Photographer + Artist: Margot Hartford

Thanks for joining us today. Thank you for having me. So I love that you have done art in many different ways, starting I think primarily with photography, although maybe you can tell me early on in your life, perhaps you were, I don't know creating art out of mud and sticks and things like that as a small child, but you've been an artist for a very long time. Well, it's interesting because when I was in school, friends of mine took art, which I never took and I never thought of art as being something that I would be doing. But I did get into photography pretty young and became a photographer full-time and became a commercial photographer, which some people could debate whether or not that's art. And so after being a little bit tired of the commercial world, I ended up then really exploring art. And you're right, I've done almost everything right. I've tried collage, I tried painting, I've played with assemblage, you name it, I've tried it. And I really enjoyed that exploration. It was great. And I'd say that it was sort of the beginning of me calling myself an artist. I actually love the idea that you never took art classes because I do think that some people consider art to be perhaps less accessible if they don't know enough about art or if they've never taken an art class and they can't be an artist, therefore if they don't follow a traditional path. But talk to me about why a commercial photographer wouldn't be considered an artist. Oh, that is a good question for debate. I'm not sure. Well, I think that even some people don't think photography, even if it's fine art photography is art. So that could go into a deep dive. Fascinating. Well, we don't have to talk about that today because I'm not going to ask you to represent all of photography or commercial photography. Perfect. But I do think it does kind of open up the question if we decide that something is or isn't the side of art as defined, isn't that also a way to kind of block people from experiencing either creating or enjoying art? Definitely, yeah, you definitely don't need any more roadblocks. But also I think not having a formal education is an advantage in some ways. And then it's also interesting because I did study photography and film and not at the time thinking, oh, this is an artistic endeavor, but thinking, oh, maybe I could get some work that I would really enjoy from this kind of studying. And later on when I did start to do this exploration in fine art, it really came in handy all of that training because you're still learning about composition and color and light. These things you take for granted because as a photographer they start to slowly make sense and become kind of easy. But now that I am doing fine art, I can see every day how it comes in handy. You've just described the advantage of having training, but you also said there's an advantage to perhaps not having training. And what did you find to not having training to having that be an advantage? Well, I think if you have, I'm not sure if it was maybe too formal on education in say painting or drawing. I have a feeling that could be a artistic block and not having that makes me feel very free. I can do whatever I want with paint. I can do whatever I want with paper because there are no rules. And it's interesting because I taught photography for a long time at the college in San Francisco and I would tell people, you have to learn the rules and then break them. Because the problem is a lot of students come in and they just to start to wildly shoot. They don't understand exposure and they don't understand some simple things about light. And I say that will be a detriment later. So really just learn the rules and then start to break them. So I'm kind of contradicting myself because in some ways, knowing the rules has an advantage in some ways being free is a good way to start too. Yeah, I mean I think I can also see it both ways where it's good to have models that have been built by people who have experience over the years, but if you go in and you're locked into the model, then it's only going to take you so far. So you kind of have to be able to balance both of those things. Exactly. Then after all of that, you have to find your own voice. So you're looking at things that are traditionally taught about that medium and then you're looking at what you like. It's actually, it makes the whole process really fun. Well, talk to me about that because I know that you've also done, you teach caustics workshops and you teach image transfer, and so you're both exploring and also teaching. And I have to admit, I don't know that much about image transfer, but I think in caustics and image transfer are not necessarily very similar. Correct. They are totally different things. It's interesting, image transfer is a bit of a catchall term to transfer an image onto a whatever substrate or could be a piece of pottery, but the way you do it is very different based on what you're transferring it onto. So I do teach in encaustic class, which is working with hot wax, and you can transfer something quite easily onto the warm wax because it's warm. It has a lot of qualities that make the transfer sort of simple. So you take a piece of paper, you press it pretty much onto the wax, and then you rub off the paper and then what's left is this really great little transfer. So I'd been teaching that for a couple of years, and I was also at the same time doing photography and I was trying to figure out, well, how can I use my photography in a new way because a photograph on its own is one thing, but I really just wanted to push it and just see what else I could do. And so I started to look on YouTube for image transfer, little tips and tricks and processes. And I found a process where you print a photograph onto a piece of acetate, you just use your inkjet printer and you put a solution down on the board, you can put it on paper, it'll go onto glass and plexiglass as well. And then you put this piece of printed acetate onto the substrate or onto the board and you wait for a few minutes and you peel it off. And amazingly, a hundred percent of whatever that image is that was just floating around on that piece of acetate comes right off on the board. And when I discovered that, it was like these little bells went off. And so I was thrilled. And that's what I've been working on ever since, and I've been taking quite a long time to perfect how to do that. That's so fascinating because this exploration that you're describing and knowing that you want to do something that is artistic, but you're trying to find the right thing at the right time that resonates with you, there's a leap of faith that you're taking that you will get to a place and those bells will go off. Correct. And if they don't, I think you just zig or zag and you try something else. And I think that that's what artists do every day. I just think that they just continue to just either push it and they might hit a dead end and then they just turn around and go right back into something else. So yeah, I think we're really lucky to be able to do that every day. It's been really fun. So the piece that you and I were both at the opening last night and our friend Bibby was there. She was one of the artists that was featured, and your piece that was on the wall was a woman, which actually we don't really know whether it's a woman or not, but it was a figure holding balloons, and it turns out that this is actually Bibby and it happens to be the one that was chosen. But I love this piece that you've created because it's colorful. There's kind of this sense of the unknown, but in a really playful way. So would you explore with me a little bit, what has caused you to follow that path of creating images like that, which I think you've told me are women or people that are in your studio? Oh, more or less. So I have this commercial background where I really did concentrate on photographing lifestyle, so people doing things and lifestyle also usually denotes colorful because you have to look happy and buoyant. And so I was trying to figure out how can I use that skillset and do a series that would intrigue me? And I always felt if I were to purchase a piece of art, I don't know if I'd want somebody else's face. So you see these beautiful paintings of a child, and I just think, I don't know if I'd want to live with a child that wasn't my own. So I thought, how can I approach photographing women and not showing their face? And how can I do it in a number of different ways where it doesn't start to look really repetitive? And also the trick is to make them still look powerful and still look capable. And that was my goal. And so over a couple of months I recruited my friends, I recruited artists in the building. I put them in sometimes just really plain little dresses. Sometimes they brought something to wear, and I did a bunch of ideas that I had come up with, and I ended up with 45 in this series. And it's just all different ways to portray a woman who still is strong and vibrant. And then I ended up having a lot of really great saturated and rich colors. One of the things that you've talked about is some of the things from your childhood that are coming forward for you. And the reason that this isn't linked into what you just said is because you're talking about vibrancy and color and actually joy to some extent, but I know that you have recently done some work with photographing fairs and also you've mentioned that some images are coming up from your childhood, maybe hula hoops and other things. So talk to me about that. So when I'm looking for subject matter, I am drawn to certain things. And it wasn't until I kind of looked back at the series of series I've been working on in terms of photography. So one of them is the women that are dressed pretty plainly, and I realized they're sort of dressed in kind of 1950s, I will call them a house dress where women used to just wear kind of a plain feminine little dress. And after that series, I did a series of women in vintage bathing suits and still that sort of vintage look, maybe fifties. And I realized there in the third series I worked on, it was called Men in Black. And so I really wanted that kind of thin men, Casablanca, dark suits, fedoras. And I just took a little look back and realized that that is a totally constant line in my work, and they're just things that I'm drawn to. I used to watch a lot of old movies with my family. And so a little bit is drawn from that a little bit from my own childhood and looking at old pictures of my parents in the fifties and sixties. And I recently started to get intrigued with going to sort of state fairs and county fairs because there's a lot of symbolism there that excites me. I think the ferris wheels are always really beautiful and there's something really free about them. And I don't care if you're three years of age or 93, you still kind of get excited about it and it's still fun. And so I've been photographing rides and different little elements from fairs and also other things in my childhood like docks, like swimming docks, I always went to summer camp and trees. So there's a lot of nostalgia being brought into my work and I've noticed that pattern in the last six or seven years. Why do you think that these images from your childhood are coming through now at this moment in your life, and why is it important for you to have them somehow be incorporated into your art? That's a good question. I have a feeling I've probably come to that point right now because I've had loss and everybody is going through that. Everyone goes through it a different stage. This is my stage. And so I've gone through a lot of my family's things. So you clean up the house and then you find the photo albums, and I've old slides, my father was doing those, I think they're like eight millimeter films when we were kids. And so I have a feeling that that is also attributing to it. So it's sad and painful, yet it's really great. It's really joyful to see all the photos from my past and to kind of make those links. So it sounds like it's also found, so you've been doing loss, but as part of the loss you've found. And you've brought things forward. Yeah, correct. And I also wouldn't made that direct connection, but it's just been in the last four or five years that I've really been going through and doing a deep dive into my family history. You were raised in Toronto, Waterloo, but it's an hour from Yes. Thank you for correcting me because I know I was raised here in Yarmouth, which is very close to Portland, but it's not Portland. Yes. Well, tell me about that. I mean, that's a really interesting piece of your background. I wonder how many people would recognize. I'm not sure if you would recognize that in my work necessarily. I don't know. And I don't really know if I have a Canadian sensibility because when I moved to the US and it's been almost 30 years, I was really fascinated with all things sort of American and Americana. And we do, obviously in Canada, we have a lot of influence from the US television. And I mean, of course all of our products and things, but, there's something very American when you come to the US. So it's sort of funny because in some ways I think of the fair and the state fair and the cows and the Four H Club and all, I think of that as being very American rodeo. All those things really fascinate me. So growing up in Canada, I think I was just lucky to have access to nature and lakes and also a cosmopolitan city like Toronto. I think I benefited from that, but I don't know if my work is necessarily What would a Canadian sensibility be? That is a good question. Well, it's interesting. I come here to the Maine area and I see there's things that are very Maine. So you go and you see, and it's in the paintings and some of the artwork in some of the small shops. So you see seagulls and you see a lot of boat related items and lighthouses. And you don't get that in Canada or where I'm from in Canada. But when I go back to Canada, then I see the moose, the bear, the dock, the things that are maybe a little stereotypical, but in some ways they are Canadian, right? It's kind of fun. So we all sort of exaggerate what is the things about our area that resonate with people. And it's usually items that people use day to day-to-day, and also animals and nature. I've always been really interested in the idea that in the United States, we think of Canada and everybody in Canada is basically the same, but it's an enormous country. And my family has French Canadian roots, and my husband's family has a completely different set of Canadian roots. So even the family experiences are very different. And I suspect your family experiences probably different than those two experiences, but here in the United States, it's just anybody who's north of our border is Right. Well, and if you talk to a Canadian, they might have a very general idea of what is American as well. And you just have to travel a little bit around to realize, wow, it's so diverse here. How did your family end up in California, per se? Well, they didn't. I moved as an adult, so my family that we still are all in And what was that decision point for you? You know what? I always wanted to live in the US. It's hard for a Canadian to move to the US and I had an opportunity for a job to come to the US and I thought, I'm just going to take it. And even if I don't connect with it or if I don't feel comfortable, I can always go back to Canada, which is a great place. So I really felt like the decision to move was a leap of faith, but also I would never lose. So I moved and I never moved back. And so I am living in California and I really, I like the people, I like the weather, I like the opportunity there. So I've just ended up staying. I know that having visited California a few times, it's actually changed quite a bit, even in the timeframe in which I visited. And I think Maine actually has too. I think a lot of people are finding themselves on the coasts and really enjoying it. And then it kind of shifts things a little bit, not in a bad way, but I found in California there were a lot of people. There was just a lot of people around a lot of the time. But then I thought back to Maine and I'm like, well, actually there's a lot more people in Maine than as I was growing up here. Oh, interesting. So I don't think that there's a good or a bad thing about it. I think it just shifts your experience of that. But tell me if you have found differently. No, I think I had expected Americans to be different, which is kind of funny. And I was pleasantly surprised that I connected with a lot of people in the US and I still mean I've got fantastic friends and I just feel like the Americans that I know are similar in a lot of ways, very liberal and also interested in learning small things. They never stop learning, and they're really open-minded. And so I felt really comfortable right away, but I don't know. And big city, I feel like San Francisco is a small big city because it's under a million people, even by Canadian standards, that's not a very big city, But somehow that seems like a place of just the right amount of people. And probably for me, and that's also a finite geography because it's surrounded on three sides by water. So it was easy to get around and easy to get to know it. Which is actually not that different than Portland. I mean, Portland is a peninsula, literally. So you can get there and you can leave, but the Portland proper is pretty finite as well. So when you think about your own artistic journey moving forward, what are things that excite you about kind of the next phase of Margot Hartford? Oh, I don't know. I'm going to have to look into that. I am excited to continue the work that I'm doing on the transfers and like everybody else, I just want to keep going a little bit bigger and bigger and bigger in terms of size. And that's a challenge because it's just a physically sort of unwielding process. You need to pull these big sheets of acetate. And so I just have to figure out how to do it at a larger scale. And that's my goal. But also I'm going to explore some new photo series. I'm working on a new one with little with kids actually as sort of spacemen. If you think about my favorite Martian or the Jetsons or something, I have this thing in my head and I'm starting to work on that one. Well, that's very fun. I look forward to seeing it. Yes, thank you. It should be. Great. Well, it's been a pleasure to spend time with you today. Thank you for joining us all the way from the other coast. Oh, thank you for having me. It was great. And I invite you to go to our website to see more. Or if in the Portland area, please also go to the Portland Art Gallery on Middle Street. And lots of good things to come. I'm sure. Thank you for joining us today.