Penland Photography Classes

Classes are open to serious students of all levels unless specified in course description; beginners welcome.

Ellen Eisenman, here we stand, archival photographs, thread,

shells, silver wire, 28 x 28 in. & Clarissa Sligh, Hope, beads,

origami cranes made from pages of white supremacist books,

60 in. tall

This is a workshop about using photography in community, educational, and/or social projects. Plan a new project or extend an existing one. Written and photographic exercises, critiques, and team collaborations on workshop projects will clarify goals and vocabulary. We will work with ideas of individual and collective experience, voice, communication, values, structure, sequence, dilemmas, ethics, and evaluation. All levels, but students must be familiar with their digital or film cameras. Code 01P

Ellen: studio artist, community worker; exhibitions:ArtScape (South Africa), Broome Street Gallery (NYC), Franklin University Gallery (OH), Calico Gallery (OH), Goddard Riverside Community Center (NYC), ArtScape (Cape Town, South Africa), Columbus Museum (OH). Clarissa: studio artist; teaching: New York University, School of Visual Arts (NYC); collections: Museum of Modern Art (NYC), George Eastman House (NY).

A statement from Ellen Eisenman: "I’m interested in making a clear visual connection between manual laborers, art workers, and community workers. This work is rooted in the narrative tradition of documentary photography as well as the use of quilting in preserving family and community histories. I work with archival photographs, which I sew together with thread and fixe in place with nails, pins, or silver wire along with glass, stone, or metal beads. The tactile process of sifting through traces of memory, sewing together fragments, and combining images provides a framework for reflecting on the connections between our personal and social experiences."

1st Session also includes Conversation with Nature, a special mixed-media workshop with Kyoung Ae Cho.

John Mann, The Lost Raft, book of archival inkjet

prints, 9 x 10 in.

This class is for people who want to expand their photographic work into the book format. We will consider what the linear (or nonlinear!) experience of the book may offer through the possibilities of photographic sequencing and book design. The class will concentrate on individual book projects (students can bring current ones or start fresh) while examining historic and experimental examples. We will explore page design, sequencing, hand bookbinding, and finesse output through advanced inkjet printing techniques. The class will include image making, digital skills, hikes, critiques, and lots of experimentation. All levels. Code 02P

Associate professor at Florida State University; exhibitions: Ditch Projects (OR) Houston Center for Photography, Jen Beckman Gallery (NYC), Phillips de Pury (London), Conveyor Arts (NYC), Columbia College Chicago; author of Thinner Air, a limited-edition photography book.

2nd Session also includes Crafting Memory, Dreaming History: Writing from Experience, a special writing workshop with Sharona Muir.

Stan Strembicki, Untitled, 2005, from Memory Loss,

A Post Katrina Photo Album, color photograph.

We find objects everywhere in our lives, and, if we stop and look for long enough, we can see stories reflected in them. In this black-and-white darkroom class, we will collect and arrange objects for photographs, and we will also photograph them as we find them in the world. This is not about studio lighting, it’s about how we can turn objects into narrative devices through their arrangement in our environment. We will cover the technical aspects of black-and-white film photography (students must bring their own cameras). Frequent field trips and daily, in-progress critiques will be the order of the day. All levels. Code 03P

Professor and coordinator of photography at Washington University (St. Louis); solo shows: Le Mieux Gallery (New Orleans), Philip Slein Gallery (St. Louis); collections: New Orleans Museum, Ogden Museum (New Orleans), St. Louis Museum.

3rd Session also includes Sound and Light for Things, a special sound and lighting workshop with Shawn Decker.

Monty McCutchen, Otto, wet plate collodion

tintype, 10 x 12 in.

Wet-plate collodion is one of the earliest photographic processes. In this class we will make ambrotypes (collodion on glass) and tintypes (collodion on metal). From mixing chemistry and pouring the plate to varnishing the finished photograph, we will cover every aspect of the process. Working within the syntax of the collodion image will challenge students to create a portfolio of images that are unique to this medium. We will shoot with large-format cameras, which will be provided. All levels. Code 04P

Studio artist; teaching: Community College Baltimore County (MD), private workshops; exhibitions: Fuji Film and Ebony Camera (Tokyo), Soho Photo (NYC), University of North Carolina-Asheville; practitioner of wet collodion process since studying with Mark Osterman and France Scully Osterman in 2004.

Clay Harmon, Stairs from Pope's

Chambers, Palais des Papes,

Avignon, polymerphotogravure on

Rives Johannet 5 x 7 in.

Students in this class will learn the intricacies of polymer photogravure, a beautiful, ink-based photographic printmaking process that is the modern successor to the difficult Talbot-Klic copperplate process. We will use a modern polymer-coated plate to create an intaglio-etched surface that will be inked with an oily printer’s ink and then wiped, leaving ink in the varying depths of the recesses of the plate, which then produce the photographic gradation of tones that make the photogravure one of the most beautiful and permanent of the continuous-tone photographic printing processes.

With the polymer method, the etching of the plate is done with tap water instead of the more chemically dangerous mordant used in the traditional process. We will cover digital file preparation, inkjet positives, exposure calibration, plate preparation and processing, paper preparation, inking, wiping, and printing. Each student will create a portfolio of 8–12 prints. The class will prepare students to successfully continue using the process in their home studios. Because the process is based on ink and paper it presents a fantastic opportunity to expand the range of visual content that can been included in books and other projects.

Studio artist; teaching: Houston Center for Photography, Project Basho (Philadelphia); exhibitions: Rayko Gallery (San Francisco), DeSantos Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; collection: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Dan Bailey, Penland Instructors Retreat, circle

panoramic digital photograph

Between still photography’s “decisive moment” and cinema’s representation of time lies a rich and compelling area. This digital class will look at conceptual and technical approaches to transitioning between photography and video and using these approaches to create effective time-based artworks. We will cover photo montage, time-lapse, stop motion, sound, full-fledged video, editing, and online presentation. The class is structured, but will provide focused time for students’ own creative, time-based, lens-gathered work.

Today, with a simple flick of a switch, an artist can move between taking a still photograph and capturing an HD video. This simplicity belies the dramatic difference in the challenge of working in time-based media. Issues of camera movement, timing, sequencing, structure, and sound are suddenly present. Different viewing venues and audiences also become important factors. Our journey in this class will begin with sequential still photography techniques and end with cinema. It is most appropriate for artists comfortable with digital still photography but interested in exploring the area of expressive cinematic arts. Along with being pertinent to photographers interested in documentary or narrative forms, the class will also be of interest to artists working in areas such as performance, choreography, installation, animation, and online media. Penland photographer Robin Dreyer will join the class for several days to lead a section on narrated slide shows. All levels. Code 05P

Professor of visual art and director of the Image Research Center at University of Maryland Baltimore County; collections: Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Centre Pompidou (Paris).

Jill Enfield, Untitled, inkjet and palladium print on

Arches Platine paper, 13 x 19 in.

Each era of photography has an accumulation of inventions that can be used together to make images. Film to digital to chemical or digital to chemical to digital or… You can probably see that there is no end in sight for what photographers can do with so many tools available, and there is no reason to stick with one way of creating. We will make digital negatives from any type of image, digital or film. We will use them to make cyanotype, platinum, and palladium prints and combine these processes to make monoprints. We will also use inkjet printers to put down a layer of color before printing with the other processes, making beautiful combination prints that span the centuries. Students will leave with many new images and their imaginations in overdrive. All levels. Code 06P

Studio artist and commercial photographer; teaching: Parsons The New School of Design (NYC), International Center for Photography (NYC), New York University; commercial clients: Fortune, Kodak, Hasselblad, Nikon, St. Martin’s Press, Life; personal work published in Camera Arts, Nikon World, Camera and Darkroom; on advisory board for Freestyle Photographic; author of Photo Imaging: A Complete Guide to Alternative Processes, which won the Golden Light Award for best technical book fo 2002.

Arno Rafael Minkkinen, 1974 - Beach Pond,

Connecticut, gelatin silver print, 50 x 40 in.

The freedom to photograph everything is one of photography’s greatest challenges. We can easily become a thousand photographers. Focus can be found in something George Braque said: “out of limitations, new forms emerge.” Focus means ruling out what we will not do so that we can be inspired to invent what we have yet to discover. Portfolio reviews and group critiques will suggest pathways. One photograph is not the answer. Making another that is similar but different just leads to comparison—which one works best?. But when the third image arrives, a pathway is visible. Our goal will be to create a new body of work that is effective and consistent. The work of photographers, filmmakers, writers and poets will be offered for inspiration. Students may work digitally or in the darkroom. Intermediate/advanced: for students who have done at least two years of portfolio-level work. Code 07P

Professor of art at University of Massachusetts-Lowell, docent at Aalto University of Art and Design (Helsinki); author of seven monographs of his self-portraits; First Class Order of the Lion medal from the Finnish government, Finnish State Art Prize in photography; collections: Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Musée dArt Moderne (Paris), Finnish Museum of Photography, Center for Creative Photography (AZ), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.

7th Session also includes Business Time, a special business practice workshop with Phil Sanders.