Cyanotype Napkins with Brett Windham
Saturday, August 31 (rain date Sunday Sept 1)
10:00am - 2:00pm
$125 per person
Tickets here
Enjoy a day outside in the sun, creating beautiful prints from nature!
It was so nice we decided to do it twice!
In this one-day workshop, you will learn this surprisingly simple process and create a one-of-a-kind set of four cyanotyped napkins to wow your family and friends. This Victorian method of camera-less photography (sometimes called sun-prints) was invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842 and subsequently used for architectural blueprints and even as inspiration for a young Robert Rauschenberg. We will give it our own twist, and use it to make something personal and sustainable (much better than paper napkins!). Each 100% cotton napkin can be printed on one or both sides and is paintable, stitchable, machine washable and dryable.
The process itself is magical.
This workshop will include:
Step-by-step instructions to make a set of four double-sided cotton napkins
A take-home sheet of resources and recommended supplies
Fun technique-building options (wet printing, instant developing, tinting, toning, painting)
Printing tips to help you achieve the best results
You will need to bring:
Studio clothes and shoes (aprons encouraged)
Any small objects from home that you’d like to print (We will also have some on hand to play with)
Notebook or sketchbook, pencils, pens, etc.
Lunch and a water bottle
We will supply:
A set of four white cotton napkins, pre-treated with chemistry
Sampler of objects to print
Take-home resource guide
Clothesline & hangers for dying our prints
Rinsing tubs
Reference books to peruse on-site
Due to the nature of this art practice, we cannot hold the event in rainy weather. We will utilize a rain date of Sunday Sept 1st if needed. Ticket sales are final - no refunds will be issued.
BRETT DAY WINDHAM
Brett Day Windham (born Cambridge, England, raised Providence, Rhode Island) is a multidisciplinary artist currently working with cyanotype. She received a BFA from Hampshire College, a certificate in painting from SACI, in Florence, Italy, and an MFA in Sculpture from RISD. Her work has been collected internationally and has been included in shows around the US, including The Barnes Foundation (Philadelphia), Smack Mellon (New York), the RISD Museum (Providence), Tompkins Projects West (Los Angeles), Cave (Detroit), Gallery Project (Ann Arbor), 808 Gallery (Boston), Samsøn Projects (Boston), University of Maine Museum of Art (Bangor), and RMCAD (Denver). Windham received a Dean’s fellowship while at RISD, and was nominated for the Joan Mitchell MFA Grant. Residencies include The Select Fair Residency (Brooklyn, New York), The Chrysler Museum Glass Studio (Norfolk, Virginia), TSKW (Key West, Florida), Cascina Remondenca (Chiaverano, Italy), and Penland (Penland, North Carolina). Her work has been discussed in Art New England, Elle Decor, V Magazine, Hyperallergic, The New York Times, Providence Phoenix, Whitewall Magazine, and The Bangor Daily News.
STATEMENT
Windham’s work is based on ideas around color and collecting. Using an intuitive sense of composition, she organizes collections of natural, commercial, and industrial remnants into multi-disciplinary works which confer feelings of mysticism and ritual. Her hand-painted cyanotypes are at once early-process photographs, paintings on paper, and objectless sculptures. Each object is collected, pressed tightly until dry, printed in the sun, washed and dried, and finally painted, a process that can take months to complete. The dried and flattened specimen allows for sharp detail and translucence that informs the painting. The use of inventive, abstract color is a way to bring this Victorian-era process into the present day: using modern Japanese, American, and British watercolors in vibrant cadmium, fluorescents and pastels, the work simultaneously references contemporary painting and the antiquated art of hand-tinted photographs.
