Artistic Voice and the Handmade Photograph

Artistic voice is the imprint of who we are on everything we make. As photographers, it’s in our best interest to become comfortable with the elements that give form—visible and invisible—to what we create: concept, content, and mastery of technique and materials.

This workshop explores what is intrinsic and what can be learned through experimentation and practice, with the aim of creating work that encourages the viewer to be not only a spectator but also a participant.

Cotton Miller and Tami Bone guide participants through the elements of strengthening your artistic voice as you set out on a quest for the handmade. Cotton brings his deep knowledge of modern and historic printmaking processes, each with its own special beauty, as he walks us through methods that can be used to fulfill personal aesthetic and vision. Tami will demonstrate how to use the print as an opaque underpainting, in the centuries-old style of a monochromatic grisaille. Light, shadow, shape, form, and a limited palette are all emphasized.

Thought-provoking exercises help us set aside distraction, making way for focus and hands-on practice. As we clarify our concept, using content to inform and enlighten, we engage with techniques and materials that bring it all to life.

Come join this celebration of the handmade photograph in the pastoral setting of Round Top, Texas. Nestled in the gentle rolling hills between Austin and Houston, Round Top is a tiny town known all over the world as an antique mecca, which pulls many thousands of visitors twice-yearly for the Round Top Antiques Show.