Images teacher shares salt print course of via displays, publications

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — What began with a little bit of curiosity now has Joanna Yoder, Pennsylvania College of Technology pictures teacher, exhibiting her paintings in displays and magazines throughout the nation and world wide.

Over the summer time, Yoder started researching and experimenting with historic photographic processes that she may share along with her college students. She found the salted paper printing course of via a workshop at Glen Echo Photoworks in Glen Echo, Maryland. The course of, invented by William Henry Fox Talbot within the 1830s, is the oldest negative-to-positive photographic course of, which makes use of silver nitrate, cotton paper, sodium thiosulfate, water and desk salt.

“For me, personally, I was drawn back to the darkroom to find balance, to return to something more tactile and hands-on,” Yoder stated. “I wanted to be far away from a computer screen, immersed in the quiet atmosphere of the darkroom. The salted paper printing process forces me to slow down and be more reflective in my work. I enjoy the experimentation with light, chemistry and time, as well as the surprises that come with the imperfection and uniqueness of each print.”

The course of differs from conventional darkroom printing due to the best way the paper is hand-coated. Yoder stated the great thing about every salt print is that every one is all the time slightly bit completely different, the results of inventive brush strokes, variations within the tones throughout the picture and the act of putting objects on the paper earlier than publicity.

Her salt paper print work “Heirloom Bonnet” was chosen by juror Aline Smithson for an exhibition at The Photographer’s Eye Collective in Escondido, California.  The “(S)Light of Hand” assortment is on exhibit via Oct. 4.

Although Smithson identified that the digital world has eliminated the artist’s hand from the photographic expertise, she stated there was a return to different and historic processes.

“Using alternative and historical processes has allowed artists to celebrate the imperfect, to experience the physicality of photography, to embrace its unpredictability, and to create unique objects that are artful and meaningful,” Smithson stated.