Category: Classes

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Exploring the Magic of Cyanotypes with Nydia Blas

We absolutely love the magical photographs that Nydia Blas created during her two-week winter residency in the Penland photo studio. This work was made with cyanotype photography, a technique that involves laying an object on paper coated with a solution of iron salts before exposing it to UV light and washing with water to create white and Prussian blue images. Nydia first explored cyanotyoes at Penland with instructor Tokie Rome-Taylor and was eager to go deeper with the medium and to seek inspiration in the landscape of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 

Nydia was kind enough to share some of the highlights of her residency with us:

Work by Nydia Blas, finished at Penland

What was your intention for your two week residency in the Penland photo studio?

My plan was to gain a better understanding of the cyanotype process. I began making cyanotypes at Penland in the Summer of 2023 when I took a class with Tokie Rome-Taylor. I loved working with my hands, playing, and returning to an idea over and over again. My plan for the residency was to make cyanotypes rooted in magical realism using appropriated images, my own photographs and items from nature. I also wanted to play around with adorning completed cyanotypes with watercolors, beads, etc.

Digital negatives used in Nydia’s work

We love your beautiful cyanotypes! Can you tell us a little bit about this work?

The work begins with Penland, because I think it’s a magical place and I was drawn to the land from the first time I visited. I knew what I wanted to do but I wasn’t sure of the specifics.  I work very intuitively and I spent my first day connecting to the land and gathering messages about the direction of the work. I had a dream about a snake and I started there, sourcing a snake image online and using a photograph from a previous body of work. And from there that is how my process went. I made digital negatives, cut them out by hand and made collages on cyanotype paper and exposed them in light boxes. Outerspace, the moon, the sun, deer, hawk, and the butterfly make appearances. I often work backwards to create meaning, thus more will unfold as I keep looking and reflecting.

What was your Penland Winter Residency experience like?

My experience was great! I am from New York but have lived in Atlanta for five years, that being said it was so cold and I have never driven in the snow. But, the love and warmth of the people, food, and interactions at Penland made up for that. It was the first time in a while that I got to just play and have fun making things with my hands. Sometimes, I think we forget that at the core, our art practice should be FUN. I made some great connections with new people and it was lovely to see familiar faces again. I enjoy seeing what everybody was working on at the end of the two weeks.


What’s next?

I just began the Spring semester at Spelman College where I teach photography, so I am looking forward to connecting, inspiring and learning from my students. I am working on my third book of photography, which I am super excited about. When it gets a bit warmer, I will begin working on a new body of work about Atlanta, Georgia. Besides that some rest, reading, writing, and self-care/love/healing.

Nydia Blas is a 2024 Penland Winter Residency Distinguished Fellow, one of eleven individuals receiving an award to attend the residency at no cost and with the support of a stipend, made possible with support from the NEA. Discover more of her work HERE.

Thank you so much, Nydia, for sharing your practice with us!

Nydia Blas
2024 Penland Winter Residency Distinguished Fellow

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Learning Greenwood Turning with Raul de Lara

Raul de Lara is a newly-minted bowl turner. 

Invited as a Penland Winter Residency Distinguished Fellow, the New York-based sculptor knew exactly what he wanted from his residency in the Penland wood studio: to learn everything he could about  turning bowls on a lathe.

Red oak logs from a fallen Penland tree await the lathe. 

A solo show coming up in May will feature Raul’s iconic botanical sculptures, supported by large, lathe-turned bowls and vases. Raul was a quick study, and it was a lot of fun to watch him get better and better, turning a pile of Penland red oak into a beautiful body of work.

A work in progress in the Penland wood studio

Raul’s Penland stay even included a trip to visit “wooden potter,” David Ellsworth, who lives an hour away. “I learned so much from David’s book and I use his signature tool,” said Raul. “I was able to show him some of my new work and we became friends immediately.”

Raul will spend the next two months preparing for his show at Reynolds Gallery which opens on May 3.

Raul’s work on display at show and tell

We asked Raul to share a few tips about greenwood turning… Enjoy!

My advice would be to make sure to have friends around who can help you load/unload the big, heavy wet logs onto the lathe. For me, it was important to learn the basic techniques from David Ellsworth’s book before jumping into more intricate forms (like the ones you’ll see in my solo show). David also makes his own signature tool, which is what I used to make my work here at Penland.

Raul makes his way up to show and tell with his newly-turned vessels.

Thank you for sharing your practice with us, Raul! You can find more of his stunning work HERE. 

Raul de Lara is a 2024 Penland Winter Residency Distinguished Fellow, one of eleven individuals receiving an award to attend the residency at no cost and with the support of a stipend, made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Penland’s Winter Residency program is a short-term residency opportunity for artists seeking to work independently in one of our sixteen studios during Penland’s quiet season. This year, nearly 150 residents brought their studio practices to Penland’s teaching studios for for two to four focused weeks.

We are excited to share more Penland Winter Residency stories. Please stay tuned for more…

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Sound Mandala

The frequency of healing… in glass.

We are captivated by summer instructor Nisha Bansil’s Glass Mandala series, undertaken during her residency at the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass.

Nisha writes:

This project was an investigation into Cymatics. In 1880 a German scientist named Ernst Chladni discovered that when you strike the edge of a metal plate covered in sand with a violin bow predictable figures appear.

These figures are created by the pressure waves of sound vibrating the material on the plate.  I was interested in capturing the resonant patterns of the vibration of sacred instruments. Lama Tsultrim and Lama Lordo from Karme Ling monastery played traditional instruments called Gayalings into a microphone which was connected to a modified speaker.

The speaker vibrated glass frit poured on top of thin glass plates.  I made 36, 16” x 16” glass patterns from that recording. I found that the patterns lined up in visual chords and the nodes intersected in such a way that the stacked plates began to reference patterns found in sacred geometry and Muslim architecture.

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You can explore the art of embedding patterns in glass castings through a variety of methods this summer with Nisha in her Penland glass workshop:

“Embedded Pattern and Thick Forms”
Nisha Bansil
June 30-July 12, 2024 (11 STUDIO DAYS)

Registration opens January 15!