Years ago, 1999 to be exact, I received a copy of Duane Sanderson’s book All that Glitters from SAR Press. The photography was by the noted busy Santa Fe artist, Addison Doty. I made a note then that to work with this photographer. Why? Doty has the rare gift to draw the full 3D presence from volumetric form, so much that it stepped off the page. The opportunity arrived when the book to support Christine Nofchissey McHorse’s traveling exhibition Dark Light was begun.
The tour is now at its last stop, MoCNA Santa Fe (through July 31, 2015). The exhibition will be regrouped in 2017 and will open at National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall, Washington DC, where it will be on view for a full year.
Addison was hired to do the photography. We knew we had made the right choice when he arrived to take the 18 ceramics away for photography. We offered to send our assistant with him to unwrap to pots. Doty refused, “unpacking these pots, taking then out of boxes and holding them is my first step in getting to know them.”
Our partnership had perfect chemistry; Mark del Vecchio and I provided the text, Kay Fowler and Nancy Stem of Fresco Books designed and published the book (working with artisan printers and box makers in Italy) and Doty’s images were extraordinary, almost charcoal drawings. The effort brought in a major award.
We won the Bronze Medal Book Award for Fine Art from the Independent Publishers Association, beaten out for the silver medal by a tie between the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney, tough competition. (A copy of the book, signed by the artist, can be acquired now from the CFile Shop.
Work by Christine Nofchissey McHorse. Photograph by Addison Doty. Click to see a larger image.
Given the heavy traffic for the last post on McHorse, we decided to show her newest two works and to showcase Addison Doty’s sensitive interpretation of her forms. They are all the more difficult to capture because of their distinctive surface sheen and glitter of mica particles in the clay. Doty plays with this in the highlights to accentuate structure, volume and texture, from its shimmer to matte light traps.
Garth Clark is Chief Editor of CFile
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Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
Work by Christine Nofchissey McHorse. Photograph by Addison Doty. Click to see a larger image.
Left to right: Addison Doty, Joel McHorse and Mark Del Vecchio at the opening of Dark Light at MoCNA Santa Fe.
I’ve never before been able to touch a photographed three dimensional object with my eyes. Brilliant photos Mr. Doty!