Puddles the Clown Captured in Wet Plate Collodion Photography
"Pity Party" with Puddles the Clown, captured in the historic wet plate collodion process of pure silver on glass. Taken at the Fargo Theatre in the green room before his performance on March 27th, 2018.
The world would be a better place if everyone followed his lead. We can all learn a lesson from this sad clown. We met as strangers and we left as friends. Thank you Puddles for trusting my chemicals and camera to your likeness.
8x10" black glass ambrotypes, Carl Zeiss Tessar 300 mm lens, f4.5, 10 seconds of exposure, continuous flourescent lights. We left the text reversed just as the plate appears in person. Puddles thought it was important to show respect to the special process and large format camera that made the images. I cannot argue with that, so it will remain backwards. Puddles is wise beyond his years.
"If by chance some day you're not feeling well and you should remember some silly thing I've said or done and it brings back a smile to your face or a chuckle to your heart, then my purpose as your clown has been fulfilled." - Red Skelton
The Heard Museum, Acquiring Three Native American Wet Plates by Shane Balkowitsch
The Heard Museum, a world renowned Native American art collection in Arizona, is going to be acquiring three of my original plates into their permanent archive. http://heard.org/
My recent portrait of Ernie LaPointe, the Great Grandson of Sitting Bull, my portrait of Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle and my art piece "Death by Oil", featuring Darren Thompson.
They have requested some additional supporting information and items. I have been getting it all together over the past few months. They wanted prints of each of the plates as well as the original ambrotypes. I went above and beyond with the print of Ernie. I collaborated with my good friends Josh Withers and Herbert Ascherman Jr. to produce an original platinum print. Josh worked on my scan and produced an adequate negative on overhead projection film. Then Herb, a master printer in the historic platinum process, produced the most fabulous platinum print of my plate.
I have also collected numerous articles about "Death by Oil" that have been published. The original "Best Photograph" award at the North Dakota Human Rights and Arts Festival is also accompanying the plate. A signed copy of "Sitting Bull: His Life and Legacy" by Ernie LaPointe will be with the plate in their archive. They also request my Artist Statement as well as Biography. All of this supporting information will be documented and indexed eventually online.
http://cdm262401.cdmhost.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15086coll2/id/335
As an artist, it is a huge honor to be able to place works of art in different museums around the world. I consider this a privilege and its importance is never lost on me. Thank you everyone for your support. I also want to thank Mario Nick Klimiades and his staff at The Heard for thinking my work is worthy of this distinction.
Meet Wet Plate Photography Shane Balkowitsch by On Portraits 1-18-2018
Very honored to have a story done about my work by On Portraits.
https://www.onportraits.com/shane-balkowitsch-interview/
Photomuse Museum in India to Curate Wet Plate of Natasha Joy Gourd "Different Star Woman"
I am very excited to announce that my original wet plate of Natasha Joy Gourd "Different Star Woman" by Shane Balkowitsch, a second plate from "Northern Plains Native Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective" is going to be curated permanently by Photomuse in India. Photomuse is the only photography museum in India. It is a huge honor to have one of my pieces going to such a fabulous organization.
http://photomuse.in/
I want to thank Herb Herbert Ascherman Jr. for not only his friendship but for arranging this acquisition and placement of my original work. I also want to thank Dr. Unni Krishna Pulikkal the museum's founder and director.
PHOTOMUSE – The Museum of Photography is a national repository of photographic images that documents, preserves, interprets and promotes the natural, cultural and scientific inheritance of humanity through the medium of photography and photographic history while emphasizing India’s photographic legacy.
Through outreach and educational programs the museum emphasizes Indian and worldwide cultural, environmental preservation, and public education through photography. Nurturing a responsible generation with love for art, care for nature and respect for the humanity, using photography as an effective tool to instil such qualities, will be the ultimate goal of the Museum.
The Museum has an important duty to develop its educational role and attract wider audiences from the community, locality, or group it serves. Interaction with the constituent community and promotion of their natural and cultural heritage is an integral part of the educational role of the museum.
Northern Plains Native Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective Opening at BAGA
I awoke this morning with the most wonderful feeling. The friendship and kindness that I experienced last night at my opening was overwhelming. People keep asking to see more pictures, so here is just a few. Chad Nodland captured opening night with his digital camera. It was a good day for friendship, heritage and art. The director from the Bismarck Art and Galleries Association told me that the attendance on opening night broke any previous opening in the galleries 30 year history.
I was given two very special gifts on the day of my opening. The first gift was from Ernie LaPointe, the Great Grandson of Sitting Bull. I had taken a wet plate of him earlier in the day, the last plates at my old makeshift studio and he handed me his personal lance as a gift. I also received from Chairman Charles Murphy a handmade buffalo bone necklace with Italian trade beads that he made for me personally. I am very blessed to be on this creative path and my only goal is to make everyone proud who is involved in the series.
