The Rewards of Persistence

After initial frustrating attempts at snowflake photography on my artist residency at the Vermont Studio Center, I finally got a snowstorm where the conditions were just right.  It turns out that windy storms break up the snowflakes into little pieces and stick them back together in jumbled clumps of ice crystals.  In the last week there was a singular day of soft gentle snowfall all day and I took over 300 photographs of individual snowflakes.  I saw forms and shapes which I had never seen before due to the lower temperatures in Northern Vermont.  I played with photographing the flakes in different states from the perfect natural forms and then with my breath gently I encouraged their melting and photographed their disappearance.  I want use the symbol of snowflakes to express themes of the delicate balance of climate systems that are being disrupted.   I plan to explore printing these image sequences using materials that evoke delicacy, preciousness, and fragility.  I tried an experiment with a lace Kozo paper which had the texture of freshly fallen snow.  I made a sequence of image transfers over gold leaf.  I loved the results until I sprayed it with a preservative spray which greatly altered the appearance of the paper to more transparent and glossy.  Above you can see the before and after results in the transformation of the paper surface. To get the look I am aiming for will require further experimentation with materials.