Shoot! Interview: Angela Franks Wells

I’m feeling old school today. I want to talk to someone who’s using older processes in a new way. Maybe processes like Copperplate photogravure, or Gum bichromate, or the Van Dyke process. What luck then, that I recently corresponded with Angela Franks Wells, who is using all three of these techniques to a rather beautiful effect. Plus, she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty. From her parts & labor project statement:

“Raised by a machinist and a mechanic, the physicality of life in work,
love, family, and play were emphasized daily and engrained in my being.
We were always doing something.”

Here’s how Angela gets the job done:

How did you get started using these old processes? What do you think it brings to your work that you wouldn’t be able to achieve otherwise? And how DO you an image on a brown bag?

I’ve always been really intrigued by the 19th century photographic processes. When I decided to go to graduate school for photography, I researched programs that were strong in this area and found Arizona State University. Once I started working in them, I realized that each process has a distinct set of attributes it brings to the photographic image…as well as its own set of technical variables. The three bodies of work on my website each utilize a different process, one that I feel strengthens the concept of the imagery and in some ways the process becomes a part of the idea.

parts & labor is produced using the photo mechanical technique of Copperplate photogravure. The images are about labor and made using an incredibly labor intensive process…as a good friend says, “it’s work about work about work.”

thirsty

church key

wrenches

1 +1 = 1 is extraordinarily personal. The series of images are layers of individual images of myself and my (at the time soon to be) husband. The idea of marriage, two individuals becoming one, the fuzzy nature of that third being that is created when two people form a partnership, etc. were consuming me. This series allowed me to visually and physically explore these thoughts. Gum bichromate is soft, delicate, built up slowly layer after layer as a process it reflected the ideas I was exploring–the images would never have worked as color digital files overlapped on the computer. The computer is cold, removed, and about technology. Gum bichromate requires time, nurturing, hand coating, and patience in developing.

brown bagger was so much fun. The images are printed using the Van Dyke process. I made enlarged duplicate negatives, digital negatives, and copy machine negatives of objects that might go in a brown bag (due to their sensitive nature or the standards established by society). The chemistry is coated onto brown bags that I found and bought, the negative placed on the dry coating, exposed to uv light, rinsed and fixed, and voila, you have an image on a paper bag.

fly fisherman

miller time

There are probably hundreds of ways to make a photographic image. I try to use a technique that enhances the imagery, rather than stick to a default process. We are in a time where digital technology has allowed for phenomenal growth and access to the world of photography. This is great! However, I don’t think its an excuse to forget or abolish the practice of other processes. As an artist, the more techniques I know, the more options I have. And honestly, I love the smell of fixer, working in the darkroom, physically touching my materials, and getting dirty…it’s just more fun that way!

 

I love the surprising collision of the older processes and some of the obviously modern elements your images display–it really makes me do a double-take, because my mind initially thinks these images could be very old. Is this intentional? Do you feel some of the techniques work better for portraits and others for still lives?

The tension created by the old process/new imagery is intentional and always enjoyed. Getting the viewer to double-take is great. We are constantly bombarded by images in every facet of life. To pause and think about what you’re seeing is good. It has very little to do with nostalgia. All the images you’ve seen were made in this century, it’s about now (and sometimes how then has changed into now). There are elements of life that are timeless. They may not be dominant anymore, but they exist and continue to thrive.

I’ve never thought about one technique over the other regarding portrait vs. still life. I try to think about the desired outcome, the message or feeling I want to convey and which technique is going to present the most appropriate result.

What’s next for you– do you have a new project in the works?
 

parts & labor is an ongoing series. I’m just not ready to be finished with the project. I am working on a new ephemera project that is a departure from my usual working methods. The work will be shown in October at 515arts (the artist collective I belong to) and I don’t want to ruin the surprise…but the imagery is color, utilizes digital technology and printmaking and I am having a great time with it.