Fonds F-294 - Alison Kirkley fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Alison Kirkley fonds

General material designation

  • Photographic materials
  • Graphic materials
  • Textual records

Parallel title

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Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

  • Source of title proper: Fonds title based on the name of the records creator at the date of the latest records transferred.

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

F-294

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1982-2008 (Creation)
    Creator
    Kirkley, Alison

Physical description area

Physical description

Paper and analog originals:
21 photographs (prints)
1 poster

Digitized copies:
5.4 GB of photographs and graphic material : tiff (preservation copies) ; jpeg (access copies).

Dimensions for each photograph and the poster are provided at the item level.

Publisher's series area

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(26 February 1953 - 24 July 2020)

Biographical history

Alison Kirkley was a photographer and Special Education teacher based in the Metro Vancouver area.

Kirkley was born on February 26, 1953 in Ayr, Scotland. She completed high school in Victoria, British Columbia in 1969, and went on to study at Simon Fraser University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Education degree. From there, she went on to become a teacher of Special Education for the Surrey School District for thirty-three years, retiring in 2009. She passed away on July 24, 2020 in New Westminster, British Columbia, and is survived by her husband, Rick Carswell.

Kirkley was a lifelong student of photographic methods and techniques. She took classes at the Focal Point Photography School in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was an avid reader of new developments in black and white processes. Her artistic influences include the American photographers Ansel Adams and Imogen Cunningham; the dancers and choreographers Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham; and the New York based dance photographer Barbara Morgan.

Custodial history

The records were in the custody and control of the creator prior to their transfer to Archives in 2020.

Scope and content

Fonds consists of 21 mounted black and white photographic prints and 1 poster for an an exhibition of Kirkley's photos at the New Westminster Arts Council. The photographs feature dancers from the SFU dance program performing in student and faculty shows. One of the main subjects of the photographs is Lorraine Thomson, Alison Kirkley's sister and a graduate of the SFU dance program.

The project to create the photos was suggested to Alison Kirkley by Judith Garay, an SFU dance professor, as a way to document the newly credited dance program at SFU. The photos were taken in a minimalist style using analog camera equipment and natural light, and then developed and enhanced using dark room techniques.

Kirkley's equipment for taking the photographs consisted of a Hasselblad 500CM large format camera; Canon F-1 and Canon TX with a Canon FD series lens; Gossen Lunasix F exposure metres; and Canon Speedlite 199A. Her darkroom was equipped with a Berkey Omega C760 Modular 11 x 14 inch black and white enlarger. The paper used for the prints was Fujicolour and Infospeed MG44M.

Item formats include the analog originals and digitized surrogates.

Items arranged chronologically.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Items arranged in chronological order.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Location of originals

    Availability of other formats

    The fonds includes photographs and graphic material that has been digitized (21 prints and 1 poster). The analog originals have been retained, but the Archives will typically provide access only to the digital surrogates.

    Restrictions on access

    Items are open with no restrictions.

    Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

    The donor Alison Kirkley retained copyright in records she authored, but her estate has agreed to make these materials available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (CC BY-NC).

    For more information about CC licenses see this page

    Finding aids

    Generated finding aid

    Associated materials

    Accruals

    No further accruals are expected.

    Alternative identifier(s)

    Standard number

    Standard number

    Access points

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    Control area

    Description record identifier

    Institution identifier

    Rules or conventions

    RAD July 2008 edition.

    Status

    Level of detail

    Dates of creation, revision and deletion

    April 2022: first arrangement and description completed (Matthew Lively).

    Language of description

    • English

    Script of description

      Sources

      Accession area