Iron Printing in Blue – A Cyanotype Workshop

This workshop will mainly focus on acquiring practical skills in the cyanotype printing technique. Participants will learn how to produce the cyanotype solution necessary for this method and have the opportunity to carry out experiments and use them in artistic practice. This technique can mainly be used to produce either photograms or photographic images with the help of photo negatives. The participants will have an opportunity to try out different possibilities of the technique and then be able to focus on their approach.

On day one, there will be an introduction to the practical aspects of the cyanotype technique. We will look at the variety of cyanotype prints and learn how to make the solution. In the afternoon, we will produce our first test prints. It will give the participants the first feeling of the technique and time to prepare for the next day, either through taking photos and copying negatives or collecting material for photograms.

Day two and the first half of the third day will be fully dedicated to individual work. The participants will start with an exercise to get more familiar with cyanotype printing and then focus on its application in their projects. There will be time to discuss the progress of personal projects throughout the workshop and to receive individual feedback. 

On day 3, we will look at both group and personal projects altogether. It will allow the participants to review their work and get an outlook on how they might apply cyanotype printing in their future artistic practice. 

PARTICIPANTS

The workshop is intended for beginners in cyanotype printing. Anyone who has no knowledge of the technique and would like to learn how to work with it is welcome. It can be helpful if you have already worked with photography but this is not a requirement as the technique can also be used without even touching a camera. 

REQUIREMENTS

If participants want to work with photographs, it would be helpful to copy them in negative onto transparent sheets so that they can be used as negatives. Therefore, it can also be helpful to bring prints of photos one would like to work with. 

It would be helpful to bring either a camera or a phone with a camera, cables, and USB-sticks to make sure the photos can be printed immediately. The prints and copies into negatives can be made in copy shops close to the university. This is a possibility and not a necessity to follow the course. It is also possible to work without photos but use drawings and/or photograms as the main technique. If participants want to make photograms, it would be good to bring a selection of interesting objects. In addition, a selection of strong absorbent paper (as used for watercolour painting) would be helpful. 

Jenny Claire Heck is a Berlin-based artist of German and English origin. She studied Art Therapies in the Netherlands and Fine Arts and English at Berlin University of the Arts and Freie Universität Berlin. She graduated as a Meisterschülerin in Fine Arts in February 2017 and is now teaching first-year students at the UdK Berlin. Her artistic work is based on varied techniques with a strong interest in a combination of photographic techniques, drawing, and painting. During her studies, she developed a broad knowledge of the cyanotype technique and wrote her Bachelor thesis on the work of Anna Atkins. For her finals in Fine Arts, she created a piece of work consisting of 333 cyanotype prints adding up to an expanse of 2,5 by 6,3 meters.

jennyclaireheck.com