Here/Now: A Community Tintype Portrait

Sunday, 9 November 2025 11:00 am, 1:00 pm, and 3:00 pm (come to one or come to all!) Owens Art Gallery What does community look like? Take part in a collective portrait that documents a moment in time and share in the experience of coming together. Join Sackville photographer, Karen Stentaford, as she turns her view camera towards the Owens and the communities that intersect here, including Mount Allison University students, staff, and faculty; artists, visitors, friends, and family; and Sackville community members of all ages. Everyone is invited. Karen will make three tintype portraits, introducing each one with an overview of this magical, hands-on process invented in the 1850s. In tintype photography, a coating is poured onto a thin sheet of metal, which is made sensitive to light, and placed in the camera. The plate is then developed immediately after exposure. The exposure takes a few seconds, which means that slight movement is often captured as a blur, heightening the sense of life in the image. Karen Stentaford (she/her) is an artist and educator living in Sackville, New Brunswick within Mi’kma’ki. She specializes in large format photography and the wet plate collodion process. She works in a variety of photographic-based media exploring place, her relationship with the land and environment, and connections with community. Her work is often structured around a geographical location and memory, while being rooted in slow photography, repetition, and close looking. Since 2013, she has been connecting and engaging with different communities through participatory and collaborative photography, specifically with her Photomatic Travelling Tintype Studio. She currently holds the position of Associate Professor in the Pierre Lassonde School of Fine Arts at Mount Allison University. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Art=Work, currently on view at the Owens, which includes a series of portraits by Karen Stentaford. This outdoor event will take place on the steps of the Owens closest to the University Chapel. Our rain date is Saturday, November 15th. All participants will receive a digital scan from the original photograph as a memento.