Photographer S. Gayle Stevens from Glen Ellyn, Ill., will be January’s featured artist in the Wright Art Center Gallery at Delta State University.
An opening reception will be held from 5-7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 20, in the Gallery. The exhibit will be available for viewing through Feb. 18.
Called the "Alt Queen" by her students, Stevens has taught alternative processes for nine years at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. Her chosen medium is wetplate collodion photography for its fluidity and individuality, a 19th century process which uses glass or metal plates with specific chemistry for developing images, a method she will be imparting in the workshop.
Stevens has exhibited widely across the United States, most recently in “Alternative Processes Competition” at Soho Photo Gallery in New York and “Self-Searching: The Art of Self-Portaiture” at PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont. She was awarded a spot in “Critical Mass Top 50” in 2010 as well as being awarded First Place in Light Leaks Magazine for “Holgascapes.” Other awards abound as well as being a published presence in Diffusion Magazine, The Center for Alternative Photography’s Online Journal, Shots Magazine, and The Holga Darkroom.
Her own photographs in the exhibit will be collodion plates in various series; one which will be of interest to local viewers is entitled "Pass," wetplate tintypes and salt prints of Pass Christian after the destruction brought by Katrina. Feeling that Pass Christian and the Mississippi Gulf Coast did not receive as much attention as did New Orleans, she wished to make images which provoked reflection on the condition of universal destruction, its terror as well as the stark beauty of the skeletal remains.
In addition to her solo show, the photographer will conduct a workshop in alternative photography for art students on Friday, Jan.21. The students’ work will be displayed in the gallery following the workshop.
The reception is free and the public is cordially invited to attend and meet the artist. Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m-8:30 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m-3:30 p.m.
For more information, please call the Delta State Art Department at 662-846-4720.
