Visages in Time

VISAGES IN TIME

Artist: LauraAmy Marise Patterson

Visages in Time is a Victorian photographic journey exploring the expression, emotion and dress of that era, through thoughtfully pursuing her understanding and fascination with photos LauraAmy has both inherited, and found at antique stores. 

With a love of both history and analog photography, it was natural for LauraAmy to be captivated by the photos that her grandmother had in her house in boxes. Who were these people? Why did they look as they did? What were they thinking and feeling, and why did I feel such a closeness to people who came so far before her?

LauraAmy first came up with the idea for a show like this a few years ago when she was taking a history of photography class. She started collecting old photos at antique and thrift stores, again noticing that she was feeling strangely drawn to certain people in certain photos. As someone who is captivated by the late Victorian era, it was to those photos that she felt the most connected. She began to think of how profound it was that she, here in the 2020's, was holding something that was more than one hundred years old looking at a person who existed at one time - possibly standing in the same spot as she was, thinking and feeling and dreaming their own dreams. It was then she formed the idea for this show - the past, affecting the future, happening in the present.

Live music by: Peter Colclasure

Peter Colclasure is a musician/composer based in San Jose, CA. He plays piano at the New Ballet School, formerly Silicon Valley Ballet, and teaches at Evergreen Studio of Music and the Arts. In San Jose, he currently plays with several groups, including Cola, the Jean Jackets, the Rose Peddlers, and the Vanities. Occasionally he flies up to Seattle to record and perform with the Foghorns. In a previous life he toured with Smile Brigade, Facts About Funerals, and the Kissers.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work studies the depth that is in every soul; it is both exploratory by delving deeper in the unconscious, and cinematic in its journey to that place. Shooting film allows me to capture this in such a beautifully warm and alive way. In both my professional photo shoots and personal projects, I find emotion incredibly profound and captivating. When working with clients, I am a candid photographer; showing the idiosyncrasies of the human condition. By looking for those magical instances, when the doorway opens, allowing me to glimpse into the essence of my subject. It is at these times I capture the deep connection between myself, the camera, and the person/ place or thing involved.

I am currently creating ethereal and surrealist photo series; implementing techniques like shallow depth of field, purposely throwing things out of focus and using expired and overheated film, allowing me to create a dreamlike atmosphere.

My photographic interests and experiences are broad, varying from wedding and maternity photography- to band and nature photography. I am currently heading in an alternative process direction ; combining both my photography and writing on mid century and earlier photos. I will be using both cyanotype and Van Dyke processes.

In the future I am aiming to add large format and tin type photography to my oeuvre.

ARTIST BIO

LauraAmy Marise Patterson is a photographer, writer and mixed media artist born and bred in the Valley of the Heart's delight - San Jose California. She is a film photographer focusing mostly on the beauty and raw reality that happens in everyday life. Applying street photography principles and techniques to even the most serious of photo shoots with clients, she channels her influences like photographers Henri Cartier Bresson, Vivian Meir and Gordon Parks. She also taps into the surrealist avant garde beauty that is inspired by photographers like Eikoh Hosoe.

Since childhood she has been writing poetry as a way of expanding and processing her understanding of the world; this was partnered with a cinematic and fantastical love for drama and how she visually made sense of what was happening around her. Having grown up with a mother who loved modern cinema and a father who loved classic cinema, she became acquainted with the cinematic language and the immense capabilities of moving images as a tool for expression. 

In her late teens, she began to feel that she was taking ‘snapshots’ of everything happening around her and knew the moving image was in her future. Chasing the idea of becoming the next ‘David Lynch’, she volunteered at Cinequest film festival. Her passion for cinema allowed her to be a spot on promoter and she was quickly moved from being a day to day volunteer to helping connect filmmakers with film buyers. This prompted an exciting but short lived start to becoming a filmmaker. Lacking the knowledge and technical skills for making this happen, she focused more on an accessible device that was abstract painting. This went on for a few years as art in general slowly faded into the background, where, aside from poetry it almost dried up completely. 

It was not until LauraAmy started attending community college studying horticulture at the age of 30 that her hunger for the captured image came running forward. She took a history of photography class with a wonderful teacher named Greg Metler that forever changed her life. It was at this time that her father had recently passed away, and she was in dire need of a way to process this grief. Having been in an artistic drought for some time, studying the birth of photography and the wealth of possibilities in what it could capture, she was smitten and incredibly inspired! She then switched completely over to studying analog photography (which she did for 2 years) and consciously made the decision (rather dramatically of course) to be an almost strictly analog photographer. Though she does not make movies at this time (but trust she will!), her work reflects a cinematic drama and flair reminiscent of pre 1960’s film.

Fast forward to the present day- LauraAmy is established as a professional photographer and hopes to continue to learn, and grow with her artistic journey. Her main focus in her photography is to capture those most delicate moments that can only be captured in the blink of an eye. She believes when we capture something on film, we are given the gift of a memory to be cherished forever and she hopes to continue to keep film alive!