I delivered two creative taster sessions at Ninewells Community Garden in February, to the groups brought together for a full day of discussions and planning around the REALITIES / Flourish project. The wood burning stove kept us warm in the Garden’s enclosed space. Meeting room quickly turned into workshop space and, having mindfully picked up some leaves and other bits of natural materials on a tour of the garden, participants made vaseline prints on photographic paper.
I also installed 2 mini pinhole cameras facing south to capture the sun’s trails over a period of weeks. These fugitive images on darkroom paper were then scanned and inverted digitally, with these results:
I returned to the Garden in June & July delivering four sessions to participants and staff in the glorious garden setting.
Week 1 was Cyanotype concertina books, with the idea of adding artwork to the book pages as the weeks progressed. Covers were printed outside in the sun, then the books folded and covers attached.
Week 2 was Natural inks. We cooked up some poppy flower ink on the day and i brought a selection of my inks, some of which we experimented with by altering the ph to change colours. Knopper gall ink and some home made brushes were used loosely on a bigger scale outside.
Week 3 was phytograms on paper and film. Old darkroom papers and obsolete microscope film were given new life by dipping carefully chosen plants into developer them laying them on the paper/film under glass out in the sun.
Week 4 was monoprinting with plants and experimental cyanotype, using water and soil. Participants collected plants thinking about textures and shape which they then inked up and printed onto paper. It’s a remarkably effective printing technique that doesn’t require a press.