Susie J. Silbert, curatorial fellow at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, has some high praise for the work in ”Alyssa Salomon: The Handmade Print” ”I think the way she composes her photographs and titles them is poetry. I think of poetry as these few words that are supposed to evoke an emotion.”
Silbert points to one photograph, These Wild Ecstasies. It’s a simple image of a man with outstretched arms. The effect is one of joy and freedom. “With just these three words and one image, she’s evoked an entire experience,” says Silbert. “It’s a simple moment that’s so full. This whole mood is created, and it’s something that’s very different from what I would expect looking at the component parts.”
Salomon creates her photographs using 19th-century processes, including the Van Dyke and the cyanotype methods, and prints them on handmade paper. For this exhibit, shown in conjunction with FotoFest 2012, Salomon has taken some of her photos out of typical frames and stretched them over metal rings. The rings are mounted directly on the wall. “By having them mounted this way, the photograph is more of an object. It’s like a portal into a way seeing,” says Silbert.
The exhibit is on view from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Through April 8. 4848 Main. For information, call 713-529-4848 or visit www.crafthouston.org. Free.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Feb. 4. Continues through April 8, 2012
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2012.