The Art of Holography – Past – Present

Union, Ana Maria Nicholson

The Art of Holography – Past – Present

June 1st – 1st September 2024
Gallery Hours: Fri. – Sun. 12 – 5pm
By appointment: Mon. – Thur


Exhibiting Artists

Rudie Berkhout
Michael E. Crawford
Melissa Crenshaw
Sydney Dinsmore
John Kaufman
August Muth
Ana Maria Nicholson
Joan Stango
Dora Tass
Sally Weber

Rudie Berkhout

(born Amsterdam 1946 – died Catskill, NY 2008)

“My hope is to reach the subtler levels of perception, holding up mirrors for thoughts, that reflect the magic that surrounds us.” – Rudie Berkhout

Berkhout started working with holography at the New York School of Holography in 1975 before establishing his own studio in the city. His work considered light as the medium itself and he sought to reveal its mystery and beauty through holograms and light installations. Berkhout embraced holography with its seemingly infinite potential for development and exploration. He was a pioneer of intricate imaging techniques, which captured the magic of light.

Berkhout was involved in numerous exhibitions including, “New Directions in Holography” at the Whitney Museum of American Art, “Mehr Licht” at the Kunsthalle (Hamburg, Germany), “Unfolding Light, The Evolution of Ten Holographers” at the Salvador Dalí Museum (Saint Petersburg, FL), as well as solo exhibitions at the Walker Art Museum (Minneapolis, MN), the Fukuoka Art Museum (Fukuoka, Japan), and the Anchorage Museum of History and Art (Anchorage, AK).

Berkhout created public installations of his works at Bank of America Technology Center (Charlotte, NC), the Department of Transportation of the Netherlands, and an atrium installation for the University of Wisconsin. He invented the Novia Lighting concept – a system of low-wattage lasers and holographic diffractions that create a cosmos of light. As well as pursuing holography Berkhout was a talented musician and involved in the community of Catskill, NY.

“Rudie blazed a trail and produced some of the most significant creative works using light as a dimensional medium. Many of these works are in major art collections world-wide. He had a quiet calm, and an intense commitment. He will be sadly missed.” – International Holography Fund, 2008

Michael E. Crawford

Light touches. It goes in and stays, or bounces off, leaving colors behind. It goes through and twists and bends. Light lands in the eye telling tales of its past, inviting insight.

Michael E Crawford is a pioneer in light-in-space, using elemental light — a pure thin beam of one-color light bouncing off objects from nature, holographic techniques, and handmade light-sensitive emulsion on glass, to create forms imbued with color, color brought forth from within the light that illuminates each piece.

This work employs the inherent qualities of material light to record and encircle entire wavefronts of light within the emulsion. In each exposure, the light guides the reflections and refractions off familiar objects to uncover, by the patterns that emerge, insights into their nature, and into how we visually apprehend.


Melissa Crenshaw
and Sydney Dinsmore

The 2% Solution

The inspiration for this image was the difficulties artists encounter when trying to earn a livable wage. At this time in the 1990’s artists made about 2% of what other professionals made working and so the title.

This is one of two images that originally created a tableau. This image stands alone as a time capsule on the future of currency as well and the current state of the Arts and the livable wage dilemma.

Displayed are US and Canadian currency, representing the two countries the artists are from, in appropriately small denominations.

John Kaufman


John Kaufman is most noted for reflection holograms made between 1974 and 1996. Before that he founded the photography department at Marin Academy in San Rafael, California. Subsequent to his time in holography, he worked in large format black and white photography and in recent years has concentrated on digital stereo color photography. Many Holograms are available for sale.


August Muth

Light, as we perceive it, gives us only a brief glimpse of the momentary realities in which we exist.

Through my work, I strive to record with precision the perceptible light-space-time phenomena.  As these three elements intertwine, a three-dimensional topography of pure light is formed, revealing a window into the elusive realms of the light-space-time paradox.  Luminous veils of light invite the viewer into a multi-dimensional journey.  The physicality of earthly materials becomes nonessential as one becomes enthralled by the tactile quality of this light.

My intent is to reveal a cognitive holographic dimension within our ordinary experiences of light, and to stimulate a dialogue between the ordinary and the extraordinary planes of understanding.  This in turn may expand our perceptions, increase our acceptance of the unknown, and facilitate the evolution of our culture toward systems that are more holistically integrated. 

Light is the faithful archivist of time.


Ana Maria Nicholson


The Central theme of my work as an artist has always been the human figure: its beauty, its complexity and its ability to express in gesture and movement the hidden realities that lie at the core of the human spirit and heart. When carefully observed the body is but a thin shield, a permeable membrane that can obscure but not obliterate the psychological and spiritual dimensions of each person. William James wrote “All around us lie infinite worlds, separated only by the thinnest veils.” In my pieces there is a constant reaching out by the figure, a longing for freedom, for the body to break out of its limited envelope and into the light.


Joan Stango


In my work, I investigate the ways the holographic process can harmonize with two-dimensional drawings. This relationship heightens the ethereal aspect of the holograms, and at the same time, allows the handmade and grounded qualities of the drawings to be more deeply felt. The narratives I construct are surreal portrayals of the mysteries that exist beneath the surface of our perception. My intent is to evoke the subconscious impressions that can arise from viewing these
renderings.


Dora Tass

“Archeology of the future”, is a cycle of Holographic Light Artworks assembled in glass plates, it is focused in Light as a tactile material. elements such as typewriters, cameras, lenses, newspapers, ancient stone and words are the subject matter, and serve to preserve culture as a medium of communication, history, and identity. These vintage objects are removed from the oblivion of time; dematerialized in light sculptures, in transition from the age of “enlightenment” to the contemporary age of “Photon”.

The holographic light artworks are made in collaboration with the light artist, August Muth, in his lab, The Light Foundry, Santa Fe, USA.

Holographic images are just like images of the real world, but without the material. It is purely structured light, tangible and real. Each artwork has different perspectives which change based on where the viewer stands in relation to each piece, creating a dynamic interaction with light. The assemblages of luminous tridimensional objects provoke a visual and cognitive short circuits surreal, where estrangement and familiarity coexist between past and future.

Because the holographic process produces extremely clear images that can hold vast amounts of information, holography’s applications have predominately been in the fields of science. but since the 1960’s, the holographic medium has also been explored by artists interested in the creative possibilities of images that replicate three-dimensionality and deep space in a two-dimensional surface.


Sally Weber

Ripples expand from a gentle touch.
The slightest gesture might be felt far afield.


Many of the works in this exhibition are available to purchase. Please ask for details during your visit


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