Robb Siverson—Prairie Music With Bagpipes

By Millie Hanson
Visual Arts Editor

Robb Siverson: Prairie Music With Bagpipes, is presented by the The Rourke Art Gallery Museum, on display from April 10 through May 8, 2011, at The Rourke Art Gallery.

This is Siverson’s fourth show at The Rourke. He was a friend of the founder and museum’s director, James O’Rourke. O’Rourke died on March 3 (John Rowell is the interim director.) Siverson has shown previously around the state, the country and as far away as Puerto Rico and has an upcoming show in Tokyo, Japan which opens May 4.

I had a chance to hear the photographer speak on Sun. April 10, about how he got into photography in the first place, his processes and equipment and his evolution as an artist. Siverson shoots with large-format camera that use 4” x 5” film (the negatives) that comes in separate sheets instead of rolls like 35mm film. The advantage to this larger format is the sharper images no matter what size the actual finished prints (the positives) end up being.

He works using traditional darkroom techniques including silver gelatin prints, considered by many to be the gold (or should I say silver) standard - because it is without comparison when it comes to producing beautiful prints that run the gamut from bright glowing whites, graduating to a full range of tones that lead into deeply saturated blacks. There are also prints in the show that make use of bromide staining. These have become known as Siverson’s trademark.

One piece that perhaps exemplifies his body of current work is “Fork In The Road,” showing a gravel road receding into the middle ground to a wooden bridge that is crossing a small creek. The road then splits in two directions: one leads us up the hill and behind the trees to the left - the other leads us to the right. We can see a choice to be made.

Every photograph you will see in the show has strong contrast that gives the eye a point of entry that is the area where Siverson wants your attention. This can be anything from a garbage can in Scotland to the blackened area of a planned field burning to a winding gravel road. He is currently interested in shooting his native Plains landscape. He’s also trying to put his thoughts into words to accompany his photos for future shows so that viewers can understand why he has chosen to shoot particular scenes and how they resonate with him.

Siverson hails from Grand Forks, North Dakota. He earned his undergraduate degree in Human Resources at Northwest Technical College in Moorhead, but fate intervened in the middle of his junior year by way of a required photo class. He was hooked, but continued on and finished with his original plan. Later he launched into a more artistically creative calling.

He got his second undergraduate degree, this time in photography, at MSUM.
The photos of Scotland in the show represent his first attempt at capturing landscapes while at MSUM. Once out of school, he assisted in Wayne Gudmundson’s studio from 2004 to 2010. Here he says he really learned how to take his printing to the next level, one photo at a time with much more care and attention to detail than he ever had before – quality over quantity, he calls it. In addition to fine art work, he also shoots commercial and aerial photography.

He feels that the digital photography done today by some professional photographers leads to laziness because it costs nothing to take hundreds of shots with a digital camera instead of buying film and taking the time to compose the shot, perhaps waiting for better light and taking only a few shots. The latter method hearkens back to the past - to people like Ansel Adams, of whom it’s said to have taken an entire day to compose and set up a shot for just one photograph.

This show displays Siverson’s early photographs of Scotland (2002). In these pictures, he was exploring of silver bromide prints and this leads up to his current work capturing Northern Great Plains landscapes. He admits that he’s never shot a “perfect” negative and always does a lot of dodging (lightening specific parts of the exposure) and burning (darkening other parts) when he’s in the process of printing the photos. These techniques allow him to manipulate the outcome of the print. He is clearly enjoys the quality that this traditional process lets him achieve.

Every photograph you will see in the show has strong contrast that gives the eye a point of entry that is the area where Siverson wants your attention. This can be anything from a garbage can in Scotland to the blackened area of a planned field burning to a winding gravel road. He is currently interested in shooting his native Plains landscape. He’s also trying to put his thoughts into words to accompany his photos for future shows so that viewers can understand why he has chosen to shoot particular scenes and how they resonate with him.

For more information on the Robb Siverson’s show at The Rourke Art Gallery Museum, check out the website at http://www.wix.com/therourke/rourke.

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IF YOU GO:
What: Prairie Music With Bagpipes: The photographs of Robb Siverson
When: The exhibit runs from April 10 through May 8, 2011.
Where: The Rourke Art Gallery, 523 S. 4th Street. Moorhead, MN 56560.
Cost: Admission rates are adults ($5), students ($2), and children, 4 & under (free).
The Rourke Art Gallery hours:1 to 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday & Sunday with Wednesday & Thursday by appointment. Please call 218.236.8861.