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Nieberding to exhibit tintype photographs at Panola College, address British photo group

Dr. Bill Nieberding’s Caddo Lake tintype

Dr. Bill Nieberding’s Caddo Lake tintype is among the artist’s works featured his exhibition “East Texas: A Portrait in Wet-Plate Collodion” showing Oct. 1 through Nov. 6 at Panola College.


NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Dr. Bill Nieberding, associate professor in the School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University, will share his knowledge of tintype photography both locally and abroad beginning Oct. 1 with an exhibition opening at Panola College and a research presentation to the British Royal Photographic Society.

His presentation to the Royal Photographic Society in Great Britain is titled “A Withering Gaze: Technical Excellence and Aura in Contemporary Wet-collodion Photography.” The presentation will take place on Zoom and will explore intersections between the effect of viewing wet-plate collodion photographs and the concept of aura developed by Walter Benjamin in the 1930s.

The exhibition is titled “East Texas: A Portrait in Wet-Plate Collodion” and will be shown in the Allison Gallery in the M.P. Baker Library at Panola College in Carthage. The photographs explore a range of East Texas subjects and still-life works and were created using large-format cameras and the antiquated tintype process invented in the 1850s. The wet-plate photographer must coat the plate with chemicals, expose it in the camera and develop it on location – all before the plate dries out, Nieberding explained.

“It’s a demanding process that produces one-of-a-kind photographs on aluminum or glass,” he said.

Nieberding’s photographic work includes traditional silver-based black and white portraits, landscapes and figure studies as well as digital work that explores notions of social identity in public contexts. Support for the exhibition and the wet-plate collodion research is funded by a Research and Creative Activities Grant through the SFA Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

The exhibition runs from Oct. 1 through Nov. 6. Gallery hours are 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 7:30 a.m. to12:30 p.m. Friday; and 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday. The gallery is closed on Saturday. It is located at 1109 W. Panola St. Contact the gallery at (903) 693-2052 or visit panola.edu/library/.