The Ronald Wilson Exhibition The South Shore - Dawn to Dusk will be shown at the Gallery February 28th through April 25th, 2015. 

Ronald Wilson

After graduating from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1968 with a BFA degree in painting and several years later from Tufts University with an MED degree in Education, I taught art to physically disabled students at the Massachusetts Hospital in Canton, created enamel art under the apprenticeship of noted artist Dorothy Morang in Santa Fe, New Mexico and participated in a dance improvisation group with creative movement innovator Barbara Mettler in Tucson, Arizona.

I was almost 30 when I purchased a 35mm camera and have been working fulltime as a photographer since then.I have photograped landscapes all over New England as well as Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and Greece for over 30 years using a large format view camera working under a darkcloth with film holders and a loupe and a color darkroom where I processed my own work using cibachrome materials. Today I use a digital camera (Canon1DSs Mark111) and a digital workspace has replace the darkroom. Imaging software ( photoshop and lightroom ) are now the creative tools used in post production.

I first exhibited my photography at an outdoor art show in Andover, several print sales and a second prize ribbon encouraged me and I still enjoy success on the art show circuit which takes me to venues all over the Northeast. In 2003 an opportunity to try something that I had often considered doing became a reality with the opening of the Wilson Gallery in New Bedford. After 5 years I moved the gallery to 6 Main Street extension in Post Square in downtown Plymouth.

 

About the Photographs

For nearly 25 years I produced exhibition quality Cibachrome prints in my darkroom, processing each print using darkroom techniques designed to faithfully reproduce the film image. That changed some years ago and my images are now printed digitally on Fuji Crystal Archive print material, a photographic paper with a light sensitive emulsion consisting of silver halides suspended in a layer of gelatin referred to as a digital C (chromogenic) print. The paper is attached to the inside wall of a drum where digitally controlled lasers expose the paper to RGB light emitting diodes. The paper is then processed in RA-4 photo chemistry.

Fuji Crystal Archive prints, while having characteristics similiar to Cibachrome prints, lack the limitations inherent in exposing a film image in a darkroom. These prints possess an evenness of detail, broad tonal range and color saturation surpasssing that of traditionally reproduced images and are the most stable photographic color prints available today. according to Wilhelm Imaging Research, an Independent organization that tests photographic materials, Fuji Crystal Archive prints will retain their color fidelity in normal display conditions for up to 70 years.

Decades of film images are now scanned using a Hasseblad Imacon Flextight scanner. From a high resolution optical scan I create a master file using image editing software such as photoshop to make color corrections and tonal adjustments, similiar to what I did in the darkroom through dodging and burning. Today my images are captured digitally using a Canon IDs Mark III.

The photographs are vacuum mounted on acid free board and double matted with white museum quality rag board. They are available framed or unframed using Nielsen anodized aluminum moulding with a choice of regular glass or anti reflective glass.