Cyanotype is an alternative photographic process that uses ultraviolet light to expose an image and create a cyan-blue print, also called a blueprint. I make drawings on transparent vellum that I expose in the sun to create something that is part photo and part drawing. I depend on the sun’s light and strength to create images of landscapes that are changing because of increased warmth in our climate. The resulting image is both realistic and abstract. Blurry sections and the distinctive cyan color relate to memory, loss, and change.

The work in this series explores watersheds in Alaska, from glaciers to oceans. This series was inspired by time spent around my home in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, as well as working with field scientists with the Juneau Icefield Research Program and aboard the Research Vessel Sikuliaq in the Pacific Ocean (off the coasts of Oregon and California).

Glaciers and oceans are the main characters in the story of climate change that I have come to identify with – Like many Alaskans I’ve seen a visible change in the glaciers near my home in the past ten years. The Root Glacier has gotten so much smaller, that each year our trail to the white ice gets extended. The lake at the toe of the Kennicott Glacier has gotten larger in size as the ice melts, especially as new lakes form and join together. The hydrology of McCarthy Creek has changed completely as the glacier at its’ head has dwindled to the point where it is almost entirely rain-fed. Oceans are warming and rising which effects surrounding landscapes and ecosystems.

Work is available. For Glacier Snapshots, please visit my Etsy Shop, for larger works please contact me.