I live by the sea four months each year on the island of North Haven in Penobscot Bay. Two years ago, wanting to extend my photographic practice, I began making cyanotypes with different kinds of kelp found along the coast of Maine. I am fascinated by kelp’s variety of shapes, textures, and forms.
HOW I MAKE THESE: Using loose brush strokes with light sensitive cyanotype chemicals on watercolor paper, I create an area that mimics the shape of a kelp. I place the kelp directly onto the treated area. Held firmly together with plexiglass, paper and kelp are exposed to the sun. Because the kelp is semitransparent, the sun’s strong rays reveal inner structures of each kelp. Additionally, during the long exposure, some of the kelp minerals leach into the paper, creating unexpected subtle colors in the sea of cyan blue. This artwork is a co-creation with nature.
WHY KELP: Kelp is not only strangely gorgeous; it is critical to the ocean’s health. Kelp and other marine organisms take in carbon dioxide and emit into the ocean and air roughly half of the Earth’s oxygen through photosynthesis. Among many other roles, wild kelp forests provide protective areas for young fish. Kelp also serves as a food for humans, as a fertilizer, and has the potential to reduce methane emissions when added to livestock feed. New England kelp aquaculture farms are helping not only local economies, but also our planet’s land and air. Research here at Bigelow Laboratory has discovered a dramatic decline of the kelp forests along much of Maine’s coastline related to warming in the Gulf of Maine. My images celebrate the beauty of kelp and its particular mysteries. They also call attention to its central role in the health of our planet.
THE PRINTS: The original cyanotypes are photographed and then printed on a fine art digital paper called Canson Aquarelle Rag 310. These prints have the look and feel of artwork on a fine watercolor paper. They are archival, impervious to fading. Printed in editions of ten and signed by the artist, they are for sale. To learn more, contact parrish@parrishdobson.com.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Parrish Dobson’s photography has been widely exhibited and collected over the last 35 years. She concentrates primarily on landscape photography, interiors and still life.
Now retired from teaching, she ran the Photography program at the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, MA from 1988 – 2018. She is represented by the New Era Gallery on Vinalhaven Island in Maine.
In the summer, she lives on North Haven Island in Maine. The rest of the year, she lives in Belmont, MA and has a studio in Somerville where she participates annually in Somerville Open Studios.
