Vanessa Kerby

My name is Vanessa Chatwood Kerby. I recently transferred from Greenfield Community College for Fine Arts. My focus has been mainly in oil painting and photography. I never had the facilities to try printmaking, although I have always been attracted to it. I hope to understand the use of negative space and counter intuitive movements that go with the carving process. During the course of the class I hope to produce a strong series using imagery that compliments the technique learned.
I propose a series of prints based on the concept of the secret. I have worked with the theme for roughly 2 years through analog photography and light-box installation. Analog photography is shooting with film rather than digital chip. I shoot with a Medium format camera, which means that my negatives are 4 by 5 inches rather than the 35 millimeters. When shooting in medium format you have only 12 frames per roll of film, and when you look down into your camera everything is backwards like a mirror image. It is a long process through shooting precisely, developing and printing in a dark room. Similar to woodblock printing this type of photography takes a lot of planning and commitment.
The original photographic series has evolved from 16, 16 by 20 inch prints to 3, 16 by 16 inch light box installations. Each print was printed on a transparency, this transparency was placed behind a sheet of glass enclosed in a black frame protruding approximately 7 inches away from the wall. Behind the images was a piece of lightly painted linen and gold leaf this was placed in front of the built in light source so when the boxes were plugged the dark images would suddenly be illuminated in a warm glow adding a slight coloring to the otherwise black and white film.
The concept behind the light boxes and the theme of “the secret” was that a secret is something that is kept hidden, That no one knows about but you. The question raised is how does that concept change when that secret is suddenly illuminated, but no questions are answered just raised.
The first light box depicted a dark image of 3 people entangled amongst them selves in a seeming blissful moment. Next to that a late –middle- aged confronting the camera, the sun light creates a shadow that is cast over his eyes and illuminating his wrinkled face. His expression is concerned and at the same time hopeless. The last light box shows the same elderly man standing in a dead apple orchard once again confronting the camera. A younger man stands across from him, his back turned looking off into the distance. The series creates a tension between what is seen and what is not, what is illuminated and what is kept in the dark.
I hope to base my woodblock prints from the numerous photos from these series. I want to explore how photographic images translate to a bolder, more figurative work and how the intention of the original image changes as the media changes. I hope to directly transfer my photographic images to the wood block, then add technique and atmosphere with the carving process.
I am interested in the relationship between people and their environment. I want to relay a sense of unease and question through the established imagery and technique. I plan on building a series that makes the viewer question what they see, and will leave them wondering “ what is the secret”?