Park Open Studio: Photography and Printmaking with Kristen Welles Bartley
Led by a local teaching artist, this drop-in class invites participants to explore creativity through hands-on artmaking under the shade of Scrabble Plaza’s trees. Past mediums have included plein-air drawing, printmaking, cyanotypes, and more. All materials are provided by WSPC.
This program is free and no registration is required.
About the Artist:
Kristen is an image-maker working at the intersection of memoir, documentary, and fiction, using personal and found archives to explore belonging, grief, and queerness. She is a co-founder of DoubleD’s (Dyke Distribution), a collective of lesbian artists and writers who self-publish their work, and maintains an ongoing zine and book-making practice, producing small self-published works alongside her larger bodies of work. She previously served as Public Engagement & Programs Director at the Alice Austen House Museum, and currently leads generative excavation-based workshops, alongside sessions in anthotypes and plant-based image-making. She is a graduate of the International Center of Photography's Advanced Track Program.
About the Workshop:
September's residency explores photographic image-making and what's possible beyond the camera lens. Together we'll leave traces of our own hands and environment within our images, and discover the many ways photography can be used as a tool for self-discovery — using simple, low-cost materials and processes that are accessible to beginners, yet rich enough to offer something new to more advanced practitioners. September 12th: Storytelling with Found Photographs & Ephemera — Participants use found photos, letters, and ephemera and are given prompts to build a personal narrative, leaving with a zine, collage, or short written piece. September 19th: Anthotypes: Photographic Printmaking with Plants — Participants make photographic prints using plant-based photosensitive paper and learn to mix their own plant emulsions at home. September 26th: Polaroid Manipulation — Participants distort and reshape Polaroid photos by hand — using tools like sandpaper and color filters to enhance the meaning of their images. Workshop will also include a Polaroid emulsion transfer demo.