Artist creates her own Kaleidoscope Images

Visiting Artist Eileen Quinlan gave a Lecture at UC Davis Art Annex on February 18, 2016, from 4:30-6:00 p.m.

Here is a little of background on Quinlan. Originally when Quinlan began her art career she enjoyed photographing landscapes with analog cameras. Then she decided to go to graduate school and while she was there obtaining her MFA decided that she only wanted to work in her art studio.

Landscape image taken by Eileen Quinlan

The lecture began with Tim Hyde a professor from the UC Davis Art Studio department introducing Eileen Quinlan.

Quinlan began her lecture by showing the audience a few of her landscape images. Then she continued to explain what it was like to work in her art studio. She discovered that working strictly in her art studio had its limitations and began experimenting with a variety of techniques. Quinlan said she likes to take everyday objects and transform them into something abstract. While in her studio she manipulates the film she explained in a number of ways.

At times she will pour vinegar on the film while it is being processed just to see the effects it has on the images when she prints them. She noted the fragility of Polaroid film in her experiments. Other times she will scratch the film with steel wool or leave the film in the solution almost to the point where it will disintegrate and then process the film.

Another aspect Quinlan talked about was her interest in trying to capture smoke to create abstract images. She said she uses 2 x 2 mirror tiles with 4 x 5 mounted strobes and her analog cameras in making her imagery. At this point in her discussion she showed the audience several examples of her work with smoke.

Eileen Quinlan talking about her distorted image she created

Quinlan commented that people like to believe what they see in a photograph. To explain her comment she told the story of how years ago people were led to believe that spirits could be captured on film. The images people were looking at had orbs in them. The orbs in those images were actually dust particles on the lens and people were misled into believing they were spirits. Quinlan said that this is when her true fascination began in abstract photography.

Quinlan has had worldwide exhibitions and showed the audience examples of some of her work in various exhibits. One of the exhibits she showed examples of was how she took yoga mats and put them in specific arrangements when she photographed them so that they appeared to resemble female body parts. She told the audience her inspiration had come from Judy Chicago, the American feminist artist.

A few people at the lecture asked Quinlan questions when the lecture was over. One of the questions asked of Quinlan was, “What part of working in her art studio did she enjoy the most”? Quinlan replied that she enjoyed working with the mirrors because of the geometric abstract images she could create. The images she showed to us looked like kaleidoscope images filled with color.

I saved my question until I could approach her about having my picture taken with her.

My question was, “Do you feel uncomfortable around people when taking pictures of them?” Quinlan responded by saying that she felt she had an introvert personality and found it much easier to photograph inanimate objects.

Eileen Quinlan and Samantha Hughston

This was an interesting lecture to attend.