Artist's work on display and raising money for Geneva History Center
The Geneva History Center's current exhibition “Who Was Sadie Cooksey?” includes the work of professional photographer and former Genevan Maggie Foskett.
The exhibition is Foskett's photographic interpretation of the former Geneva Girls School. Foskett has donated her 2007 cliché verre titled “Deep Sleep,” to raise money for the Geneva History Center.
The artwork is currently on display at the Geneva History Center, 113 S. Third St., and is available for silent auction.
Foskett is nationally known for her cliché verre or magnification and colorful photographic impressions of natural life taken without a camera or film. She was born and grew up in the “wild country” of Brazil. This was the root of her keen observations of the castoff bits of nature, its debris and refuse. She walks through the woods and picks up small, organic objects that simply aren't meant to last and brings them back to her darkroom. Once she has the materials for a particular composition together, she layers them between glass plates to create her own negative — no need for cameras or film. The technique is a variation of cliché verre — French for “stereotype” and “glass.”
Foskett said, “I use the term cliché verre because I project light from my darkroom enlarger onto color sensitive paper to magnify my collages. I don't work from a negative, nor do I photograph my subjects, very small transparent matter such as wings or plants, arranged in a three-inch square sandwich of glass, which I then place in my darkroom enlarger for projection.”
Foskett studied with Ansel Adams and Alan Magee among others. Her work was exhibited and is included in the collections of the Farnsworth Art Museum; Portland Museum of Art; University of New England, Westbrook Campus; National Academy of Science; National Museum of Women in the Arts; and Lamar Dodd Art Center.
“Deep Sleep” is 20 by 16 inches and is signed print. The artwork can be viewed at the Geneva History Center during operating hours, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Bidding starts at $900 with $100 minimum increase; cash, check or credit card accepted. Silent auction bid sheets are at the front desk of the Geneva History Center or bids can be sent via email to genevahistory@yahoo.com until 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8. For information, call the Geneva History Center at (630) 232-4951.