Allerton Park & Retreat Center

Experience Level: Beginner

Experience camera-less photography and the joy of recording the beauty of nature at Springtime Cyanotype & the Magic of Light on Saturday, May 17 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Greenhouse Auditorium.

Instructor Crystal Hartman will guide students through a fun, straightforward process of creating beautiful prints with the magic of light. She will share a bit of history on cyanotype, one of the oldest known photo processes that was originally used to document botanical specimens by treating a surface – paper or cloth – with iron salts which then react to ultraviolet light. (Paper will be pre-coated with the cyanotype chemistry prior to the workshop.)

Each student will practice observing nature and creating compositions inspired by what they see, creating several prints as they experiment with various timings and placements.

$85/person. Register by May 9. All sales are final.

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

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.

Her work is featured in publications like Ponder Review, La Piccoletta Barca and CutBank Literary Journal. Crystal maintains a studio in Urbana.