Joshua Hershman – Artist

Joshua Hershman uses the lost wax casting technique to give antique cameras new life in pieces like “Keystone.” Credit: Phocasso Photo

Joshua Hershman may be just turning 30, but he’s already created a lifetime of memories. The artist’s kiln-cast sculpture explores the camera form, and “the beauty of its design and function, by focusing on how images shape our memories, dreams and consciousness.”

Much of the Boulder, Colo., artist’s inspiration can be traced back to a pair of Russian immigrants who met as children on Ellis Island in 1911. He embeds personal family photos of his grandparents as he stacks layers of glass into molds he creates from antique cameras. “The image may seem simple at first, but after a lifetime of memories, the images become of profound importance to me,” he says of his “Lookback Time” series. The finished pieces are mounted on vintage camera tripods.
Hershman’s latest work has taken on a more worldly view, portraying strong political images.

Each camera is a work of art in itself, and a vehicle of projection that functions similarly to the way an actual camera would. When properly lit, the camera’s lens will project the image onto the wall.

Hershman’s work, ranging in price from $400 to $5,000, is available at galleries across the country, including Pismo Fine Art Glass in Colorado, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s museum store in Pennsylvania, and Kittrell/Riffkind Art Glass in Dallas, Texas.