Gwen Walstrand

Near

March 6 - April 30, 2009

Through visual associations, I attempt to connect landscape imagery and ideas. Triggers for memories and attachments to particular places are embedded in the nature of such images. The inherent links photographs have with the past, and the specifics of my own experiences, are used to refer to larger issues of loss, worry, memory, attachment, and the significance of place in our histories and memories.

ABOUT THE PROCESS: Van Dyke brown printing is a hand-coated, historical process which can be applied to various surfaces such as paper and cloth. The silver nitrate solution is applied with a brush or rod to the printing surface, dried and then exposed using very bright ultra-violet light such as a 1000-watt grow light or sunlight. The negative film must be the same size as the desired print since the light-sensitivity of the solution does not allow for enlargement. The results are a very long, delicate tonal scale and red-brown to brown-black coloration. Different papers render different color texture and contrast results.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Gwen Walstrand is an Associate Professor of Photography at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. She holds degrees from the University of Iowa (M.A., M.F.A.), and Southwest Missouri State University (B.F.A.). Gwen’s work has been included in national and international exhibitions including shows at Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy, Muse Gallery in Philadelphia, SoHo Photo Gallery in New York City, University of Toledo’s Center for the Visual Arts Gallery in Toledo Ohio, Santa Clara University Art Gallery in California, East Carolina University’s Gray Gallery, and Seton Hall University’s Walsh Library Gallery in South Orange, New Jersey. She has received numerous exhibition awards as well as residency awards and fellowships to support her work. Gwen’s work has been published in Orion Magazine-Nature/Culture/Place and in Christopher James’ Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, and has been featured in many exhibition catalogs. Gwen has taught photography classes in beginning and advanced black and white photography, large format photography, non-silver processes, photography history, advanced senior seminar, art theory, and landscape theory. http://gwenwalstrand.com/