For Kids
SAGA support will allow Tintype artist Brian Deemy to cover the costs of studio preparation, lighting, and chemistry, to minimize oosts for studio students.
The Wet Plate Collodion process, more commonly know as “tintype,” is a process predating film by thirty years. The process, introduced in 1851, involves making and pouring photographic emulsion onto a metal or glass substrate, placing that plate into the camera, and developing it by means that create a positive image directly on the plate.
The procedure is difficult in practice, meaning that only after six years, three darkrooms, and great investment, can artist Brian Deemy working comfortably in the tintype process. Having achieved this expertise, he would like to bring access to the process, and its results back to Spokane. Subjects and students will be able to step through a time capsule, sit in front of a 115-year-old camera, and see their image reflected in a process dating back to the Civil War.
The best way to experience the magic of this process is in watching one’s own image appear upon a metal plate in real time. Deemy wants to share this magic with as broad an audience as possible, with no financial limitations. Thanks to SAGA support, Deemy’s studio costs will be covered, meaning that his students will only be charged for the image they leave with.
Deemy is especially interested in reaching those who have an interest to try their hand at tintype. Quarterly workshops will be held in 2020, where students will be able to make plates, step by step, with their own hands.