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Polaroid transfer/SX-70 resources
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©
Tue - August 3, 1999
Image Transfers and SX-70 Manipulations by Catherine Sobredo
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When I work with Polaroid image transfers, I usually project 35 mm slides in a Daylab enlarger onto Polaroid 669, 559 and 809 film. My receptor surfaces vary. I use rice paper, which is what I prefer, 140 lb hot press Arches watercolor paper, gessoboard, and clayboard. I only do dry transfers with 809 film and for that process I use 90 lb hot press Arches watercolor paper and Kozo rice paper. Sometimes I manipulate these transfers with Prismacolor pastel pencils. For the transfers presented here, I used the negative film in the Daylab. I have recently begun to experiment with these and I like them because of their ghost-like quality. I really enjoy the impressionistic painterly quality of the SX-70 manipulations. I primarily use toothpicks and crochet needles to manipulate the emulsion. | |||
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When I travel through New Mexico or walk the streets of Santa Fe, I am always looking for something that is quaint and depicts the unique beauty of this town. In "A Window in Santa Fe", an SX-70 manipulation, my eye caught the simplicity of a flower and the blue color of the framed window to be captivating because of the contrast against the adobe arquitecture and color. In "Lamy, NM", a very very small town, an area not far from Santa Fe, another SX-70 manipulation, where I happened to be roaming around in that area and caught the quaintness of this adobe home. In "Pinuk", an image transfer from a negative of a film, I wanted to capture the spiritual qualities of Pinuk, a friend of mine from Thailand, who draws inner strength when working in the garden. In Thailand Pinuk means bird. In "Bandelier, NM", which is Bandelier National Park, where there are archaeological sites and cave dwellings of the Anasazi, an ancient civilization that has disappeared, I am always drawn to the pastoral settings. The site seems to place me in an altered state of consciousness and my psyche finds unusual tree formations that are in unique relationship. I feel that both image transfers have an oriental quality to them. | |||
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Artist's Statement: My work represents the merging of my ascent from the depths of personal loss and my subsequent discovery of an alternative photographic art process with Polaroid transfers. I feel that the psyche has to be acknowledged. Creativity was and is the only way home. I hope that my images invoke the inner landscapes of the soul, mystical, ethereal, contemplative and ultimately transcendent. I have discovered other "generational" transfer techniques that allow me to work with one image over and over, yielding an array of effects, as if I'm seeking the essence of the image. The more painterly moody quality reminiscent of ancient frescos inherent in image transfers seems to resonate most with the inner world I inhabit through my personal process, whether I work with the truly feminine in nudes, portraits, the grace of a narcissus or the pastoral stillness of woodland settings. Perhaps one of the most important and difficult lessons in creating these images has been accepting that each image will be different and "imperfect", yet in that imperfection lies beauty and meaning. | |||
SoulShapes
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