Platinum and Silver Leaf, Salted Paper
Wendy’s portfolio was a 2023 Denis Roussel Award selection for Special Recognition chosen by Christopher James
“What beautiful salted paper work you have created… and then extended with platinum and silver leaf. Indeed, these are visual meditations related to healing and loss. You mention “hidden shame” but the work is, for me, less concerned with a specific event and more attuned to peering into the depths of its reflection of meaning. Notice, that all of your work demands negotiation with the image and of the place seen. There is always something in the foreground preventing the viewer from having free and unobstructed access to what is important to you.” Christopher James
Would you please tell us about yourself?
I am a fine art photographer, printmaker and designer based in Broomfield, CO, which happens to be the same town where Denis Roussel lived. The surreal beauty and fragility of the natural world are major themes in my work. Professionally I’m a product design director for a large educational publisher. Originally I’m from the Bay Area, and I have a bachelors in studio arts from UCLA, followed by a masters in museum studies from Harvard.
Please tell us about the portfolio you submitted to the Denis Roussel Award
It is a body of work that has developed over the past 3-4 years. The images are about walking through grief, which is an intensely personal journey. While coming to terms with the loss of a child, I revisited the watery grove of cottonwood trees along Coal Creek near my home. It became the place where I could “hold space” for processing my grief and calming my busy mind and spirit.
Please tell us about your process.
This project has been hand-printed on vellum using the salted paper process. This involves coating the vellum with a salted water solution, drying and coating again with silver nitrate to make the paper light sensitive. When dry, the coated vellum and digital negative are exposed to UV light. The print is then washed with salt water, toned in platinum, fixed in sodium thiosulfate, and then washed. The dried prints are flattened before they are waxed on the front, then gilded and sealed on the back.
What is the most frustrating part of the process?
The changeability of the chemical conditions during a print run can mean that the same negative, with the same exposure and emulsion sometimes results in different tonality, even if the toner and fix are identical. Along those same lines, a print that looks perfect in the toner may dry down too dark or have streaks or white specks that appear out of nowhere.
Do you enjoy the process itself or is it just a means to an end?
Any day I can spend in the studio working with my hands is a good day. I enjoy learning how to really work with a process and control the outcomes to get the image I want from it. Often that takes a bit of sleuthing and research into chemistry and materials — especially paper. I must have tried 5 different kinds of vellum for this portfolio and countless types of metal leaf to find the right combination.
How long have you been practicing this process?
I first learned how to make salted paper prints about 6 or 7 years ago. The gilding process came later, roughly 3 years ago. Working with wet vellum in the dark room is not for the faint of heart, especially if you like flat prints like I do.
Do you have a mentor or a teacher that has helped your journey?
I’ve been very fortunate to have the support of a number of mentors that have pushed me to grow in different ways. Susan Burnstine helped me define my intent for this body of work and gave me many notes for selecting and improving the images. I found my voice as an artist through her encouraging and direct feedback. Jacqueline Webster taught me how to make salted paper prints, and she is a regular source of inspiration. Jeanne Wells showed me how to craft beautiful prints with my hands, and to love the imperfections.
How do you work through times when nothing seems to work?
There are some days that everything I touch ends up in the trash, and that’s ok. I’ll take a walk with my dog Finn, or read a book that will move my thoughts in a new direction. So much trial and error goes into my work that there is never a straight line to a finished print. I’m constantly experimenting to see what would happen if I added more of this, less of that, or completely changed the process I’m using, until I discover what the work wants to be.
What part of image-making do you find the most rewarding?
When a salt print is in the toner and you can start to see the delicate tonality the print will have when fixed and dried, that’s when I start to fall in love with my work.
What tools have you found essential in the making of your work?
My hands are the most essential tool in any of the many processes I work in, and a UV lightbox with a vacuum tray has made printing small editions possible. I do love having an etching press in my studio, and I wouldn’t have digital negatives or photogravure plates without my Epson P5000 printer.
Is there something in photography that you would like to try in the future?
Carbon transfer printing is a process I’d love to dive deeper into and play with color palettes that build with each layer. I’ve learned the basics about carbon, and now that I have a proper darkroom for pouring carbon tissue the mess of glop will be easier to manage.
Currently I am learning how to incorporate natural plant and earth based pigments into my printmaking, grinding the pigments into ink for gravure or emulsions for gum printing. Finding my color palette inspired by the natural world is very exciting to me right now, and I’m curious to see how the influence of color will shape the emotional resonance of my work.
Thank you Wendy.
To learn more about the work of Wendy Constantine please click on her name.
