Art Class 16. Cyanotype: Fotos on Fabric with Suda House | Athenaeum Music & Arts Library | School of the Arts | La Jolla
August 22, 2025: 10 AM - 2 PM
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From one of the first woman photographers, Anna Atkins, to lifestyle icon, DIY celebrity Martha Stewart—the Cyanotype Photographic Process continues to fascinate us with its beautiful tones of Prussian Blue colors, by the contact printing of objects (photograms), to using today’s digital negatives. This light sensitive process, activated by the ultraviolet rays of the sun and discovered by Sir John Herschel in 1842, has experienced several revivals since the 19th century. First in the 20th century with its rediscovery as an alternative process within university curricula worldwide to this last turn of century, in the 2000s, creating a revolt by fine art photographers in response to the onslaught of technology and its pesky pixel.
In this two-day intensive workshop, we will push the process further by cyanotype printing on fabric, including the latest technique of exposing wet cyanotypes. We will be introduced to the basic procedures using commercially coated fabrics, then move quickly to hand-applied emulsions on various fabrics from cotton to silk. By embedding the photographic image within the “ply-ability” of fabric, we can explore finishing strategies for the image, from sewing, embroidering, quilting, and garment making to creating sculptural forms with the photograph on fabric.
Materials: Materials provided with a $40 fee paid to instructor on the first day of class include chemistry and a contact printing frame. Recommended fabrics will be the responsibility of the student.
Max students: 12
Event Supported By
Athenaeum Music & Arts Library
The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, located in the heart of La Jolla, Calif., in San Diego County, is one of only 16 nonprofit membership libraries in the United States. This rare cultural institution, an important one to the greater San Diego area, offers a depth and accessibility of resources and programs found nowhere else in the region. The library, devoted exclusively to music and art, has an outstanding and ever-expanding collection of books, periodicals, reference material, compact discs, videocassettes, DVDs, sheet music and librettos, as well as one of the most significant collections of artists' books in Southern California. The library is open to the public five days a week and members can check out materials for a modest annual fee. The Athenaeum also presents an eclectic, year-round schedule of art exhibitions, concerts (classical, jazz and new music), lectures, studio art classes through its School of the Arts, tours and special events. To quote the San Diego Union-Tribune, "There are few libraries in America as unusual as the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library." Admission: Admission to the library is free. Gallery exhibits are free and open to the general public. Materials may be used in the library or checked out by members. Borrowing privileges are limited to members only. Books may be checked out for four weeks and all CDs, videos and DVDs for two weeks. Materials may be reserved in advance. Guided Tours: Free guided tours take place the third Saturday of every month at 11 a.m.