Betty Hahn
| Betty Hahn | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 11, 1940 Chicago, Illinois |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Henry Holmes Smith, Nathan Lyons |
| Alma mater | Indiana University |
| Known for | Photography, mixed media |
Betty Hahn (born 1940) is an American photographer known for working in alternative photographic processes. She completed both her BFA (1963) and MFA (1966) at Indiana University. Initially, Hahn worked in other two-dimensional art mediums before focusing on photography in graduate school. She is well-recognized due to her experimentation with alternative and experimental photographic methods which incorporate different forms of media. By transcending traditional concepts of photography, Hahn challenges the viewer not only to assess the content of the image, but also to contemplate the photograph itself as an object.
Betty Hahn was born on October 11, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois where she also grew up. At the age of ten, Hahn was given her first camera by an aunt. Hahn later on went to graduate from Scecina Memorial Catholic High School. Soon after, Hahn enrolled at Indiana University with a full scholarship where she furthered her studies in fine arts, receiving both her BFA (1963) and her MFA (1966). Throughout her undergraduate years, she concentrated in drawing and painting; however, as she entered graduate studies, she worked in photography. During this important developmental period, Hahn studied under one of the most well-known photography teachers of the time, Henry Holmes Smith, who encouraged Hahn’s work in alternative processes.
Once she graduated, Hahn moved up to Rochester where she taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology until 1975. Afterwards, Hahn relocated to Albuquerque where she was professor at University of New Mexico until her retirement in 1997.
Hahn is best known for her explorations of alternative processes in photography, using both older methods of darkroom developing, such as gum-bichromate and cyanotypes, with other art mediums, including hand-painting and even embroidery. She is noted as one of the first photographers to successfully integrate such a variety of art mediums.
Hahn encourages the viewer to think deeper, not only through the use of different physical processes in her artwork, but also through the multiplicity of meanings in her photographs. In most of her work, Hahn integrates humor and irony as she explores the meanings generated by formal combinations. Some of her prints include the sprocket holes of the 35mm negative, which allude to its 35mm film origins: but by hand coloring with bright paints, she draws attention to the mixture of craft with industrial mediums.
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