Wilton man’s 19th century photographic methods on display at Pump House in La Crosse

 

KIckapoo No. 5, ambrotype

 

 

Reassembled Latvian Immigrant No. 1, ambrotype

 

Showcasing 19th century photographic techniques, rural Wilton man Aldis Strazdins’ work is part of a Pump House exhibition slated to run through Feb. 22.

The artists’ reception will be from 5–7 p.m. Friday at the Pump House Regional Arts Center, 119 King St., La Crosse.

Strazdins works out of a studio on Main Street in Wilton, creating photographs using the wet-plate collodion process, which was developed in the 1850s and used predominantly through the 1870s. The collodion process largely supplanted the earlier photographic process, the daguerreotype. 

The collodion process uses a silver nitrate bath to produce light sensitive glass (ambrotype) and aluminum (tintype) plates. No negative is produced; all images are unique positives shot directly to the prepared plates using large-format view cameras.

Strazdins said, “With chemicals unpredictably scarring every image, the process itself becomes a haunting part of the finished work.”

Called “Small Memory,” Strazdins’ Pump House exhibition calls attention to “forgotten places, discarded possessions, collected objects,” he said.

“Connections to their original owners long gone, the memories are remnants of what made a person or place unique. I capture, and in some cases ‘reconstruct’ my subjects, giving them a new life that does not have a defined sense of time or place. The nostalgic images result in a universal backdrop for the viewer to recollect similar memories from their own experiences.”

Strazdins recently shifted the focus of his photographic curiosity, shooting the Kickapoo Valley and the wider Driftless Region, still using methods of the 1850s–70s. His 20-by-24 glass plates reflect local landscapes, including scenes of the Kickapoo River, as they would have been captured about 140 years ago.

The son of Latvian immigrants Andris and Ilga Strazdins of rural Kendall, Strazdins was born in Milwaukee and attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, obtaining a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in film production. He later became a graphic designer and eventually owned an advertising agency in the Fox Valley.

Strazdins said, “Artistically, my body of work has ranged from film and animation to graphic design and performance art. With my latest work exploring historic photo processes, I am returning to my film roots and a time when there was a true appreciation of uniquely produced photographic imagery and its artifacts.”

For more information on Strazdins’ work, go to www.aldisstrazdins.com.

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