Daily Nourishment for February 24, 2024: Anna Atkins, Cyanotypes, and Figuring It Out with Lauren Winner
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 40 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 10-15 minutes
Interviewer: What is art for?
Kara Walker: Figuring it out.
Pause.
For one minute, look at this cyanotype by Anna Atkins.
Prompt.
Atkins (1799-1871) was one of cyanotype’s early adopters; she used the method (which was invented in 1842) to capture plant life.
The Public Domain Review explains how cyanotypes are made: an “object is placed on paper which has been treated with ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide, after which it is exposed to sunlight and then washed in water, leading to the uncovered areas of the paper turning a dark blue.”
Here’s another cyanotype by Anna Atkins. And here’s another one.
Photography dealer Jeffrey Fraenkel has said, about cyanotyopes, “The color blue strikes some chord in us that goes beyond words.”
For three minutes, brainstorm the blue objects in your life, past and present, that have been important to you. Then, if you wish, write toward one of them.
Practice.
Click on the cyanotype here to call up five images by five different people (Atkins is one), and take a minute or two with each image.
Make a cyanotype (you will not need a camera; you will need cyanotype paper).
Want More?
Read “Anna Atkins's cyanotypes: the first book of photographs”
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Upcoming Workshops & Gatherings
February: February Co-Writing schedule and registration options are ready.
February: Online Thoughtful Readers Gatherings with Erik Fuhrer(2/25)
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Lauren Winner.
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