Art in Alchemy

by Emily Gindlesparger

In the dark quarters of the Tucson Community Darkroom, a transformation takes place as a sheet of blank paper in a tray of chemicals begins to cloud, and then becomes a picture.

“Darkroom photography is incredible because of how much you learn and experience when you’re practicing it,” writes Jasper Ludwig, co-founder of TCD, in an email. “Film and historical process photography teach and incorporate an understanding of chemistry, mathematics and art history, and provide a lot of interesting and incredibly creative options for photographers.”

“In the back of my mind, I always had an inkling to share this completely amazing art form with other youth and the public in general.” Ludwig says, and when she met Julia DeConicini, suddenly “creating a community educational photographic facility was realistic.” After finishing school in Olympia, Washington, they each moved back to Tucson, and Tucson Community Darkroom was born as a reality in March 2011.

Most of the nonprofit’s programming is currently with youth in schools. Under the DeConicini’s tutelage, grade school students at Catalina Foothills experimented with pinhole photography, photo-grams and cyanotypes. “The processes always produce magical and ethereal results, and the kids loved it,” Ludwig wrote of DeConicini’s semester, while Ludwig was working with students at City High in film and paper processes.

“I see analog making folks focus a lot more,” she notes. “They have a set number of exposures, so they really pay attention. They become determined to get fulfilling results. The students I’ve been working with have also really focused on making beautiful prints, and conveying emotion and beauty through their images.”

Someday soon, Ludwig and DeConicini hope to move their small appointment-only facilities to a bigger space that can be open set hours for community members to work in black and white, color, large format film and prints, studio photography, and print finishing, as well as a gallery space for exhibitions. Until then, the pair will be sharing the magic one school, and one appointment, at a time.

Tucson Community Darkroom is open for rentals and small workshops by appointment. For more information or to join the mailing list and keep abreast of exhibitions, classes, workshops and new developments, email tucsoncommunitydarkroom@gmail.com. Call 450-7395 or visit TucsonCommunityDarkroom.org for other details.

Category: Arts