sleepwear 2.0 with chiffon

A few days ago I was thinking about the sleepwear anthotypes. Thinking about how they are rather uncomplicated. Basic photograms done with plant pigments. This probably stemmed from one of the onionskin anthotypes I did this winter. While it succeeded, it also seemed like it was one note. It was too simple and the single layer of pajama top I used didn't immediately read "sleepwear".

Last summer, Bridgette was asking provocative questions as she is apt to do. One of these questions related to the layering of color. One on top of the other. I was initially convinced that the water content of the successive layer would wash away the anthotype exposure underneath much like invasive rain water had done to a couple of anthos.

A few weeks ago I was actually layering beet root juice (from a can) on top of existing onionskin and it didn't have an effect on the layer below. Both remained distinct which led me to the idea of layering exposures one on top of the other.

Here's a couple of images to illustrate where this is heading. I am heading towards anthotypes 2.0 which involves the layering of his and her sleepwear in the final anthotype.

Below is the aforementioned onionskin anthotype with one layer of rose petal emulsion on top.

Below is the same anthotype with three layers of red rose petal emulsion. The light resist is a bed jacket donated by Kristi Bogle which has a connection to the Roswell museum of art.

color blind and home is where the studio is

Last night I was able to re-photograph the red rose petal anthotype of Somnambulist #6 which is the only one I did on the back of Kozo Unryu paper. This one will also have the title of Blue Blouse although it is not blue in the anthotype and it isn't really rose petal red once it interacts with the paper.

Lot's going on in the home is where the studio is. I modified the Holga 120WPC which hopefully will eliminate the vignetting which was randomly cropping up. In the Woodland Cemetery I spotted some amazing tree fungi which will make it's way into the tree bark pinholes. I learned how to identify a new tree (for me), the sassafras, which is one of the first trees to change color in the cemetery. I  may have also settled on a method / process to print these images. More on that later.

the faintest ink

Here is an installation view, photographed by Bridgette Bogle, of Rose Red Pajama Pants which is on view at Sinclair Community College's Triangle Gallery. It is on view "sometimes", if one is willing to open the black curtains. This is an idea I appropriated from a traveling exhibition of William Henry Fox Talbot's Callotypes and paper negatives on view at the Museum of Photographic Arts in the late 1990's. There are hooks on either side to keep the curtains open so that viewers can step back from the work to get a proper view. In borrowing the Chinese proverb "the faintest ink is more powerful than the best memory, I will substitute fugitive or transient. Given enough time and exposure, these transient pigments will become the faintest of inks and may then be hardly better than the best memory.

sad state of disappearing

In case you were wondering, I have been caught up by the new semester and finishing up exhibition preparations for ArtPrize. I had to reprint three of the from walking pieces since they were needed for two concurrent exhibitions, one at the Greater Grand Rapids Arts Council gallery and the Ohio: Fresh exhibition. I have rethought the map pin method and will be using a slick magnet and nail head method introduced to me by Mari Lacure during the Boston residency.

On the anthotype front. I pulled out the large  pokeberry pajama top with rain drips (Somnambulist #3, Clem Wolfham) and discovered it had faded badly. I suspect it might be the pokeberry pigment or its interaction with the paper. I will photograph its current state in the next few weeks.

As a response to this sad state of disappearing, I have installed black curtains over the Red Rose Pajama Pants on display at Sinclair Community College. I have to go back there tomorrow to iron out the folds in the drapes and install some hooks to allow viewers to view the piece unobstructed by the black curtains. I'll take a picture of the finished installation tomorrow. It is both censored and funerary in appearance but will visitors know they can look at it?