Something Old & Something New
Museum Collaborates with Visiting Artist Lindsey Ross
(TELLURIDE, Colo. – Sept. 24, 2020) Telluride Historical Museum’s (THM) collaboration with Lindsey Ross is an alchemy of something old and something new. THM commissioned the fine art photographer, also known as @thealchemistress, to produce a rare series of limited edition prints created with a negative from the Museum’s collection. The prints will be available for purchase starting on Sept. 24. All proceeds will benefit the nonprofit Museum.
“We are always looking for new and interesting ways to allow people to engage the town’s rich history,” THM Executive Director Kiernan Lannon said. “And, of course, with all the uncertainty with the pandemic, we knew we were going to have to get even more creative in order to allow people to experience it. We really wanted to figure out a unique way people could bring some local history into their homes.”
Like many nonprofits, THM has had to cancel the vast majority of their programs and events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of the appeal of the historic print project is that, unlike most of THM’s traditional programs and events, it did not involve the large gatherings of people that are not feasible given the current conditions. Another significant advantage was that THM knew just the artist to be able to pull the project off. The collaboration offers an opportunity to own a rare piece of art.
Ross is no stranger to Telluride. In addition to being a featured artist in Telluride Arts’ Art + Architecture Weekend, she was also the subject of the film “Lindsey Ross: A Less Convenient Path” which was an official selection of Telluride Mountain Film Festival 2017. She participated in artist residencies locally with the Telluride MountainFilm Festival and at Steeprock Artisans Guild in Sawpit. However, her work extends far beyond these canyon walls. The film was also an official selection for the Banff Mountain Film Festival 2017 and she has done residencies with the Squire Foundation, and, most recently, the Budapest Art Factory. Her studio is in the Funk Zone of Santa Barbara.
Lannon said, “We were incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to see Lindsey’s art up close when she displayed a selection of her photographs at the Museum during Art + Architecture weekend in 2017. We absolutely fell in love with her work and her dedication to and enthusiasm for historical photographic processes. She was the only person we would trust to be able to turn this idea into reality.”
Ross specializes in wet plate collodion and tintype photography. The process was invented in the 1850s and was used up through the 1880s. Each image requires extensive equipment, chemicals, a darkroom, and presence which is what drew Ross to the craft. For the Museum collaboration, Ross used historically appropriate techniques to produce silver gelatin prints of an image originally captured in 1884.
The Museum will be debuting the special series of prints next Thursday at 5:30 p.m. on the Main Street non-profit busking stage, which also happens to be very near to where the original photograph was taken. The evening will also feature a display of vintage portraits from the Museum’s collection as well as the opportunity to meet Ross, learn about the process she used to create the prints, and, if interested, book an appointment with Ross to have your portrait taken using historical techniques during the course of the weekend.
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