Meet Seward Artists, Mark D. Roberts

Contact: mroberts43@gmail.com

Makes: Sculpture/Alternative Photography

From the artist: Artwork includes: “Art of the Catacomb” series of  clay “mummy” like figures that inhabit the cells of altered letterpress cases; Manipulated polaroid imagery of the flora and fauna of  Como Conservatory; Black and white Kirlian series entitled “The Secret Life of Plants”.

About Mark: I was born in Carmel California and I received a Masters in music from Stanford University. I gave up his performing career when my neighbor Ansel Adams, sympathetic to my debilitating stage fright, introduced me to photography in the mid ‘50’s. I worked in large format photography until 1982 when I studied with Pierre Cordier who originated the chemigram process.  At this point my work underwent a dramatic change and I started focusing on alternative photographic processes. This would also include Polaroid manipulation and Kirlian photography, which employs a flat copper plate, film, and electricity to make electro-photographs of plants. My most recent Kirlian series, “The Secret Life of Plants” was exhibited last year at the Bakken Museum in Minneapolis. I work with other media besides photography. I collaborated on the Art of the Catacomb series with Denise Rouleau and continue to produce “reliquary” pieces, which draws on my experience of attending a Jesuit school as a child. While I enjoy creating sculptural works, I still think of myself first and foremost as a photographer