Webster September

Graham Cassano and Jaymes Walker
Commissioned by The Art Experience and sold at auction during the 2024 Glimpse and Glimmer Gala.

Statement
The former Webster School, in Pontiac, Michigan, is about to become a vibrant community center, providing essential services, fresh produce, and recreational activities for neighbors and for the city’s residents. Coleman Yoakum, his partners in the Micah 6 Community, volunteers from around the city, local leaders, and church groups from all over the country, labored for ten years to make this redevelopment possible. During that time, the Micah 6 produce and flower gardens behind the school became a source of neighborhood solace and pride. But they were also secret gardens, rare preserves of solitude, growing life, and beauty, in a city that can sometimes feel cold, sometimes lonely. Once the community center opens, the gardens will remain, but they may no longer provide space for thoughtful solitude and hidden consolations. The vibrancy of the center may well explode outward, illuminating the gardens with the glow of attention and passage. Development is necessary for life. But we tend to deny and forget that new life requires death and departure. Our piece, “Webster September,” commemorates a transformational moment, as the last heat from summer fades, and we remember that life emerges from death. For this project, Jaymes and Graham relied upon their individual artistic specializations, but built the work in an authentically collaborative manner. Graham provided the large format negatives, cyanotypes, and darkroom prints. Jaymes used both camera and digital negatives to generate material for woodblock and intaglio drypoint prints.

Dimensions: 16x16x2

Materials: mixed media; silver gelatin enlargement from large format negative, cyanotype contact print from digital negative, woodblock prints, intaglio drypoint print.

For more information about Graham Cassano’s work: cassanophotography.com