Master printer Tillman Crane will lead this hands-on workshop on using platinum and palladium to make photographic prints. 

The workshop is hosted by Laura Letinsky, an artist and co-curator of the Smart Museum’s special exhibition There was a collection made: Photography from Lester and Betty Guttman, which features numerous platinum palladium images from these earlier days of photography.

Registration is closed—workshop is full

Workshop is full. $50 materials fee. Space is extremely limited, and advanced registration is required through the UChicago Box Office. 

Presented by the Smart Museum of Art with support from the University of Chicago’s Department of Visual Arts (DoVA), Department of Art History, the Education and Outreach program of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and UChicago Arts.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

Over the course of three days, participants will become familiarized with the process of utilizing digital technology to produce first the negatives, and then, the platinum palladium materials to make photographic prints. Crane’s expertise will provide solid material experience and engagement with today’s possibilities with the process, materials, and working methods of platinum palladium printmaking. 

While today, digital photography and ink jet printing are the common tools for photography, many different materials and strategies have been a part of this medium’s evolution.  Platinum palladium materials were heralded through the mid 1800s into the early 1900s for their extraordinary precision and gorgeous tonal description.  For numerous reasons, some economic, some aesthetic, and some pragmatic, digital technology has largely replaced these precedents, affording an unprecedented rapidity of dissemination of words and images. New technologies do not disappear the old, rather, for better or worse, anachronistic media such as painting and photography, in its material, that is, print form, have become housed primarily within the art world with specific, particular and ongoing pedigree. The importance of full aesthetic engagement with materials through the sensorial experiences of making, looking, touching, etc. is generative of ideas, information, and knowledge. 

SCHEDULE

Registered participants will be sent a detailed schedule of times and locations in advance of the workshop.

Thursday, October 20 (optional)
Digital calibration of DoVA’s computer and printer system to develop systemized knowledge for exposure index (density and time charting).

Friday, October 21, 10 am–5 pm
Platinum Palladium Introduction: digital negative production; materials including chemistry and paper; printing process.                

Saturday, October 22, 10 am–5 pm
Platinum Palladium printing.

ABOUT TILLMAN CRANE

Tillman Crane’s distinctive platinum photographs combine 19th century materials with a 21st century aesthetic. Working first as a photojournalist for The Maryville Daily Times (TN) he began teaching the craft of photography in 1988. His passion for this medium continues to evolve as he embraces new technology and furthers his mastery of the platinum/palladium print. The focus of his imagery continues to be the unique sense of place in the ordinary, everyday locations where he lives and teaches.

A skilled teacher, his workshops offer a variety of locations for all levels of expertise and camera formats. Tillman’s own workshops include north Alabama, the Erie Canal, Montana, North Dakota and the Orkney islands. He also leads workshops for the Maine Media Workshops. With his extensive knowledge of platinum printing he has taught in China, Mexico, Scotland, England and throughout the U.S. Tillman has published four limited edition books: Tillman Crane/Structure (2001), Touchstones (2005), Odin Stone (2008) and A Walk Along the Jordan (2009). For the discriminating collector, he collaborates to create one-of-a-kind handmade books of your choice of platinum/palladium prints.

His photographs have been exhibited around the world and are included in major collections throughout the U.S., China, England, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Tillman’s images are also included in several important books on contemporary photography.