SENATOR HOTEL POOL | Niki Butcher

Miami Beach © 1983

Photographic Story I love history, and when I learned that many of the old Art Deco buildings on Miami Beach were in jeopardy of being torn down, I decided to photograph them before they disappeared. The Senator Hotel had so many classic Art Deco features that it became one of my favorite buildings. Sadly, the hotel was demolished in 1988 and replaced with a parking garage. This area of Miami Beach first inspired me to hand-paint my photographs. I thought that if others could see the buildings restored to beauty, they would want to preserve them. The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Niki prints her images on fiber-base black and white mat surface paper in the darkroom, then using Q-tips and cotton balls, she applies a thin coat of oil paint over the surface allowing the image to gently be seen through the oil paint. Archival Print Making Niki’s open edition gicleé artwork is printed on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag matte finish paper using eight archival inks. A state-of-the-art Epson Stylus Pro printer creates deep, rich dark values that hold subtle detail in the shadows as well as bright vivid colors that are truly tropical.