Why cyanotypes?
I’ve had a love for photography since I was about thirteen years old - I was lucky enough to have a couple of amazing photography mentors who even more deeply instilled that in me. And I love printmaking. Add my love for being outdoors and my fascination with the beauty of the flora of Northern New Mexico - cyanotype comes in. Cyanotype is a process that blends those three loves of mine in a way that’s so seamless, I find it hard not to do it very often. I take a lot of walks. Either in the mountains or on the Mesas, or along the river near home. Most walks I will collect something new to print. The unique nature of each print feels like a nod to the plants I use.
(photo by Megan Maher)
What books/authors and/or music is inspiring you right now?
Last Fall I went on a solo date to see a favorite musician, Bonobo perform his album, Fragments. It was both a sonically and visually beautiful experience. I listen to that album all of the time now and it takes me right back to the show and such a good feeling. And a dear friend who now lives in Santa Fe, Esther Rose, recently released an album entitled Safe to Run. Her words have basically been on repeat in my mind if i’m not actively listening. It’s been a balm for the difficult moments in life for me.
What is a challenge you experienced that ended up being pivotal in your growth as an artist?
In 2016 my husband and I packed up most of our belongings and our cat, Moomba, and moved to Mexico, leaving behind our beloved Santa Fe community. We lived pretty isolated out in the Southern Baja California desert and it was a huge adjustment. I brought my Cyanotype chemicals with me, and I spent a lot of my free time printing the plant life from the ocean and arid desert we lived sandwiched between. It was in Baja that I began experimenting with printing on fabric, and taught my first Cyanotype workshop at a friend’s photography gallery in town. There was a lot of spaciousness in our ‘baja life’. But as I struggled in the beginning to really understand how we fit into this new place, I found so much comfort in my artistic process. The documentation / journaling side of cyanotype for me started to really solidify. I’ve since grown to love how, just like a traditional photograph, this alternative photographic process really can serve as a personal way for me to preserve a memory of a specific place and time.
If you could have a superpower for just one day, what would it be?
The power to grow any plant on the spot.