two. The first one is a Kaiser with funny cartoons on each side of the box. One depicts a visitor to a state park carefully driving over the bulb to take a picture of himself in nature inside the car. The second shows two table tennis players, one of which is about to step on the bulb and take an image at the decisive moment of the match. 

My other Fernauslöser is made by Rowi and is a bit older. Perhaps late 40's or early 1950's. I am including a photo that graces the instructions below. 

For two hours I cajoled the bulbs and cables, finally cutting off a bit here and some there and combining the two into a functional remote trigger. 

Look for more pictures in part two of this entry.

Solar Minimum

Anthotype update: they are getting there. It has been over a month and the only evidence of fading has been the small areas where the spring clamps had covered up coated areas of the paper (see picture below).

The thee or four variables that may be extending the exposure time:

1. Intensity. We are three weeks away from solar minimum.

2. Duration. The Anthotypes only receive about three hours of sunlight per day not counting the time when the neighbors" trees block out direct sunlight with their branches.

3. Wrapped in not entirely transparent plastic. Since they are kept outside the plastic tarp is necessary and a contributor to exposure time suck.

4. Extra strength pokeberry. The double costing and undiluted pokeberry emulsion are much more resistant to bleaching.

Freebie Friday

As an alternative to Black Friday and as a means of shameless self-promotion, I am offering a free postcard to anyone within reading distance of this blog. Please email me your preferred mailing address to frangst@gmail.com

I'll even mail it overseas for free!

This is a self-produced card for the Ohio State University Urban Arts Space exhibit featuring the Pajama Pants Rose Petal Anthotype.

cat ears

Shortly before going to Boston in 2011, Ki snapped this instant photo of my cat Chasputin on Impossible Project film. It's on page three of an online exhibit on Aline Smithson's Lenscratch blog. The exhibit is called Pets and Favorite Animals and can be found at http://www.lenscratch.com/2012/11/the-2012-lenscratch-pets-and-favorite.html?m=1

Hairy Cemetery Nut at Custom Frame

Posting entries can be like big steps or little steps. Today is a little step.

Dave Crowell over at Custom Frame Services has selected my business card out of a glass bowl, randomly I've been assured, for a free frame. As you can see, he has chosen to float it and present it in beguiling, distressed wood. Head over to his shop at 1029 Wayne Avenue in Dayton, Ohio to see it on display, now until the end of January. They are open from 10 am - 6 pm Tuesday through Friday and Saturday, 10 am - 2 pm. http://www.customframeservices.com/

Photo courtesy of Custom Frame Services (possibly captured by Charmaine Griffith)

Francis Schanberger discusses his anthotypes

Francis Schanberger discusses his anthotypes, a photo by amymyou on Flickr.

Four of us our wearing four eyes! Thanks Amy Youngs!

osage orange and black walnut system

The one comment that really sticks in mind from the summer residency in Boston is from Drew Ippoliti who is currently working on his PhD in London. "Artists are problem makers, not problem solvers!"

I've given myself several problems over the last two weeks. The problems I haven't successfully solved are due to time constraints, defective paper and a complicated lighting set-up.

I am trying directional lighting to evoke the look of a Voyager image which is alleged to be the first photograph to show the Earth / Moon system together in one frame. Perhaps you can recognize the Black Walnut and Osage Orange I am using as surrogates for a planet and moon.

I am showing you an ugly print. Once time permits, I will upload the final version.

Almost as Good as Being Back in Grad School

Tomorrow night between 6-8 pm, the Urban Arts Space in downtown Columbus will host a reception for both part I and II of Inoscuation. There is also an artist panel planned at 5pm featuring  Vesna Jovanovic, Michael Mercil, Suzanne Silver, Ardine Nelson, Rebecca Harvey, Kate Joranson, Amy Youngs and myself.

It's almost as good as being back in grad school.

Below are some installation images. Note the subtle reference to the additive color primaries blue, red and green. Completely accidental.

INPHA International Photography Annual 1

Not totally in the area of shameless self-promotion but fairly close. Manifest Creative Research and Drawing Center has a history of producing high quality publications for their rotating exhibits. They also have been producing beautiful surveys of drawing published as the INDA or International Drawing Annual. They have also been producing surveys of painting and how now published their second annual INPA (International Painting Annual).

This past May, they embarked on a survey of photography to coincide with this month's FotoFocus, the month long exhibition at a number of venues in Cincinnati, Dayton and Kentucky (Covington). The book was released officially last Friday and includes the work of many national and international photographers. There are photos of some of the artists at the book signing. Check them out on Manifest's Facebook page.

Here's a list of the artists featured in INPHA, the International Photography Annual #1:

Jocelyn Allen, Lars Anderson, Chris Arrecis, Massimo Barberio, Scott Barnes, Jesse Morgan Barnett, Franck Bohbot, Susan Bryant, Seder Burns, Alison Carey, Bryan Christie, Van Chu, Lauren Coggins-Tuttle, Alison Crouse, James Curran, Victor Currie, Alicja Dobrucka, Craig Dow, Meghan Duda, Mitch Eckert, Tracy Featherstone, Laura Fisher, Skye Gilkerson, Richard Gilles, Jodie Goodnough, Noelle Gray, Dominic Hawgood, Natasha Holmes, Fossett James, Stephen King, Paula Willmot Kraus, Kent Krugh, Kevin Kunstadt, Suta Lee, Echo Lew, Miao Liu, Tracy Longley-Cook, Jenee Mateer, Fred Moeves, Emily Hanako Momohara, Erin Quinn, Monica Rezman, Michael H. Rohde, Julia Romano, Francis Schanberger, Brad  Smith, Alexander Solomon, Grischa Stanjek, Dominik Tarabanski, Walt Thomas, Samantha Vandeman, Emma  Williams, Christopher  Woodcock, Qian Yongning, Matthew  Zory

Inosculation at the OSU Urban Arts Space

Exhibition news:

Warning: choppy prose follows.

Inosculation runs which is set up as two halves of the same exhibition with staggered dates, runs October 30 – December 15 for the upper gallery half of the show. The lower gallery half runs from now until November 17th.

The  joint reception is on November 3rd from 6-8pm.

Three of the sleep wear anthotypes are will be on display in the second half of the exhibit. Since the show is pairing OSU faculty with alumni from the years around 2002  - 2006?, I am being showing along side Ardine Nelson who was my M.F.A. thesis advisor way back then.

http://uas.osu.edu/exhibition/inosculation

Here's a picture of the work at drop-off yesterday, October 23rd.

Physical Trace

The yellow lab coat came down last Saturday but the results were disappointing. Very little fading occurred which made me re-evaluate the act of sewing in the gallery space I had envisioned.

The coat only got about 40 minutes of late afternoon light on a good sunny day and I doubt there have Ben even ten of those during the run of in vivo. Not the best way to create a physical trace of the exhibition.

It is still disassembled and my inclination is to give the pieces more exposure in the backyard.

the (pink) lab coat is the experiment

The other component of In Vivo which was documented last Thursday, Pink Pokeberry Lab Coat. The pattern was created from a scan of a couple of pokeweed leaves.

The coat has several panels made from various dilutions of pokeberry juice. The left rear has completely faded because of the 1:2 dilution used but retains brown images where pink used to be. The right rear has faded the least and, in fact, achieved the least record of an image from exposure to sun. The right rear and right front pocket both got full strength pokeberry juice. The front panels were made using a 1:1 dilution of pokeberry juice.

The hanger is made from a fallen sycamore branch recovered in South Park (Dayton).

Thank you Charmaine Renee for your excellant sewing skills and problem solving abilities. Charmaine and I will be at DVAC tomorrow at 4 pm to sew together he saffron coat which has been at the front of the gallery receiving a bit of sunlight everyday since the exhibition opened.

waiting with map pins

One month, maybe longer, I return to the blog.

Sorry.

Someday soon excuses will surface but for now I will get right down to business. In Vivo, the three person show at DVAC, has two days remaining. Today, I returned to the gallery to document two of the pieces and now I am regretting not photographing the rest of the installation.

Above is an image of Forty-six, photographed at a raking angle so that you, the viewer, may see how each 12" x 9" piece is anchored to the wall. Just two map pins at the top, which leaves the bottom flapping in the circulating air.