Botanical Cyanotypes Workshop - with Julia Whitney Barnes

Botanical Cyanotypes Workshop - with Julia Whitney Barnes
May 30th, 2026

Led by artist Julia Whitney Barnes, the day will start with the basics of how to make a cyanotype print by mixing chemistry, coating paper and/or fabric, and developing the print using the sun. Participants will learn how to print using fresh and pressed plants, printing with three-dimensional objects (lace, string, glass jars, jewelry, etc.), printing with paper cutouts, and how to print with photographic negatives.

Demonstrations will include altering cyanotypes with paint, collage, and multiple exposures. This medium is infinite in ways to combine techniques during the creation of the print and after it has been exposed. The workshop does not require any previous experience in cyanotype.

Fees and registration information forthcoming.

Julia Whitney Barnes approaches the medium as someone painting with light. She is interested in creating objects that feel both beautiful and mysterious. Each of her cyanopaintings recall something familiar yet slightly outside of time. Given that sunlight starts the exposure process with cyanotype chemistry, she carefully arranges elaborate compositions at night and utilizes long exposures under natural or UV light to create the final prints. She manipulates physical impressions of plants grown in her garden and other nearby areas, along with intricate negatives that are created as digital renderings or photographs printed in reverse onto transparencies.

Julia Whitney Barnes is an artist living in the Hudson Valley who works in a variety of media from cyanotypes, watercolor, oil paintings, ceramic sculptures, murals, and site-specific installations. She has exhibited widely in the United States and internationally. She was awarded fellowships from New York State Council Arts, Arts Mid-Hudson, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Abbey Memorial Fund for Mural Painting/National Academy of Fine Arts, and the Gowanus Public Art Initiative, among others. She received her BFA from Parsons School of Design and her MFA from Hunter College.

www.juliawhitneybarnes.com
@juliawhitneybarnes on Instagram and TikTok