Bridging Cleveland with Professor, Vaughn Wascovich

Texas A&M University-Commerce Associate Photography Professor, Vaughn Wascovich, was recently commissioned to create the opening exhibition, “Bridging Cleveland”, for the newly constructed Transformer Station in Cleveland, Ohio. The show ran from February 2 thru May 4 of 2013.

As a native of the area, Wascovich had strong feelings for this project.

“I don't know if I could photograph this the same way if I weren't from here,” he says in his video ‘The Making of Bridging Cleveland'. “It's like I walk around, and there are ghosts of my past. Sometimes it's a little disconcerting, but other times I really love that and I feel at ease. So that's really important to me to have that place and that sense of belonging really.”

Wascovich used innovative techniques when creating these images. He handmade fourteen different boxes to craft pinhole cameras. Using customary, wet-darkroom paper, he placed his 8X20” negatives in the boxes for varying exposures. During this stage, Wascovich explains he can't be sure of his composition, but the use of the pinhole allowed for the “happy accident”. After exposure, he processed the images in his darkroom which is where he believes the real work takes place. He claims he tried to do everything he could wrong, from using old developer and fixer to using hot water, to the images to see what different mediums would make the paper and the photographs do. The final products were large-scale, panoramic shots of iconic Cleveland bridges.

The Transformer Station, a satellite location of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and its owners, prominent photography collectors Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell, were very pleased with their opening Wascovich show.

For more information on the making of this exhibit visit http://www.wascovich.com/bridge.html.