James Holroyd
Photographer James Holroyd is best known for his pinhole camera images printed on Bromoil, whose anachronistic and partially defocused results are at once familiar and disturbing. He trained at the University of Alberta, where he earned his B.Ed. (1981), B.A. Honours in English (1987), and M.A. in English (1989).
Describing his aesthetic perspective and approach, Holroyd says that “the relationship of objects one to another … animate space and define our experience of it. This concept of alignment is central to my artistic process. My photographic images, at the simplest level, arise out of the alignment of an object, a light source, a camera, and an eye.”
In his series Flora, Holroyd used cyanotype, but with an innovation. Whereas cyanotope prints are the same size as their negatives, Holroyd digitally manipulated grids of larger inter-negatives in the darkroom, and painted cyanotype solution directly onto wood panels before exposing them to UV light. He then placed the individual units into arrays to produce his final prints. The results—close-ups of single flowers, like blue spectres vibrating into or out of existence—are chillingly beautiful.
Holroyd participated in the exhibition Art Miami in Miami Beach, Florida, The Affordable Art Fair, Contemporary Art Fair with representation by the Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art in New York City, and Scene Through a Pinhole at PhotoSpace Gallery in Calgary. Calgary’s Thornhill Aquatic and Recreation Centre commissioned him to produce “Movement: The Language of Life.”
Holroyd teaches for Artstream, a collaboration between Bow Valley College and the Alberta College of Art + Design. He lives and works in Calgary.
Describing his aesthetic perspective and approach, Holroyd says that “the relationship of objects one to another … animate space and define our experience of it. This concept of alignment is central to my artistic process. My photographic images, at the simplest level, arise out of the alignment of an object, a light source, a camera, and an eye.”
In his series Flora, Holroyd used cyanotype, but with an innovation. Whereas cyanotope prints are the same size as their negatives, Holroyd digitally manipulated grids of larger inter-negatives in the darkroom, and painted cyanotype solution directly onto wood panels before exposing them to UV light. He then placed the individual units into arrays to produce his final prints. The results—close-ups of single flowers, like blue spectres vibrating into or out of existence—are chillingly beautiful.
Holroyd participated in the exhibition Art Miami in Miami Beach, Florida, The Affordable Art Fair, Contemporary Art Fair with representation by the Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art in New York City, and Scene Through a Pinhole at PhotoSpace Gallery in Calgary. Calgary’s Thornhill Aquatic and Recreation Centre commissioned him to produce “Movement: The Language of Life.”
Holroyd teaches for Artstream, a collaboration between Bow Valley College and the Alberta College of Art + Design. He lives and works in Calgary.