PMA November 2008 : Page 33
Trends & Technology and photographs assembled on a golden globe. Alderman admits she learns by trying to make new products. An example is the mural that appeared at the June Garden Fair at the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine. It also appeared at a major show in the United Kingdom in September and will appear next March at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show in New York City. “It’s a new look. It is all done with photography, but has obvious references to art history. It’s nifty. It’s sensational. It’s not easy to produce, but we have figured out how,” she explains. “It’s always a challenge to research the cutting edge – what I want to invent or just try is sometimes impossible.” Alderman explains she had planned to make transparent photo garden banners for Saint-Gaudens. She and the printer searched, but the right materials do not yet exist; so the banners were translucent instead. “They were beautiful, but in a different way.” She also obtained a lot of new information by meeting with Kevin Currier at EFI VUTEk in Meredith, N.H. She says they hope to work together on environmental art, using superwide printers. “He has the new materials and techniques, and … many superwide printers that will print photos on metal, 4-by-8 and larger plywood, plastic sheets, and more.” Fabric considerations Longevity is a major concern. Murals are meant to be permanent installations, she notes. “I have been interested in finding the best paints, pigment inks, papers, and fabrics possible.” For another project, a mural for garden shows, the choice of fabric was limited to fireproof materials. For the garden banners, the challenge was they would be outdoors in thunderstorms and bright sunshine for three seasons, May through October. “Only two weeks before the show opened, I received a call from LexJet; and we talked a long time about printing on new fabrics. I learned something that changed my plan from silk to satin. All the banners were on satin.” Alderman says she learned the satin cloth prints very much like enhanced Amor is Holly Alderman’s first photo tapestry, a cotton tapestry woven of six colors of cotton threads on a digital loom. It’s the only tapestry at Highpoint, N.C., representing multilayered photography. Highpoint is the largest furnishing and interior decor center in the United States. The piece was woven in North Carolina as the first of its kind by Fine Art Tapestries, part of PureCountry.com. matte paper and the satin lets light through, although you cannot see through the satin. She also learned the satin is water resistant, which means, for her practical application for the outdoor garden banners, the satin is sufficiently rainproof and waterproof to be perfect for landscape art. The colors would not run, even after seven thunderstorms. The silk, she notes, is much more translucent and transparent. A landscape can really be seen through Wearable art Visitors to Holly Alderman’s open studio look inside to see transparent silk murals of Central Park on walls of glass, and scan the landscape to watch garden banners waving from trees like Japanese poems – and a new inspiration: wearable photography on silk. She composed a one-of-a-kind caftan consisting of custom, site-specific photos printed on light silk crepe. Alderman printed drafts of the dress on paper in December, and on silk in January with her master printmaker. the silk if it hangs in a window or outside; but the silk is neither waterproof nor water resistant, and definitely not strong enough to be outdoors for a week, much less six months. Alderman says her next project will be to “invent” cloth art tents, which she says will be called Printed Garden Pavilions, and the Fabric Foto Folly. The concept of a folly, in this case, dates back several centuries. It is not something ill-advised, but rather a building made solely for the purpose of decoration, fun, and being light-hearted. “I am not confined to a narrow definition of any tradition or purpose or requirement of art,” Alderman says. “I’ll consider any ideas. It’s fun to experiment.” n PMA — November 2008 — www.pmai.org 33
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