Shadow Structures

The process is fairly simple.  I purchased several portfolios of antique architectural engravings from the 1870’s  in France.  Some of them were on really nice paper.  On top of these I painted cyanotype emulsion, which is sensitive to sunlight.  It turns blue  when exposed for about half and hour.  This is the same chemistry that was used to make architectural blueprints in the old days.  I thought it would be interesting to paint this ‘blueprint’ medium on architectural prints and place plants on top of the engravings to produce a shadow of the plant structure onto the building structures.  Hence, the title of the series ‘Shadow Structures’.

This is a blurb written by curator Mary Beth Laviolette on a large Shadow Structure piece that was in an exhibition in Calgary. This work will be featured in a book called ‘Before Digital’ :

As they are printed on  150 year old architectural portfolio paper it’s quite nice to see the edges. Each is one of a kind.