Sidewalks, sunshine provide blueprint for young artists

By Andy Piper   |   July 17, 2009   |   3:01 PM

It’s a strange kind of photography class.

There are no darkrooms, no lenses, no film, no computers and (almost) no cameras. Just a few pieces of green cloth, trays of water, miscellaneous objects, a little July Lakewood sun — and a lot of creativity.

But that was enough for the seven kids who took part July 11 in Working With Artists’ “Sunny Shooters” class. They were making blueprints, or as they are known in art circles, cyanotypes.

Within an hour they had created cameraless images — literally drawing the outlines of their subjects with light in shades from sky-blue to navy.

Teacher Billie Rommes began the class with a talk on textures and shapes — background information for the compositions the students would build into their blueprints.

“You have basic shapes such as circles and rectangles, and then there’s tons of other shapes. Hearts, stars . . .”

“Trapezoids!” Celeste Coleman, 8, called out from the side of the classroom.

“Wow!” Rommes said. “I couldn’t even come up with those. That’s great!”

She took the class on a brief field trip around the Belmar neighborhood, home to the Working With Artists classrooms and gallery, to find flowers, leaves and other objects to use as subjects for the images.

Back in the classroom, most of the students abandoned their “found” objects for more interesting materials: buttons, brooches, bracelets and other jewelry brought from home or retrieved from bins provided by the school.

First they tested out various patterns on squares of yellow paper, tracing them for reference. When all were ready, Rommes, assisted by Working With Artists associate director Valerie Photogoddess (yes, that’s her name) handed out the precious, light-sensitive green squares of cloth on which the kids reconstructed their designs. Then the students carefully carried their compositions out onto the sunlit sidewalk for a 10-minute exposure.

Tasmyn Dowd, 8, though, decided to skip making her own blueprint and was busily snapping her fellow students’ work with her digital camera.

Jaisen White, 9, had a whole different idea for a subject — his own hand — even though it meant sitting rock-still in the sun for the whole 10 minutes.

“We’re going to have to tape you down so you don’t move, though,” Rommes kidded him.

With Jaisen patiently holding his hand in place and Tasmyn still snapping pictures, the other students went back to the classroom to build more images while their first batch caught some rays.

From architect’s plans to art studios

The basic chemistry of the blueprint has been known since 1706, when the pigment Prussian blue was first synthesized. The technique was first used to make artistic images in 1843, when Anna Atkins made shadow images of algae, thus becoming one of the first female photographers. The process was used commercially for 100 years to copy engineering drawings — the classic “blueprints” shared by architects, engineers and contractors engaged in making anything complex, from car parts to steamships to skyscrapers.

Soak a piece of paper or cloth in a greenish solution of iron and potassium compounds and let it dry. Set it out in bright sunlight (or under ultraviolet lamps) for 10 to 15 minutes, and the compounds will react to form Prussian blue. Shade parts of the paper or cloth with objects, a photographic negative, or a line drawing, and no pigment will form in the shaded areas. A simple rinse in water washes out the green salts, leaving a permanent image in blue wherever light struck.

As an art form, cyanotypes came back into popularity in the 1970s when photographers bucking the tyranny of the classic silver print sought “alternative processes,” including revivals of 19th-century techniques. Blueprinting was especially attractive because of its simplicity, its permanence and because it could be done on cloth, which drew the interest of soft-sculptors.

Sidewalk art

Finally, Rommes and Photogoddess called time, and the students rushed to collect their projects and bring them to trays full of water for development.

The sun had already burned faint gray-on-green images into the cloth — not very impressive — but after just a second or two in the water rinse, the images turned a brilliant blue and white. Cries of wonder and delight from both students and teachers echoed up and down Saulsbury Street

“Just swoosh it around.” “Look at that!” “That is so cool!” “Ohhh, that looks fabulous!”

A passerby stopped to stare quizzically at the kids and trays scattered on the sunny grass and in the shade of the building.

“We’re making art,” the Photogoddess said in answer to his unasked question. “Right on the sidewalk.”

Upcoming kids’ photo classes at Working With Artists

• August 1: Imaginary Friend
• Sept. 5: A-B-C Photography
• Oct. 3: Show ‘n Tell
• Nov.14: Texture-ocious!

Other metro-area organizations offer art workshops and camps for children, although none currently offer photographic media:

• http://www.foothillsartcenter.org/classes/youthprograms.php
• http://www.bmoca.org/education/youngArtists.php
• http://www.denverartmuseum.org/learn_and_play/families_and_kids/classes_and_camps
• Denver Darkroom occasionally hosts events for children’s groups in traditional silver darkroom photography, by special appointment.

If you want to try making your own cyanotypes, chemicals, materials and instructions are available through:

• http://www.sciencecompany.com/photo/cyanoformulas.htm
• http://www.BlueprintsOnFabric.com/
• http://www.bluesunprints.com/
• http://www.bostick-sullivan.com/

Categories: Arts, Region, Video

Tagged: Billie Rommes, blueprint, Jaisen White, Lakewood, photography, Ronan Dowd, Tasmyn Dowd, Valerie Photogoddess