Memory and Cyanotype with Elaine Nyguen

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Memory and Cyanotype We will review the history and chemistry of cyanotypes, cover techniques for coating various fabrics, discuss exposure timing, and review the foundational rules of the process. Then, we’ll push boundaries through experimentation, discovering alternative materials and innovative processes. We will be working at larger scales, on large sheets of fabric. Using memory as a creative starting point, participants will reflect on a moment in their lives they’d like to revisit, preserve, or even reinvent. Through guided prompts and movement based sketching exercises, we’ll consider: What did the light look like in that moment? Was it soft through curtains, bright against a wall, reflected in water, or imagined entirely? Participants will recreate that remembered light using sunlight, found objects, gestures, and layered compositions. Working on fabric and linens—materials tied to rest, home, and intimate spaces—we’ll create prints that act as personal “portals” to a specific time or feeling. The resulting cyanotypes may be abstract or atmospheric, but each will hold an imprint of lived experience. This workshop balances technical skill-building with creative exploration. You’ll leave with a deeper understanding of the cyanotype process, new experimental approaches to working with fabric, and a finished piece that captures a memory in luminous blue. BIO: Elaine Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American interdisciplinary artist exploring identity, displacement, and the search for home as a perpetual foreigner. She is drawn to the passage of time and light and utilizes ephemeral materials to convey memory and yearning. Her work expands across painting, cyanotype, sculpture, and time-based media. Through cyanotypes and long exposures, she captures the fluidity and blurriness of memory and through her use of text, both poetic and linguistic, she navigates vulnerability and relearning language. Nguyen seeks to reconnect with her Vietnamese heritage, reclaiming symbols and creating community through shared experiences. Through durational walking performances and site-specific work, she acknowledges the transitory and cyclical nature of seeking as the works evoke timeless, placeless displacement.