Suzanne Izzo

Suzanne Izzo, a Washington, DC-based artist, blends experimental techniques like gum bichromate, cyanotype, and skiatype, crafting abstract, pattern-rich works showcased in galleries and international alternative photography exhibits.
From: Washington, DC, USA
Shows: Cyanotypes, Gum bichromates, Salt prints and VanDyke

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Suzanne Izzo was introduced to photography as a child by her father and worked with him to produce silver gelatin prints in their basement darkroom. Many years later while clearing out the darkroom, she discovered the chemicals that led her to try the alternative processes. She began with cyanotype and soon added VanDyke brown. Later, adding color to her monochrome processes, she began working in gum bichromate. She has also done some work in salt and cabro.

Her printing is always done outside in the sun using a variety of techniques. Plant material is readily available for photograms. Camera-produced images are made with enlarged film negatives, digital negatives, or paper negatives. In addition, she often uses cliché verre where the “negative” is an image painted on glass. She has also developed a special technique which she calls skiatype where the image is produced by the shadows cast by the folding of the paper substrate.

Suzanne Izzo especially likes to experiment with new methods and variations on established methods and enjoys unexpected results. She uses a variety of papers (sometimes colored) to produce different effects. Much of her work involves printing with both the negative and positive. This allows for contrasting colors in an all gum print. However, more often an image in cyanotype or Van Dyke is combined with gum. She has a special interest in patterns and shapes which often results in work that is abstract.

Suzanne Izzo lives in Washington, DC in the United States. She is a member of The Photo Art Collective. Her work has been shown in various galleries in the greater Washington area. She has been included in international exhibits of alternative photography in Flint, Michigan and Astoria, Oregon as well as a cliché verre exhibit in San Francisco, California. She is featured in four books in the Routledge series Contemporary Practices in Alternative Process Photography.