Light Paintings

For more than a decade, I created camera-less photographic artworks using light-sensitive materials and hand-directed light.

This body of work explores photography at its most elemental: light, time, chemistry, and the photographic surface.
The process I developed was awarded a U.S. patent, and my artwork is featured in public, private, and corporate collections throughout the United States and internationally.

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My work has been commissioned for healthcare, hospitality, corporate, educational, public and private spaces throughout the United States and internationally.

  • The Cave inside the Conrad Hilton, Dubai

  • Amazon Headquarters, Seattle, WA

  • University of Utah

  • University of Utah

  • University of Utah

  • University of Utah

  • Kaiser Permanente, CA

  • Central Oregon Community College

  • Arizona State University

  • University of Oregon

  • Private Collection

  • Private Collection

  • Deschutes brewery Jubelale Labels

  • Telluride Wine Festival

Recognition

  • ​·    NASA facilities.
    ·    Conrad Hilton Hotel, Dubai, U.A.E.
    ·    Marriott Hotel, New Orleans, LA.
    ·    Kaiser Permanente, Point West, Sacramento, CA.
    ·    Kaiser Permanente, Fairfield, CA.
    ·    Kaiser Permanente, San Ramon, CA.
    ·    Kaiser Permanente, Fair Oaks, CA.
    ·    Kaiser Permanente, Dublin, CA.
    ·    Kaiser Permanente, Pleasanton, CA.
    ·    UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA.
    ·    St. Anthony Hospital, Westminster, CO.
    ·    OMR Fertility, Bellevue, WA.
    ·    University of Utah School of Dentistry, Salt Lake City, UT.
    ·    Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
    ·    Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ.
    ·    University of Oregon, Eugene, OR.
    ·    Lane Community College Health and Wellness Center, Eugene, OR.
    ·    Central Oregon Community College, Bend, OR.
    ·    Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR.
    ·    Naked Winery, Hood River, OR.
    ·    Silvan Ridge Winery, Eugene, OR.
    ·    Cox Canyon Vineyards, Ellensburg, WA.
    ·    Metate Room Restaurant, Mesa Verde National Park, CO.
    ·    Awbrey Glen Golf Club Restaurant, Bend, OR.
    ·    The Arthur, Portland, OR.
    ·    Torchlight Inn, Park City, UT.
    ·    Altitude Westminster, Westminster, CO.
    ·    City of Roses Hypnosis, Portland, OR.
    ·    Bend Headache Center, Bend, OR.
    ·    City of Portland, Portland, OR.

  • ·    CBS's television show The Big Bang Theory.
    ·    ICF's television show Portlandia.
    ·    ABC's television show Last Man Standing.
    ·    CBS's television show Two Broke Girls.
    ·    ABC's television show Scandal.
    ·    OPB's television show Oregon Art Beat.
    ·    Billboards across the United States.
    ·    Television Commercials in the United States

  • ·    Blue Sky's Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers, Portland, Oregon, juried selection 2014 and 2015.
    ·    Featured artist,Telluride Wine Festival, 2014.
    ·    Professional Development Grant recipient, Regional Arts & Culture Council, 2012.
    ·    Patented art process, US Patent No.7871175, 2011.
    ·    “Accomplished Under 40” Award, Cascade Business News, 2011.
    ·    Grant recipient, The Haven Foundation, 2011.
    ·    Grant recipient, The Celebration Foundation, 2011.
    ·    Grant recipient, Change Inc., 2011.
    ·    Featured artist,  Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Emmy award winning television series Oregon Art Beat, 2010.
    ·    Jubelale artist,Deschutes Brewery, 2010.

  • ·    Artist Uses Landscape To Create Healing Artworks, Cascade Arts & Entertainment, January 2016.
    ·    F-Stop Magazine, Issue #70, April-May 2015.
    ·    A World Defined by Light in Natasha Bacca’s Work, Cascade Arts & Entertainment, December 2014.
    ·    F-Stop Magazine, Issue #67, October 2014.
    ·    F-Stop Magazine, Issue #65, June 2014.
    ·    Wine as Inspiration: Five Artists Who Use Wine & Wine Materials for Artistic Creation, Wine Pass Magazine, May 2014.
    ·    Bend Artist Paints Using Light, KBNZ-CBS, April 2014.
    ·    Pop the Cork Art, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, April 2014.
    ·    Sell Your Art into the Corporate Market, Artsy Shark, April 2014.
    ·    Lenzless, Plates to Pixels, November 2013.
    ·    ToneLit Magazine, Issue Four, September 2013.
    ·    F-Stop Magazine, Issue #58, April 2013.
    ·    Bend Artist Receives Patent for Innovation in Photography, Cascade Business News, February 2011.
    ·    Natasha Bacca Sheds New Light on Photography World, The Daily Emerald, February 2011.
    ·    Oregonian Pushes the Bounds of Conventional Photography, Zouch Magazine, January 2011.
    ·    Natasha Bacca - New Light Patterns, The Portland Metro Photographic News, October 2010.
    ·    Newspace Showcase, Portland's Eastside Gallery Guide, September 2010.
    ·    Roll Call, San Francisco Camerawork, July 2010.
    ·    Tripping the Light Fantastic, Bend Living, September / October 2008.
    ·    Brushstrokes of Light, GO! Magazine, June 2008.

The Process

  • My works of art are creations of light.

    ​Creating unique camera-less art in a darkroom I revisit the wonder of photography's invention and process. Merging current technologies with deep-rooted photographic practices, I use light emitting devices to brush color into form across light-sensitive paper. A unique approach to the production of photographic art, I do not document an existing image but rather, like a painter, generate an original one. Manipulating color, intensity, and direction of light, I literally paint with light. Working with an invisible latent image, only after a piece is completed and photo-chemically processed is the image revealed. My work explores the nature of the photographic experience, the chemistry of traditional photography, the direct capture of light, and the relationship between image and surface. No negative, enlarger, camera or computer is used in the creating of my art, making each piece produced a unique work.​​
    ​
    Exploring and capturing light through formal and conceptual studies, I challenge traditional understanding of what a photograph is and how one is made. I emphasize process in art making, constructing conceptual reference to the medium itself. Combining cutting edge technology with the most historic of processes, I push the bounds of conventional photography to invoke fresh alternatives to creating and appreciating art.

  • During the time I was pursuing my photography based art degree I witnessed meteoric changes within the photographic world. The once commanding darkroom was being replaced by the newest computer lab, while prosperous photography businesses were closing their doors forever. I both embraced and questioned the digital world photography was being assimilated into. I delved further into the basic concepts of photography; where it came from, what it meant, and where it was going. Pondering the root words photo meaning light and graph meaning to write, I began exploring the concept of literally writing with light. Following extensive research, I developed various methods of painting with light on photosensitive paper and designed different tools for this purpose. I self-authored a patent for the tool and process by which I create my art, which was granted in 2011.

    ​By looking critically and freshly at a well-known medium, I inaugurate new photographic practices that defy digital trends and open up new modes of praxis for art. Exploring and capturing light through formal and conceptual studies, I challenge traditional understanding of what a photograph is and how one is made. I emphasize process in art making, constructing conceptual reference to the medium itself. Combing cutting edge technology with the most historic of processes, I push the bounds of conventional photography to invoke fresh alternatives to creating and appreciating art.