Sarah Irvin website: https://sarahirvinart.com/home.html
Interview from Personal Correspondence:
-When I met you, you had a background in painting and printmaking, How did you come across the process of creating Cyanotypes? And why do you feel it helps portray your concepts in your artwork?
I remember using one of those sunprint kits that come with the pre-coated paper as a kid, so that gave me some familiarity with alternative and cameraless photo processes. I had the opportunity to do an an independent study with Peggy Feerick focusing on cyanotypes during grad school. She felt that painters can come to the alt process table with a really unique perspective. I like both how direct and forgiving the process is. I can work with objects in my life to create a visual form, and I think this produces such an interesting understanding of what an object and its various representations are.
I think of it from the perspective of mark making in the drawing/painting sense, rather than capturing an photographic image of something. However, I feel that I am giving the material object a little more agency than when making a drawing. I appreciate how the process in part lets the object do what it can do within the parameters of the chemicals, instead of going through the lens of my perception and representational mark-making language based on visual observation. I appreciate that I feel in collaboration with the objects themselves in a unique way.
-Do you buy the chemicals and apply them yourself to your papers? Or do you buy the paper pre-coated?
I buy the chemicals in bulk and mix them as needed and I coat my own paper. I have found that Canson Edition paper is very forgiving in the coating process.
-Your work often references collections (of toys, objects, and books), why are documenting these collections important to you?
I am interested in my understanding of self and other and how the material world impacts those relationships. So, through the cyanotype process I am interested in how the objects I interact with impact how I think about the people around me and my relationship to them. For instance, I live with two other people and therefore live with quite a few physical objects that I would not otherwise be in close contact with. Thinking through that can lead to some really interesting thoughts about how objects impact identity and awareness of self.
-Technology has made a large influence in the resurgence of analog photographic processes- in what ways do you use technology to create your work?
I have used a laser cutter to create forms for printing. For a series I have been working on recently, I have taken digital images of patterns in my home, converted those patterns to a vector file, and then laser cut the patterns out of paper. I use both the positive and negative space of the paper pattern to create cyanotypes.
-What artists do you look to for inspiration?
I can’t help but constantly think of Anna Atkins when creating cyanotypes, I love referencing her work by making a complete cyanotype record of something. I also love artists like Lenka Clayton and Michelle Grabner.
-Currently, you are running a Cyanotype residence in your house specifically for artists who use this process. What inspired you to start this program, and how did you find artists who wanted to participate?
My home is a really wonderful joint live/work space that has a perfect set-up for making cyanotypes, so it made sense to share the resources with others. I prefer to have a studio space at home, but it can be pretty isolating. So, I invite artists to come create a project over the course of several micro-visits that can span as many years as it takes to complete the project. For now, I reach out to close friends or acquaintances who are interested in learning the cyanotype process. I keep it informal and I’ve found that it has really been an amazing community building experience. At this point in my life, it doesn't make sense for me to go away for longer residencies, so I am bringing a residency to me.
I enjoy what I learn from having someone else invade my space a little bit, and I also learn from supporting someone else in a project. It’s a way for my family, which includes a small child, to be involved in the art community. I feel that we each add something to the experience for the artist, and it is really interesting for someone to join me in my small daily rituals or to disrupt and reinvent them. To accomplish something in such a quick, micro-visit, really takes all hands on deck which ads a sense of frantic purpose which is fun because it is ultimately a relatively low-stakes scenario. We’ve found that it is so fulfilling as a family unit to support the production of new projects.