October 14 - November 26, 2005

Joan Emm and Ric Morrisonn both enjoyed careers as professional photographers - Joan as a portrait photographer in Marin County, California; Ric managing a professional photography lab while working as an architectural photographer in Texas. Just prior to their meeting in 1994, Joan was instructing professional photographers. Ric had finished six years of art metal design and custom fabrication for Lucas Film at the Skywalker Ranch, also in Marin County, California.

Discovering the special properties of a Polaroid film (SX-70) that stays soft enough to manipulate the emulsion (colors) became a favorite technique for both of them. The images in this exhibition are a few of their favorite subjects. Manipulating the original 3" x 3" image with a wooden tool alters the image to reflect more of what the subject "feels" like than the factual and sharp representation of reality that is traditionally associated with photography.

An excellent source of information on the process of Polaroid emulsion manipulation can be found in Polaroid Manipulations by Kathleen Carr (Watson Guplill, 2002). A copy of this book accompanies the exhibition.

Joan Emm and Ric Morrisonn
Coos Art Museum
October 2005

This exhibition was underwritten in part by a grant from the Coos County Cultural Coalition Supporters of the arts, culture and heritage in Coos County

For more information on CAM, email info@coosart.org.