CARLTON ‘CARLIE’ CAMERON COLLIER
(b. Boston, Massachusetts, 1943)

Pink Shoes in the Morning, Madrid, 1986
hand-tinted gelatin silver print

Collection of the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts
The Jack Blanton Collection
Gift of Jack Blanton
2012.12.9

The hand-tinting in this photograph reflects a special interest of photographer Carlie Collier. “Making hand-colored black and white pictures,” she explains, “allows me to take full advantage of the strengths of black and white photography, while making subjective decisions about the application of color which elude conventional color printing. I’m able to exploit the poetic, bold quality of coarse-grain black and white film while selectively orchestrating choices of soft or brilliant color in various combinations which never actually existed before the lens. The color inks which I apply to my images can have either a brilliant, jewel-like intensity or a delicate, mystical feeling. The result is a certain surreal quality that verges on reality but is more like the color in my dreams and in my imaginings. For me the hand-coloring process is almost like a ‘religious’ experience helping me to exorcise and express the images in my mind’s eye, raising the common-place subject matter into the realm of the mystical.”

Carlie Collier received a B.F.A. and M.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her work has been exhibited at venues including the Los Angeles Photo Center, The Light Factory (Charlotte, NC), The Chrysler Museum (Norfolk, VA), and the Peninsula Fine Arts Center (Norfolk, VA). She has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, the Women’s Resource Center at the University of Richmond, Mary Washington College, and the Hand Workshop Art Center (now the Visual Arts Center of Richmond).