Nigel Dickson’s photographs will be on display at Ah! Arts and Heritage Centre in Warkworth during April for SPARK exhibition
Article and image by Bill Hornbostel NewsNowNetwork
Warkworth - As part of this year’s SPARK exhibition, Port Hope-based photographer Nigel Dickson is showing his latest series, “FerroFaces,” a unique collection of photos of “portraits” done in scrap metal, at the Arts and Heritage Centre of Warkworth.
Dickson was a commercial photographer in Toronto for over thirty-five years, he has turned to still-life composition recently. “I’ve always liked Picasso’s ceramics and Picasso’s abstracts, and I’ve always liked primitive masks, and I’ve always liked doing portraits. Mix all that up in a blender, and this is what you get,” he says. “There’s some real characters in there,” he says about the series.
The idea came to Dickson while he was sorting through a scrap pile. “About 5 or 6 years ago, I was in Hamilton picking through a heap of old metal, and I did one face, and I thought, ‘That would be a good idea for a series,’” says Dickson. “There’s a scrap metal place up the road, Wakely [Dispoosals]; I spent about $20 there throughout the summer, picking scrap from the mountain of scrap, and I was working on the garage to turn it into a studio, so all the metal was outside, slowly going rusty.”
Dickson was not content to just leave the metal to nature. “With the convenience of YouTube, learned how to make metal rust really quickly using hydrogen peroxide and vinegar,” he says.
“I had all the bits laid out, I would have things in sections,” says Dickson. “I have a section of round things, a section of the metal shavings because it could be hair, and I made the eyes out of just wire and a pair of piers, so, and just make a face.” He adds, “The cog-wheels I had to get from Princess Auto, because I could never find any at Wakely, and I knew I needed some of those because they’re perfect for eyes and mouths.”
The rusted metal is laid out on a background of blue or green to be photographed. “I like the slight texture of the plywood,” says Dickson. “I experimented with a few colours, and I had to contrast with the rust, so it couldn’t be warm. Blue and green works against rust, so that’s it.”
The result was a series of sixty images, printed in several sizes. “FerroFaces” will be on display at the Arts and Heritage Centre of Warkworth for the month of April, with a reception on Saturday, April 6th, from 7 to 9 PM.
For more information on Nigel Dickson, you may visit his Web site, nigeldickson.com, and read an earlier interview with Dickson for Port Hope Now here: porthopenow.com/?p=1890.
For more information on the SPARK Photo Festival, you may visit their Web page, sparkphotofestival.org, or follow them on Facebook (@SparkPhotoFestival) or Twitter (@SparkPhotoPtbo).
For more information about the Arts and Heritage Centre of Warkworth, you may visit their Web site, ahcentre.ca, or follow them on Facebook (@artsandheritagewarkworth), Twitter (@AhWarkworth), or Instagram (@ahwarkworth).