Classical Methods, Contemporary Vision: Figurative Photography in the Alternative Process

The Coburn Gallery at Ashland University will be hosting a photography exhibition titled “Classical Methods, Contemporary Vision: Figurative Photography in the Alternative Process” from Oct. 7 to 31.

The exhibition, which will open on Thursday, Oct. 7, with a reception from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., will be curated by Herbert Ascherman, platinum photographic artist, writer, historian and 30-year photo gallery director in collaboration with the nationally known wet plate collodian photographer Jeannette Palsa.

The selected artists will be exhibiting in numerous alternative processes such as Platinum/Palladium, Wet Plate Collodian, Albumen and Daguerreotypes, and participating photographers will explore the use of portrait and figurative photography as seen and interpreted through these classic formats.

Twelve artists were invited to exhibit six images each, which were selected from their portfolios by Ascherman and Palsa. The exhibition will feature the following artists: Herb Ascherman, Will Dunniway, Christine Elfman, Gail Erwin, Sal Lopes, Billy Mabrey, Kathryn Watts Martinez, Jeannette Palsa, Jessica Somers and Casey Waters.

The Coburn Gallery has published an exhibition catalog, which will be offered for sale during the exhibition. Gallery hours in the Center for the Arts are Monday-Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Please contact Cynthia Petry, director of the Coburn Gallery at 419.289.5652 or email coburngallery@ashland.edu for more information about the exhibition.

Ascherman suggests that the most decisive moment in the history of photography was the introduction in 1888 of the mass produced roll film camera by George Eastman’s Kodak Co.

“With the slogan, ‘You snap the shutter, we do the rest,’ Eastman put the ease and availability of picture taking into the hands of anyone and everyone,” Ascherman said. “Similarly, the digital revolution of the late 20th and early 21st century has gone one step further: with the advent of the digital camera and phone, not only can anyone take a picture, but that image can be instantly conceived and sent on demand internationally.”

Ascherman said that as the natural appeal of picture taking has virtually unified the world, a small segment of artists and professional photographers have stepped back from the technological onslaught of the digital camera, preferring the archaic methods of handmade 19th Century photography.