Land and Sea
Cyanotype works by Shelby Graham and Vincent Waring​​​
Read about the artists and their work below.​
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Visit Minnow Arts during gallery hours -
Saturdays & Sundays 2 - 6pm, or by appointment
Shelby Graham - ​
In “A Field Guide to Getting Lost,” Rebecca Solnit says, “The world is blue at its edges and in its depths.” I chose to use cyanotype to retain the abstract depth of blue negative images of a palm tree’s elements, such as the trunk, fronds, and rough textures or sensuous seaweed and algae specimens using light sensitive cyanotype emulsion. By assembling fragments of a palm tree or algae and exposing their inner skeletons through direct sun printing, the prints can be viewed like X-rays, deconstructing the images with fresh eyes as light drawings.
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All images are contact - print cyanotypes using palm or seaweed specimens and digital negatives/positives for some sections. Exposures take about 30 minutes in direct sunlight and are developed in water. The sepia color is achieved by toning with black or green tea. I’m interested in the process of photosynthesis and the natural cycle of transforming light into energy, just as the cyanotype emulsion combined with sunlight brings a natural energy to these prints.
Shelby Graham has been an arts educator and advocate for over 40 years and served as the Director/Curator of the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery at the University of California, Santa Cruz, from 1999 to 2021. Graham earned her MFA in photography from San José State University and specializes in alternative and experimental photography with innovative contemporary curatorial practice. Graham’s photographic work has been included in solo and group exhibitions in the United States from California to Philadelphia and international exhibitions in Japan, Spain, and the Czech Republic. She was on the Board of Trustees at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel and has collaborated on exhibition projects with the Institute of the Arts and Sciences at UC Santa Cruz; The San Jose Museum of Art; Gallery Ef in Tokyo, Japan; galleries in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain; and the Craft Contemporary Museum in Los Angeles. She has worked as guest curator for the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (Richard Mayhew 2024) and the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art during 2022-2024. Graham has taught courses in photography, contemporary art, museum practices, professional development at the University of California, Santa Cruz; San José State University; Cabrillo Community College, CA; Hartnell College, CA; and Seinan Gakuin University in Kyushu, Japan. She is currently teaching a new grant-funded course, Careers in the Creative Economy, at UC Santa Cruz.
Vincent Waring -
My work explores the intricate interplay of reciprocal forces present in every moment. Through subtle and contemplative collections, I create work that engages the senses, inviting a deeper appreciation for the beauty, fragility, and resilience of life. I address a fundamental human desire for belonging, while investigating my place within a dynamic, living landscape. These landscape portraits, though devoid of human figures, are akin to self-portraits, reflecting my intimate connection to the natural world. My work aims to illuminate our collective transformative power—whether as destructive actors or as stewards—within the larger natural system.
The creation of my cyanotype prints begins with a wash painting on clear film, crafted from a blend of tallow, beeswax, shellac, soap, and lamp black soot mixed with water. As the painting dries, it reticulates, leaving behind intricate patterns where the water evaporates. These impressions become negatives, used in a contact print process with paper coated in a light-sensitive emulsion. Exposed to ultraviolet light, the cyan-blue prints capture the shadows of the image, which emerge fully as the print is rinsed in water and developed.
Vincent James Waring is an artist and craftsman based along the Central Coast of California. He is interested in the ecology of wild and intentional spaces, which he often explores through imagery reflecting parts of the whole. He utilizes a variety of mediums, including printmaking, painting, and drawing. Waring’s work has been shared nationally and internationally, most recently at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, the Hall of Awa Japanese Handmade Paper Museum in Tokushima, Japan, as well as at the Chennai Photo Biennial Foundation in Chennai, India. He is an Irwin Scholar, and a supporting member of Little Giant Collective, a community print studio and gallery space based in Santa Cruz, California. In the midst of making art, he also spends his days immersed with textiles, wood, and plants. To learn more about his work, please visit vinwaring.com