Sally Chapman‘s project Living in the Bubble is set during the recent COVID-19 pandemic and demands that we slow down and take our time, whether in art or elsewhere. This project is currently on display at the Griffin Museum of Photography’s exhibition Elemental Blues at the Griffin’s satellite gallery at Lafayette City Center from April 1st through June 30th. We had the fantastic opportunity to sit down and chat about his fascinating cyanotypes via email this week, and his responses are as follows.
Please join us on the following dates for an online conversation with the artists:
May 21st Panel: Sally Chapman, Julia Whitney Barnes, and Anna Leigh Clem.
May 28th Panel: Brett Windham, Bryan Whitney, and Cynthia Katz.
Artist Bio:
Sally Chapman is a photographer living in Lowell, MA. After earning a BFA in ceramics and photography from Michigan State University, she worked for over twenty years as a ceramic artist exhibiting widely. When she returned to photography ten years ago, she gravitated towards tactile methods of printing. She discovered 19th century photographic process of cyanotype and the flexibility that hand done processes invite a constant experimentation. She exhibited in the Griffin Museum 30th Annual Juried Members Show 2024 with Honorable Mention; Soho Photo Gallery National Competition 2023, Honorable Mention; Texas Photographic Society, By Hand: Alternative Processes, Honorable Mention; The Halide Project, Living Image, Grand Prize Winner; A Smith Gallery, Directors Award; 18th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, Honorable Mention; and Rockport Art Association and Museum National Show. Excellence in Photography Award. She has had solo shows at the Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY; The Halide Project, Philadelphia, PA; Three Stones Gallery, Concord, MA; MIT Rotch Architectural Library, Cambridge, MA; Gallery 93, Brookline, MA; The Sanctuary in Medford, MA; and the Arts League of Lowell, Lowell, MA. She has been included in many group shows including at the Griffin Museum, Winchester, MA; Image Flow Gallery, Mill Valley, CA; Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY; Art Intersection, Gilbert, AZ; Light Space, Silver City, NM; Photo Place Gallery, Middlebury, VT; and the Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA.
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We’d like to start delving more into the significance of the objects you choose in your still life composition. Can you tell us more about their significance?
Sally Chapman: The series Living In the Bubble was created during the pandemic when we were all in our home and cut off from our usual lives. I found myself at home surrounded by all my stuff—some of the items are precious and sentimental, but many are just mundane tools. But when it comes down to it, it is all just stuff.
In terms of laying out these objects in your photographs, is there a certain randomness in their order, or are there any considerations you make beforehand?
SC: In laying out the objects, the main considerations were making interesting arrangements. I did a wash of vinegar water over parts of the image to give it a more ethereal feeling to the works, highlighting the strangeness of the situation that we found ourselves in living under lockdown. In doing that, the objects take on a sameness in value, but in viewing the pieces, it’s intriguing to look at all the different items. Adding the oil pastel lines gives a colorful contrast to the blue of cyanotype.
You’ve been a long-time supporter of the e Griffin, with your cyanotypes previously displayed at the museum’s 30th Annual Juried Members’ Exhibition in the summer of 2024 and featured in the museum’s 26th Annual Juried Members’ Exhibition in previous years. How has your art grown and changed since these experiences?
SC: My art is constantly evolving. I like to experiment with different processes, materials, and techniques. It’s wonderful to have the support of the museum as a place where that experimentation is encouraged and celebrated.
You’re not only educated in the world of photography but also have expertise in Ceramics, having obtained your BFA in the art at Michigan State University alongside a photography degree. Has your experience with ceramics and still life influenced your cyanotype prints today?
SC: I worked in ceramics for over 20 years and switched to photography about 15 years ago. Working in clay, you are totally and physically immersed in your materials. And the last few years that impulse has been brought into my photographic work. I’ve been turning the photography pieces into 3-dimensional work. And discovering the world of handmade artist books has given me the vocabulary that I was looking for to do that.
What piece is most important to you (in this collection) that you want to highlight/spotlight, and why?
SC: I did this series 5 years ago and it’s interesting to look at it again with some distance. It’s like asking for a favorite child, which is hard to do. But for the sake of discussion, let’s say Bubble #5. I usually give titles to my work, but this series has numbers as I wasn’t working with different images for each piece. Each one is an experiment in exploring different variations. In Bubble #5 the selected items are ones that generally have a verticality to them. They are laid out in a shape that is like a hook or an incomplete oval. That the general shape is open, there is a sense of invitation in it. Or it can be seen as a hook, as we were all caught in the whole situation of the pandemic.
Looking at the other artists in the exhibition, what artworks have caught your attention, and why?
SC: It’s wonderful to show with this group of artists. Cyanotype is such a flexible medium. I love seeing all the different ways that it has been used here. I’m struck by the X-ray images of Bryan Whitney, perhaps because they are so clean and precise, which is the opposite of my work, which is loose and intuitive. And the subtle textures that come out in the work of Anna Leigh Clems through her toning techniques are incredible. I think it’s interesting to see that a number of us are adding colors to the work to go beyond cyanotype blue. Julia Whitney Barnes with her colorful painting of designs over the cyanotype backgrounds and Brett Day Windham’s vibrant colors delicately added to the prints. I have long admired Cynthia Katz and her grids of small prints combined into wonderful compositions.
Willow Simon (b. June 28th, 2005)
Willow Simon is a rising sophomore at Wesleyan University, currently majoring in English and History, and planning on minoring in Middle Eastern Studies. She specializes in journalism and creative writing and is passionate about working in audio.
Griffin Museum of Photography – Winchester, Massachusetts
The Griffin Museum @ Lafayette City Center Passageway – Boston, Massachusetts
