Here and There

A Collaboration with Catherine Hellsten

Geographic locations that possess a strong “Sense of Place” have a clear identity and character that can be perceived by inhabitants and visitors. What particular characteristics contribute to a locale’s sense of place? How can these aspects be conveyed through art to a viewer to give them an understanding of a place? We started asking similar questions as new residents to the secluded peninsular east coast of Maryland and as visiting artists engulfed in the unending horizon surrounding West Texas A&M University. In order to further explore these questions we realized we would have to expand our search geographically.

Geography, culture, socio-economics, and history all contribute to the identity of an area. This body of work investigates these attributes through academic and field research as well as our experience of them as travelers through observational photography. These explorations are then conveyed through composite imagery and sculptural glass. Photographs carry a sense of authenticity and authority over time and place. This is true for both the observer and the observed. The historical photographic process of wet plate collodion is used for its inherent qualities that compliment the ethereality of experience and memory. Similar to the multi-faceted attributes of a place, glass, when used as a substrate for imagery can be layered to create a three-dimensional representation of the experience of that space.

 Sense of place is defined as the intrinsic and perceived meaning of a locale. Meaning is understood through distinctive physical appearances, attached value and our own experience of the place. Can correlations be made between places with drastically different geographies or cultures? Can these similarities or differences between places help us to not only better understand our fellow human beings but also better understand ourselves?

 Inherent in the local is the concept of place – a portion of land/town/cityscape seen from the inside, the resonance of a specific location that is known and familiar…..Place is latitudinal and longitudinal within the map of a persons life. It is temporal and spatial, personal and political. A layered location replete with human histories and memories, place has width as well as depth. It is about connections, what surrounds it, what formed it, what happened there, what will happen there. (Lure of the Local, Lucy Lippard, 1997, 7)