In this artist talk during the 2021 Sooke Fine Arts Show, Phyllis Schwartz explains the image-making process Lumen Print (photograms made without a camera). She will show how photograms of plant materials leave marks and traces on photosensitive surfaces and how she crafts them in a digital medium. Phyllis will also explain the history of early photographic experiments that led her to her own artistic practice.

Registration link: webreg.burnaby.ca, barcode: 593870

Edward Peck will be teaching a new course at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts

The course will be two hours in length Starting April 20th and ending June 8th, 2021

Ages: 16 Yrs. and over

Fees: - Adult $130.40 - senior $104.32

Description:

Through walking assignments, composition techniques, in-class discussions, and technical problem-solving, class participants will have the opportunity to develop their way of seeing through the photographic medium, and through this process, the opportunity to develop their artist photographic style and a body of work. Instructor: Ed Peck The instruction will be provided online via Zoom. Google Classroom or Moodle will be used as support by providing a secure and private platform for instructional material, after class discussion groups, and feedback. Information on connecting with Zoom and links will be emailed. Please make sure the contact information on your City of Burnaby recreation account is up to date including email.

In this hands-on workshop, participants made photograms of plant materials, and discover how to leave marks and traces on photosensitive paper. There were opportunities to participate in the entire process from gathering materials, composing two images and developing two prints (8 x 10 inches). The workshop extends the concept of analogue photography as the pencil of nature. Schwartz rediscovered this process while studying the Victorian botanists who sought a method of documenting their fieldwork. Lumen Prints are both photographic and x-ray like, producing both documentation of nature and artistic renderings of botanical specimens. Phyllis Schwartz is a multi-disciplinary artist who works in photography, ceramics and publishing based in Vancouver, Canada. Her work at Emily Carr University consolidated these interests with a concentration in photography. She was the recipient of the Canon Photography Award. As a visual artist, she seeks detail, texture, and poetic elements. She uses photography to investigate and record what eludes the eye. Her photography has been exhibited and published across Canada and internationally; her works are in both public and private collections.

Photographs Above Courtesy of Participants

Learning to See

The Learning To See course, on my photography website, has been developed for photographers learning to navigate the digital camera but with an emphasis on the art of photography. Through an exploration of techniques, compositional strategies, master photographers and various styles of photography, I try to help each individual to capture their unique way of seeing the world around them. 

As Dorothea Lange has suggested "a camera teaches you how to see without a camera. Seeing is more than a physiological phenomenon. We see not only with our eyes but with all we are and all that our culture is. The artist is a professional see-er. No country has ever closely scrutinized itself visually. I believe what we call beautiful is generally a by-product. Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still. The good photography is not the object, the consequence of the photograph is the objects. — Dorothea Lange