This class teaches the basics of cyanotype printing with hands-on instruction beginning with basic stenciling and moving on to using negatives to create your own custom cyanotypes. Students will walk away with 2-3 completed cyanotypes prints for display. Designed to spark or continue an interest in darkroom and analogue practice, students will learn all the knowledge they need to continue their own photographic practices at home!

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Ryan A. Contreras is a fifth generation Mexican-American, California native living and working in Los Angeles. He has shown work in group shows across Los Angeles, New York, and has been awarded various residencies including Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA. In his personal photographic works, he’s interested in exploring the relationship with self to the earth and how the human footprint has shaped natural landscapes. Often using analogue and traditional darkroom processes, the material used to produce his images further continues this thematic dialogue. In 2024, he was selected as the 2024 BLM + ESIA Artist in Resident where he spent two weeks photographing landscapes across the Eastern Sierras and is currently producing a body of work representative of the broader public lands surrounding them.