Paper and Light Alchemy: Cyanotype on Handmade Paper with Henry Obeng

MAY 31 – JUNE 2, 2024 | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

In this workshop, students will create cyanotype prints on handmade paper, incorporating upcycled textiles, pulp painting, collage, and found materials. We will layer handmade paper processes and cyanotype to embrace sustainability and make meaningful connections between materials, history, and culture while exploring expressions of aesthetics and beauty. Such techniques add layers of depth and significance to artistic expression while addressing contemporary concerns of environmental impact and resource consumption. Students will also learn how to make direct cyanotype prints from materials, and will create a series of small-scale experimental cyanotypes over the course of the workshop.

No papermaking experience required; beginners welcome.

About the Instructor
Henry Obeng is a Ghanaian-born artist who received an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA and BA in Fine Art from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. Obeng creates handmade paper from plant fibers and upcycled textile waste, revealing the unique characteristics of each fiber. Through his photographic storytelling illustrations, Obeng explores ideas informed by the natural world and his observations and experiences as an international person moving between cultures. Rooted in hand papermaking and place, his interdisciplinary practice reconnects people to the voice of the environment. His artwork intersects the fields of hand papermaking, contemporary craft, book arts, ecological art, public art, community building, installation art, printmaking, and analog/digital photography. Obeng teaches and exhibits widely. Obeng has served on the diversity committee for the North American Hand Papermaking Association since 2021 and was included in the Hand Papermaking Magazine’s 14th portfolio of handmade paper.