Cinda Berry

Until the pandemic, I was a printmaker in a community studio, where I made etchings and four-color photopolymer intaglio prints. When the studio closed, I looked for printmaking techniques that did not require a press or the use of toxic chemicals. 

Currently, I am making cyanotypes of my photos and drawings, as well as digital art, printed with archival inks on fine art paper. My photos are amateur, but in some of them I find inspiration or the germ of an idea. Sometimes I extract part of the photo to make a new composition. The photo itself might be compelling or something within that evokes an idea or a theme.

Often, I use Photoshop to paint the perfect line, the right spot of color, or insert additional components. Like the four-color photopolymer intaglio prints I used to make, my Photoshop pictures are a mix of color, texture, and image in multiple layers. Each layer increases the depth and complexity of the composition and is as unique as a fingerprint.

For me, the charm of the cyanotype lies in the many variables in process and material that make it impossible to have total control over the outcome. It is one of the oldest photographic methods, but also may be considered type of painting when the photosensitive solution is applied in a painterly fashion or used to create the composition.

Medium: Photopolymer intaglio, photography, cyanotype, digital art