Allerton Park & Retreat Center

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn about cyanotype, one of the oldest known photo processes, at The Magic of Light and Cyanotype Photography from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, May 18 in the Greenhouse Auditorium. Originally used to document botanical specimens, cyanotypes are made by treating a surface – paper or cloth – with iron salts which then react to ultraviolet light.

Prior to the workshop, paper will be pre-coated with the cyanotype chemistry so it will be dry and ready to go. Participants will them be guided through a fun, straightforward process of creating beautiful prints while receiving a bit of history from instructor Crystal Hartman on the process and the magic of light. You will practice observing nature and create compositions inspired by what is seen.

Those taking part will create several prints and experiment with various timings and placements as they experience camera-less photography and the joy of recording the beauty of nature.

$40/person. Register by May 11. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

About the instructor

Crystal Hartman is an artist and jewelry designer whose work explores interconnectivity through lines and layers. Utilizing traditional and experimental practices in metalsmithing, drawing and artists books, she explores possibilities of harmonious living to advocate for the natural world.

Hartman shows her work in galleries and public art spaces across the United States and abroad. As an artist-in-residence at Delight Flower Farm in Champaign, she developed a series of cyanotypes celebrating the native plants and flowers of Eastern Illinois. She works on ecological principles through local land-based sources and through community.