Caitlyn Soldan: The States Project: New Mexico

Caitlyn Soldan: The States Project: New Mexico by Jennifer SchlesingerApril 2, 2016

©Caitlyn Soldan

I have worked with Caitlyn Soldan in many capacities. Almost four years ago, as she was nearing graduation from the Savannah College of Art & Design, she boldly applied to VERVE Gallery of Photography to be an intern. I was impressed with her resume and letters of recommendation, as well as her motivation to move to a new city to do whatever it would take to make a living in her chosen field of study. Caitlyn worked with VERVE Gallery as an intern during the Summer of 2011 and in the Fall, VERVE hired her as Gallery Preparator after she had proved her motivation, knowledge, and tenacity as an intern.

After seeing Caitlyn’s photographic work in pinhole, platinum, and Mordancage, I immediately recognized her talent and included her in the April 2012, Issue 16 of finitefoto.com. VERVE Gallery also included her Mordancage work in our Spring exhibition titled, Do Process, focusing on various processes to the photographic medium, alongside some venerable artists like Maggie Taylor, Brigitte Carnochan, and Cy DeCosse. It has been rewarding to watch Caitlyn’s process and bodies of work grow and I’m excited to present her new work in Kallitype here.

Caitlyn Soldan was born in 1988 in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2011 with a BFA in Photography. Her work explores themes of history, memory, and time. Caitlyn prefers working with film and alternative processes but also enjoys exploring the possibilities of combining historical processes with new technology. Most recently she has been working with the Kallitype process. In 2011, she was selected as a finalist in Photolucida’s Critical Mass and in 2012, Photo Boite named her one of the 30 Women Photographers under 30. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and France and is held in public and private collections. Caitlyn presently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico where she works as a gallery preparator, a digital printmaker, and makes her artwork.

Desert to Sea

This series of 16 photographs compares and contrasts the arid landscape of the Desert Southwest with the lush coastline of the Pacific Northwest. The images were shot with a Polaroid camera on Impossible Project instant film and printed as gold toned kallitypes.