It's been a while since I've been back from my time spent at PLAYA in Summer Lake, Oregon. I jumped right back into my "normal" life and haven't spent much time reflecting on my experience. I am so grateful for the time and space that I had while I was there and the amount of focus and attention to my work that it afforded me. In my normal day-to-day, I rarely get that kind of time to truly go in depth with my work and to find the mental space that a residency allows.
Now that I have my own studio space that I can come to (when I carve out the time--mostly on weekends), I've started to play around more with some of the things that I started while at PLAYA. While there, I spent lots of time exploring the landscape and letting that influence my work. I continued working with cyanotypes out in the landscape and experimented with bleaching and toning a bit more, as well as using the fabric to sew garments and flags.
My studio wall while in residency at PLAYA, 2017
After the wet winter we had last year, there was still quite a bit of water in Summer Lake. It hadn't dried out yet and turned into a playa and I was super intrigued by the changing weather and light over the water. I couldn't resist getting in and testing out the depth and distance and decided to make a video work that played off of the perceptual illusion that water in the desert can create. (The water wasn't too deep but the mud was so sticky, you can see me struggle with balance a few times in the video as I try to pull my boot out of it.)
Still from the video Entering into the Landscape, 2017
Now that I am back home and in my studio, I have been experimenting with cyanotypes that are landscape based and use multiple techniques that I have been interested in: digital transfer combined with cyanotype that is then bleached in various ways. I am also using digital negatives to create impression and texture in the cyanotype. The results have been pretty exciting and I am planning on trying to work with some different materials and paper to create the final images on. I will continue to work on some of this during my upcoming residency in Silver City.
From left: cyanotype (with digital transfer) being exposed; cyanotypes after being washed; cyanotypes after being bleached, 2018