Donna Wesley Spencer seeks to capture the stillness of wild places in her evocative works using time-honored techniques, including platinum palladium prints on rag paper, and ink on vellum over gold leaf.

Statement

The past few years have given all of us reason to be in despair, but that is not a place where I want to live. I am fortunate that I have always heard my camera saying to me, "Go look for what you need to find". Most often I am unsure what I need to find, but if I go out enough with my camera, sometimes I get there. I've needed to find the places and moments that transcend the worries of the current moment – the always true that can be found in the stillness of wild places. The images in this series are printed either on vellum over gold leaf, or are platinum palladium prints on rag paper. I use these alternative methods both because I love to print each image by hand as a one of a kind piece, and also because both methods take the image out of immediate time.

About

Donna Wesley Spencer's interest in photography reflects a lifelong love of art, history, and 19th century literature. She studied photography at the Evanston Art Center during her years living in the Chicago area, various workshops, and the Penland School of Craft. For the past few years, her interest has been in working with alternative processes, particularly for images that could have been made yesterday, or many years ago. She lives in Hillsborough.