Nebraska III: A Haiku

Scanning the road for
My lost button, and I swear
The winter steals them

The Best of Nebraska... In My Opinion.

I may not have the terminal master's degree in art, but dammit I have a master's degree and I got a job in academia... and that's how I finally was able to purchase a proper camera. So for this I must thank Nebraska.

Here's to the best things about Nebraska:

My apartment's giant window:

And Nebraskan Skies.

An Elegy

It would have been a

Gemini - It would have been

If I'd only known.

Embarking on a new journey... in Iowa.

I began by writing a loose outline of 5 dreams I had about birds. You might call this a screenplay and you might just call it an outline. Either way, my cohort, Josh Fiedler and I began making it this weekend.

On the off-chance that a nearby bird-handler and breeder might not think I was crazy, I ventured an email to Ted Golka of Double T Farm in Glenwood, IA - a mere 1.5 hours from my recent home in Lincoln, NE (I've been in Nebraska a year as of this week!). What I got after a few days was a response from his wife Janice about my request for collaboration. They did say it was a request they'd never gotten before, but didn't think I was crazy. Josh and I went down to meet them.

We found a great spot to make the scene I wanted, and I agreed to make them a promotional video of their bird release in return for allowing me to film my strange dream with their white pigeons.

After much work with the help of This YouTube Video and my darling Dimitri Titov, I built a camera dolly, loaded it up and headed to Iowa. 

Without giving too much away, here is the time-lapse shot of sunrise at the farm on August 10, 2013 - the precursor to the end of the film.

Time Lapse at Double T Farm, Glenwood Iowa - "How Bluebirds Are Born" from Lexi Bass on Vimeo.

Excerpt from upcoming film, "How Bluebirds Are Born" by Lexi Bass. Photography: Josh Fiedler. Filmed at Double T Farm in Glenwood, Iowa with help from Ted and Janice Golka.

I have much more work to do, but I have good feelings about this film. I'm getting better at making true friends all the time - which to me is the real skill of filmmaking.

Cinemagraph Test - Preparing for Mordancage

Once again, I have been asked how to make an animated .gif by a faculty member who will assign a class project in this medium. This time, it's my own fault because I suggested a "Cinemagraph" instead, which is basically a .gif made from video edited in Photoshop (shudder). This clip of me preparing for a morning of Mordancage processing was the only clip I had that would work for a Cinemagraph test. The result is as as ridiculous as one might imagine. 

Prepare to be unnecessarily captivated.

Decompose: Mordançage Prints

Well they're done.

Show opens September 6 at the Burkholder Project and Josh and I are in the framing phase. The colors will continue to shift but here's the work right now in it's full glory. Some are really astounding. I love this process because there's so much magic. There's control, yet chaos. And the print will continue to change over time.  Lots of variables.

Ultimately the Digital images don't do justice to the actual work which has metallic undertones from the silver and copper processing.

It's definitely going to be a show to see - one I will be proud of. A toast to our forefathers! To John Pierre Sudre! To Mordançage!

Mordancage Radiolaria Images

This weekend was productive and Josh and I busted out quite a number of silver prints and then Mordancaged a substantial number of them. The show is coming together even though it's not going to happen until September. Here is a little sneak peak at some of the images. I don't feel bad showing them early because they will actually change color some more as they oxidize.

Nebraska: A Haiku

Here, a white pigeon
Made her nest beneath the bridge
At the overpass

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Radiolarian Church Interiors

If I've never said this before, I think religious iconography comes from an innate desire to go back to a primitive oneness - to be part of an undulating amoeba - to be a simple single cellular organism. Radiolaria, discovered by the Victorian biologist, Ernst Haeckle are beings, usually found at the bottom of the ocean which have not changed much or evolved since the Pre-Cambrian period of pre-history.

I think when we look at church imagery, it recalls a state of being one of these early creatures from which we evolved so long ago, and brings with it that feeling of oneness with all other primitive matter. This is what I think religious feeling is. I've started a series based on fractals and here is the first. They will be mordancaged.

The repeated and reproducing shape, like sex, evolves into complex mathematically perfect structures, while the Mordancage chemicals, like death eats away at the material. I am striving for a balance of creation and destruction in these images.

More-dancage!

WARNING:

Josh and I discovered that proper ventilation is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL to this process. We both got what was probably Metal Fume Fever because we moved from the ventilated darkroom to the washroom and inhaled caustic fumes... don't do this. It's terrible and scary. However, working 2 times with the exhaust fan prior, we were fine. Use proper ventilation if you use this technique. I can not stress this enough.

But that said - here are some of the images I made.

Solo Mordancage Attempt

After having done a good deal of research I launched into the Mordancage process for my first solo effort. A little over a year ago, I first learned about the process from fellow artist, Marcy Werner. On this occasion she had done the research and the mixing of chemicals and I had simply reaped the benefit of her pioneering work, but yesterday I successfully replicated the process, albeit with results quite different from the first attempt.

I was able to pay Marcy's kindness forward by exploring the Mordancage process with a new friend; talented Photographer, Josh Fiedler, who was kind enough to play buddy system with me while I measured and mixed caustic chemicals in metrics. Here are some of the results:

Since this is just my first attempt, I will abstain from posting my methods, but I have documented the process with video, so that future Mordancage-curious photographers can try this experiment safely. There are certainly dangerous aspects to this process, and as the mothering type, I want to frame this information in a way that emphasizes planning and caution. Video to come!

Jan as Gif Animation

This was a test .gif animation I made in response to a class workshop I taught on the topic today. I didn't know how to do it before, but now, I have learned. So for Galentines Day - here's Jan.

A Verse for February

I lost my winter hat.
I watched helplessly over a dying bat.
Lost in the apartment lobby.
You shouldn't touch them if they are on the ground like that.
It usually means they're diseased.
And disoriented.
Maybe Dying.
Alone.

I opened my heart.
To Lincoln, Nebraska.
It objectified and demeaned me.
And just continues to build more Wal-marts.

When You Ruled The Earth

you are descended from dinosaurs.

talons tapping
emerald green carpet
that covers the vast emptiness
of your third, fourth and fifth
sub-basement...

I couldn't believe it.

I couldn't believe it.

they went down so deep
into the damp earth.

I wasn't expecting it.

it moved like a wildfire - quietly, politely
with complete disregard for what you might consume
in your flaming plume
but I will put you out.
I am a flood.
All heart and blood!

And you are a dinosaur.

Fire and Snow - Photograms for Mordançage

I have returned to the darkroom this winter, a veritable cave for cold weather creativity. I am beginning the exploratory image-making process for what will eventually be Callisto, a film dealing with the Moon, the subconscious and the fears of women. These images began as snowy scenery over which I would later superimpose my silhouette video.

Eventually, inspired by the large number of fire signs i have become friends with in Nebraska, I found myself creating an homage to flames in photogram. These sporadic swaths of light are made with sand, plexiglass, and the broken beer bottles from the walkway outside of Husker stadium.