My first collaboration, and we wrote a press release!!!
Kent Centennial Center Gallery:
A Colorful Photographic Collaboration
Between Phil Eidenbery-Noppe and Tara McDermott
KENT, Wash. — January 17, 2020 –Two Seattle area photographers, exhibiting together at the Kent Arts Commission’s Centennial Center Gallery at the City of Kent for January and February, have constructed a ‘must-see’ collaborative work which meshes their unique visions into a cohesive and eye-catching display.
During meetings to discuss the exhibition, both photographic artists quickly saw the potential to collaborate. Each had a series of vibrant and abstracted photos based on flowers and botanical elements. Alternating blocks of 12 x 12” prints, they arranged them into a checkerboard pattern, which resulted in a quilt-like installation, but one made completely out of photographs. The final 3’ x 8’ result is a guaranteed antidote to the grey Pacific Northwest weather.
Tara McDermott’s “Imagined Places” images were created using a vintage Hasselblad camera. With an average of 3 sets of film montaged together, each image was scanned and digitally processed to create a more painterly, otherworldly, and ethereal result. A swirling moiré effect called “Newton Rings”, an artifact of the scanning process, is integral to the series, which increases the feeling of mystery in her images.
Phil Eidenberg-Noppe’s “Skagit Palette: Color + Motion” series is a result of breaking the “rules of photography” related to focus, camera stability and post-processing. His method of moving the camera while taking photos of the tulip fields and his digital post processing techniques result in a vibrant body of abstract work. The images are reminiscent of the “color field” paintings produced in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s.
The two photographers found the final result wildly exceeded their expectations. Eidenberg-Noppe’s hyper-bright swaths of colors play against McDermott’s images with their intricate and layered edgework and softer pastel palette to create a sum greater than their individual parts. The colors hum instead of clash, and the horizontal movement of the tulip field images against the vertical elements of botanical details create a crazy-quilt effect that is a sight to see!
Centennial Gallery shows are produced by the City of Kent Arts Commission. For more information, visit http://kentwa.gov/arts/gallery/
Exhibit Dates: January 9 – February 28, 2020
City of Kent Centennial Center: 400 W Gowe St., Kent, WA 98032
