Non-silver processes were relegated to the pages of
photo history books until the new wave of ‘‘alter-
native processes’’ suddenly appeared along with the
growth of photography departments in American art
schools in the late 1960s. Art students, influenced
again by the painters of the day who used photo
images extensively in their work—notably Andy
Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg—began to redis-
cover the non-silver processes. Teacher-photogra-
phers Robert Heinecken, Betty Hahn, and Bea
Nettles, a professor at the University of Illinois
Champaign-Urbana, were among the pioneers of
this renewed interest in non-silver processes. Nettles
introduced Kwik Print, a proofing method for com-
mercial platemakers, as an easier alternative to the
gum process for photographers. Her guide to Kwik
Print and other non-silver processes,Breaking the
Rules: A Photo Media Cookbook, has been in print
since first appearing in 1977.
The Alternative Processes movement employed
photo-printmaking techniques such as photo-
silkscreen, intaglio, and litho as well as the earlier
non-silver processes. It was largely seen as a reac-
tion to the aesthetic of the straight black-and-white
print that continued to exemplify fine art photo-
graphy. The goal was to expand the definition of
photography and photographic materials. The
movement reached its peak in the important travel-
ing exhibition,The Alternative Imageorganized by
the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboy-
gan, Wisconsin in 1983.
As the twentieth century turned and new tech-
nologies in photographic imaging make quality
photo manipulation and reproduction even more
accessible, particularly digital printing in the form
of the laser print or ink-jet print, a new movement
in ‘‘Historical Processes’’ is unfolding. Once more,
the early, non-silver processes, including daguer-
reotype and tintype, are being re-examined. Once
more, the craft of the hand, the one-of-a-kind
search for the artist’s sensibility is the goal.
KAYKenny
Seealso:Camera Obscura; Coburn, Langdon, Alvin;
Developing Processes; Digital Photography; Film;
Hahn, Betty; Heinecken, Robert; History of Photo-
graphy: Nineteenth-Century Foundations; Ka ̈sebier,
Gertrude; Photo-Secession; Photo-Secessionists; Pic-
torialism; Rauschenberg, Robert; Steichen, Edward;
Stieglitz, AlfredFurther Reading
Blacklow, Laura.New Dimensions in Photo Imaging. Bos-
ton: Focal Press, 1989.
Bunnell, Peter C.Non-Silver Printing Processes. New York:
Arno, 1973.
Crawford, William.The Keepers of Light. Dobbs Ferry,
NY: Morgan and Morgan, 1979.
Gassan, Arnold.Handbook for Contemporary Photography.
3rd ed. Athens, OH: Handbook Co., 1974.
Hirsch, Robert.Exploring Color Photography. 3rd ed.
Dubuque, IA: Brown and Benchmark, 1997.
Kohler, Ruth DeYoung, and Patricia Gleason Fuller, cura-
tors.The Alternative Image. Exh. cat. John Michael
Kohler Arts Center.
Lucida, James, and Judith Watts.Enhanced Photography.
Glouchester, MA: Rockport, 1999.
Newhall, Beaumont.The History of Photography. 5th ed.
New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1993.
Reeve, Catharine, and Marilyn Sward.The New Photogra-
phy. New York: Da Capo Press, 1986.LORIE NOVAK
American
Lorie Novak has been conjuring memories for
nearly two decades, reflecting images of herself,
then others onto landscapes and through empty
rooms that resonate with a real or imagined perso-
nal history. They are snapshots and fragments, bits
of visual memory and oral history from her own
family archives as well as others, projected over and
over again until they become streams of archetypes,
familiar enough to be borrowed freely amongst par-
ticipants and viewers alike.
Through family snapshots in projected installa-
tions, Novak mines deep cultural memories, en-
couraging viewers to recollect their own family
histories. The startling merge between cultural his-
tory and private moments of family life that Novak
achieves in her work captures the spirit of the gen-NOVAK, LORIE