Photography without Cameras: Lumen Printing Workshop

Cost: $15 (incl. two 8” x 10” prints)
Registration required
Book here

In this hands-on workshop, artist Phyllis Schwartz explains and demonstrates the image-making process of analogue lumen prints (photograms made without a camera). The workshop will include a demonstration of digital processing of Lumen Prints made from sheet film and explain the complexities and possibilities of this process. Participants will make photograms of plant materials and discover how they leave marks and traces on photosensitive paper, making works that look like colourful x-rays. There is opportunity to participate in the entire process, including gathering materials, composing two images, and developing two 8” x 10” prints.

The workshop extends the concept of analogue photography as the pencil of nature. Schwartz rediscovered this process while studying the Victorian botanists who sought a method of documenting their fieldwork. Lumen prints are both photographic and X-ray like, producing simultaneously documentation of nature and artistic renderings of botanical specimens.

Phyllis Schwartz is a multidisciplinary artist who works in photography, ceramics, and publishing, based in Vancouver. Her work at Emily Carr University of Art + Design consolidated these interests with a concentration in photography. She was the recipient of the Canon Photography Award. As a visual artist, she seeks detail, texture, and poetic elements. She uses photography to investigate and record what eludes the eye. Her photography has been exhibited and published across Canada and internationally and her works are in both public and private collections.

Supported by a London Drugs Printing Grant.