NOW AND THEN -Photograph of tartaric acid crystals from wine
- A new commission piece where the crystals were grown in the presence of Tournesol Winery's (Napa Valley, CA) 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon.
NEW PUBLIC INSTALLATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY OF CRYSTALS:
I am excited to announce that the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale, AZ, has recently added six of my crystal photographs to their collection. Three of my images were installed at the resort a few years back, and I am very grateful to all the wonderful folks at the Phoenician and Soho Myriad Art Consultants for their enthusiastic and continued support of my artwork. Although I have yet to see the pieces in their new home, they are in public areas, so keep an eye out on your next visit. It's a great place to visit during the holidays, have a seasonal beverage, and enjoy the beautiful holiday decorations.
"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others." - Wilson A. Bentley
ART AND SCIENCE: BIG PROJECTS -TINY SNOWFLAKES
Some artists are born to tackle big projects. I'm talking really big projects. Edward S. Curtis, a Seattle-based photographer, took over 40,000 images for his 20-volume set; The North American Indian. It took him over 20 years. John J. Audubon decided to paint the birds of North America. Not just the ducks of North America or the woodpeckers but all the birds. And Wilson Bentley, an American photographer, decided to photograph snowflakes.
What these three individuals also had in common, besides a big idea, was a passion for their subject and a parallel skill set that informed and complemented their art. Curtis was as much an ethnologist as an accomplished photographer, Audubon a painter and a skilled ornithologist, and Bentley was also a meteorologist.
Wilson Bentley's snowflake photographs serve as an inspiration to me because of our common interests; crystals and photography through a microscope. Bentley, who began his work in 1885, was required to first create the equipment to take the photographs. By attaching a microscope to his large format camera and working outdoors during the decidedly chilly winters in his hometown of Jericho, Vermont, Bentley was able to record over 6,000 of his crystalline subjects. He would first catch snowflakes on a piece of black velvet as they fell and, using a feather, he would then carefully transfer them to a microscope slide for image capture.
Our belief that no two snowflakes are alike stems from Bentley's work and the fact that nobody seems inclined to repeat his experiment. In a sad bit of irony, Bentley was to catch not only snowflakes, but pneumonia walking home in a snowstorm and drifted off at the age of 66.
Before his passing, he published a monograph containing 2500 photographs of what he referred to as "tiny miracles of beauty" in conjunction with the US Weather Bureau, and his book "Snow Crystals," published by McGraw/Hill in 1931, is still in print today, a beautiful tribute to Wilson Bentley's tiny subjects and his big project.
"In this inexhaustible storehouse of crystal treasures, what a delight is in store for all future lovers of snowflakes, and of the beautiful in nature." – Wilson A. Bentley
SNOWFALL -Photograph of crystalline acetaminophen
