Marilyn Canning explores the ‘Remains of the Ancient West’ in photographs.
By: Susan Van Dongen
With staggering sprawl and population growth in areas such as Phoenix, Ariz., the vistas of the Old West and Southwest are being forever altered. Photographer Marilyn Canning hopes to pay tribute to the deserts, prairies and mesas before they disappear beneath housing developments and malls.
"The Ancient West forever remains a fertile vista of photographic exploration," she writes in her artist’s statement. "Following in the footsteps of greater photographers, the West has drawn me for over 20 years. My fascination includes not only the sheer wonder of the land but the struggle between man and nature for possession of these awe-inspiring spaces.
"(However), I am not moved by the new West with its soulless housing tracts that blight the land in neat, predictable rows of uninspired sameness," she continues. "The new West, with its strip mall culture blooming with alarming speed like an invasive non-indigenous weed, lays claim to that which it cannot sustain. The new West has no magic, no mystery."
Ms. Canning has captured the ghostly presence of abandoned towns, missions and Native American sites in the black-and-white images of Remains of the Ancient West, on view at Gallery 14 in Hopewell through Dec. 18.
She’s co-exhibiting with Gallery 14 founding member Rhoda Kassoff-Isaac, who is showing an array of works she calls Silver Dollars and Other Places.
A resident of Flemington, Ms. Canning says she’s magnetically drawn to the Old West, and finds that part of the United States visually stunning.
"It’s a mystical place where you can stumble upon the giant, melting adobe walls of Fort Bowie, the bone baked remains of Tumacacori, and Indian graveyards with stark wooden crosses," Ms. Canning says. "The mosaic of cultures Indian, Mexican, Cowboy and the Catholic missions have left their unique legacy in the vastness and wonder of the ancient West. It creates this lush, fertile environment plus the landscape as the backdrop makes it that much more fascinating.
"What I find appealing is the way Nature is reclaiming some of her own space, with the ghost towns and the adobe structures," she continues. "Nature, with her endless patience, quietly reclaims that which man has abandoned derelict mining towns, empty churches and forgotten Indian graveyards. These ancient places, once the domain of man, have been quietly eroded by nature."
We see boarded up buildings and abandoned wells springing from the sparse landscapes, evidence of man’s presence in an unforgiving land that looks like no human could survive there. The rocky terrain and evident lack of moisture bring to mind life on Mars. The gnarled cacti, trees and shrubbery are the only things that decorate the view.
Yet, Ms. Canning’s composition and printing soften the vistas. She uses a diffusion technique that is often mistaken for infrared technology, creating a sense of mystery and a distinction in every print.
"I use any sort of material that will diffuse the light as it’s coming out of the enlarger before it hits the paper," she says. "I use different types of plastic and bubble wrap to get different effects. I can’t explain it technically, but light bounces back and forth and it helps to enhance the whites, really makes them pop. It also gives you that fuzzy edge to the blacks.
"These silver prints are selenium toned to enhance the warmth of the imagery," she continues. "When Portriga Rapid (paper) was available, I was able to create wonderfully aubergine- and green-toned images that evoked another place and time. They’re not like sepia-toned prints which is what you would expect with this Western iconography but instead, this wonderful purple/green effect. I am still on a quest to find comparable paper. The tragedy is, with more digital photographers abandoning traditional photography, the market is shrinking and paper manufacturers are less motivated to produce products that don’t have a large market share."
Ms. Canning has a bachelor’s degree in art from the University of Illinois with additional work in photography at Columbia College in Chicago, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the Maine Photo Workshops. Before focusing exclusively on photography, she was a mixed-media artist specializing in a medium of her own creation caulk works that combined caulk, paper, powdered pigment and varnishes.
She names influences such as Ruth Thorne-Thomsen, John Clarence Laughlin, Arthur Tress, Wynn Bullock and Czech photographer Josef Koudelka.
"Although I didn’t take her courses, Ruth Thorne-Thomson taught at Columbia College," Ms. Canning says. "Her work has this mysterious, dreamlike quality they’re these little jewels. I also like John Clarence Laughlin, who does these Southern Gothic images spooky, romantic and seductive."
She’s shown her work at the Watchung Arts Center in Watchung, the Perkins Gallery in Moorestown and at galleries in Montclair and also received a Best of Show award at the New Jersey Printmaking Council in Somerville, where she had a one-woman show. She’s also exhibited her work at numerous venues in New Mexico and had images published in New Mexico Magazine. She’s been a member of Gallery 14 for about a year and a half.
Ms. Canning works for Martindale-Hubbell, a marketing resource for law firms.
"If I could do photography all the time, it would be such a gift," she says. "But doing darkroom work is really hard, especially when you’re working full-time."
Ms. Canning hopes her next project will focus on Vizcaya, the Italian Renaissance-style villa and formal gardens built in Miami in 1916 as the winter residence of industrialist James Deering.
"I have some beautiful images of the gardens, which are glorious," she says. "They’re sort of romantic but the way I’m printing also gives this sense of haunting, gothic mystery.
"My images are not about now," she continues. "When you see my images you don’t know where they’re from. In this series, there’s not a lot there except nature and relics. There are no cars, no people just quiet, lonely spaces."
Remains of the Ancient West, photography by Marilyn Canning, and Silver Dollars and Other Places, photography by Rhoda Kassof-Isaac, is on view at Gallery 14, 14 Mercer St., Hopewell, through Dec. 18. Gallery hours: Sat.-Sun. noon-5 p.m. or by appointment. For information, call (609) 333-8511. On the Web: www.photosgallery14.com

