We had the privilege this year to this visit Newstead Abbey as part of our lace legacy project. This was our first project of the year
and we were also given the amazing opportunity to make some artwork for our own exhibition. Newstead is a historic building, mainly known for being the home of Lord Byron and was formerly an Augustinian priory. During our trip, we took a look at some of the pieces of lace clothing, the Japanese gardens and our exhibition.
Studio practice Cyanotypes and photograms
We went out into the garden to collect some flowers and leaves so that we could experiment with making cyanotypes and photograms. Furthermore, we even had the chance to capture some photos of the flowers on the canon camera. However, because I
wasn't very experienced with the camera, and I didn't manage to get any good shots on the camera but rather on my phone instead. For our first activity, we were in the darkroom making photograms. I assembled my leaves onto some photographic paper and then exposed it to the light for two minutes. After the photograms had been under the light for two minutes, I then placed the photogram in some light sensitive chemicals to develop for one minute. I ended up repeating this process again. Here are some photos of the process:
I enjoyed the process of making the photograms as it was fascinating watching how the light and the chemicals in the water could develop into such a detailed photo. My photogram is the first photo, I liked the way I composed the leaves on my photogram however, I
wish there was more detail on the leaf. I think this could have been achieved if I had maybe left the photogram to develop in the chemical solution for longer.
Our next activity was to create a cyanotype, which was made by placing the flowers and leaves onto some paper and placing it in between two shields of glass. After we had done this, we then left them to sit in the sun outside for 5 minutes. The UV rays helped to develop the cyanotype into an image. We then left the image in some water. I was quite pleased with how my cyanotype turned out.
Artist that underpin my work
Michelle Vine is an installation, performance and photo media artist, I can draw strong connections between her cyanotypes and mine. One of things that our work both has in common is the nature imagery, vine uses this a lot in her cyanotypes. Here are a few pieces of her work:
Newstead abbey Exhibition
we had the amazing privilege to make some work for an exhibition at Newstead Abbey, we set up the exhibition on the 13th October and it was launched on the 15th of October. here are a few pictures of the exhibition:
As a class we made a variety of art works for the exhibition including, ceramics, cyanotypes, photograms and textiles. I really enjoyed the way this exhibition was curated, everything was placed where it belonged. The cyanotypes were grouped together and everything else that was of similar style was put together, I would say that the exhibition was very harmonious.
my favourite pieces of work was the textiles on paper and the plaster discs i feel like they really showcased the legacy of lace and natural history.
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