Caroline Bullock
Cyanotype & Mixed media painting
“The work begins as a cyanotype one of the earliest photographs, and it is a direct contact print that’s most often made outside with sunlight. And what I do in my work is I coat watercolor or print-making paper with a lightsensitive emulsion, and then it’s dried in a dark room much like film, and then I take it outside and expose it to sunlight with all these local plant materials that I have collected around town, always from the side of the road,” Bullock explained. “I’ve always been looking to elevate kind of the mundane, and I find a lot of beauty in things that we would consider maybe not traditionally beautiful. So I’m looking at a lot of the plants like kudzu and thistle and wisteria and mimosa, and a lot of these are considered invasive species but I think that they’re really extraordinary plants in terms of their lines and their leaves. ”
(quote from WABE article “The Nature of Reality”)
Q&A
The process of creating a cyanotype is so interesting! To me, it feels like science experiment in the way that you are using light sensitive chemicals with natural sunlight and plants—but abstract art isn’t always a perfect science! How do you balance control and chance in your work, especially when working with sunlight, shadow, and exposure in cyanotypes?
There are certain aspects of the process that I can control somewhat such as how I apply the emulsion, the exposure time or placement of the material, but ultimately it is a very unpredictable process involving many elements of chance which I enjoy.
For example, I can make the choice to pour or paint the emulsion on the paper, but then it is mostly up to chance as to how that emulsion will flow and dry. I can plan to expose for a set amount of time, but a cloud may come along to alter the sunlight or a breeze may blow away parts of the plant material I use for the composition! I believe this synergy between control and chance creates an important tension in the work.
Caroline Bullock | Costa Flora series | Cyanotype and watercolor on paper
Q&A
How do you think the material qualities of cyanotype—its chemical, historic, or tactile aspects—shape the meaning of your work?
I am drawn to cyanotype for how it captures multiple layers of meaningplace, time, atmosphere, object and shadow - within a single photograph.
What role do shadows play in your art—are they metaphors to you, or do they function more as a tool for painting?
Shadows play an important role in my work in that they blur the boundary between form and formlessness.
Caroline Bullock Costa Flora series | Cyanotype and watercolor on paper
I’ve always been looking to elevate the mundane, and I find a lot of beauty in things that we would consider maybe not traditionally beautiful.”
– Caroline Bullock “
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