Vaune Trachtman

Artist Statement

As a photographer, I’m on the lookout for moments that contain something larger than themselves. The picture I’m after is of a moment in time that is full of other times. That's what my photographer's eye is looking for. As a printmaker, I’ve dedicated myself to mastering the photopolymer gravure process, because I love that I can achieve the tonal richness of early gravures without their toxicity, and I love that this process requires physical effort– the rubbing of plates, the turning of the press– and that working with paper and ink is so tactile. With this photographic and printmaking process, I not only feel like I’m painting with light, I feel like I’m painting with time.


Vaune Trachtman “Divers” Direct to plate photopolymer gravure with surface roll. Akua ink on Shirimine paper. 2023, 19.5” X 24". From the series NOW IS ALWAYS: Collaborating across time, which is supported by a grant from the Vermont Arts Council and NEA with additional support from the Tusen Takk Foundation.

Bio

Vaune Trachtman is a photographer and printmaker whose work honors historic processes, but without using toxic chemicals. Her images explore the evanescence of dreams and memory, resulting in “works that seem more like emanations than photographs” (Mark Feeney, Boston Globe), and a "fleeting, wondrous, sacred habitation" (Collier Brown, Od Review). Vaune is a Photolucida 2022 Critic Mass Top 50, and a 2022 finalist and People's Choice Award Winner in Klompching Gallery's FRESH ANNUAL Her series NOW IS ALWAYS was named a Top Portfolio by Rfotofolio and an Outstanding Work by the Denis Roussel Awards; she was shortlisted for the International Hariban Prize, and she's been a semifinalist in The Print Center’s 95th and 97th ANNUAL International Competitions. Her work is exhibited widely, including recent exhibitions at Soho Photo’s International Alternative Processes Competition, Klompching Gallery, Photographic Center Northwest, and the Dennos Museum Center. She has had recent solo shows at the Griffin Museum of Photography and Vermont Center for Photography. Vaune received her BA from Marlboro College and MA from New York University and the International Center for Photography. She lives in Vermont.