2020 is an especially unique year, one that highlights just how interconnected we are all. From one person to another, one house to another, one town to another: the connections branch and grow, reaching into every nook and cranny of this beautiful place we get to call home. Earth has been called the Blue Planet – blue sky, blue sea, blue the hue that the light of the sun turns the natural salts of a cyanotype when it’s placed outside beneath those stellar rays.
To celebrate World Cyanotype Day this year, I need a hand – LOTS of hands – and I would like for you, dear people of Round Rock, to lend them to me. On Saturday, September 26th, I will be making a large scale cyanotype collage at my home, but I won’t be alone: you will be there with me, represented by paper cutouts of your handprints, and whatever unique piece of you makes you feel connected to your community, to the world.
Here’s what you need to do to be a part of this project:
1. Trace your hand on construction paper (preferably a darker color, because of the nature of the artwork they are being used for)
2. Cut out your traced handprint
3. Write – on the cutout, on the palm for example – your first name and something about yourself that you feel connects you to your community (just a word or two is fine)
4. Deliver, either by US mail or in person, your handprint cutout to the Downtowner Gallery by September 18th
Downtowner Gallery, 231 E Main St, Ste 160, Round Rock, TX 78664
So all you need is a piece of paper, a pencil, some scissors, and maybe a stamp!
On Saturday September 26th I will be sharing videos and photos of the creation process on my Instagram, so please tune in!
Questions about this project? email me at amy@texasgirlphotography.com
With gracious thanks to my friends at Round Rock Arts / Round Rock Arts and Culture for providing a “gathering” place for your beautiful hands!
More about World Cyanotype Day (Text by Kevin James Tully)
Now, in the age of pandemics it is more evident than ever how we are dramatically interconnected, interdependent, and just one part of the vast ecology of the earth, the web of life. The web of life as an illustration of the totality of the relationships of the earth’s systems explains for us how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; more powerful, more vital – complete.
As a beautiful cut glass vase is much more than particles of sand, soda and lime, we, humanity are much more than one person, one community, one nation.
The challenging moment that we are all living through illustrates absolutely how interconnected we are — how much we need each other physically, materially and spiritually.
It is not just our human to human connection that we need and miss right now —it is also our connection to nature and wildlife and weather.
The origins of the word ecology come from the Greek word for home or household. The pandemic has temporarily altered the ecology of the earth, our home, in many good ways. It has given it a needed rest from a significant amount of human activity. Yet for people, for us, it has altered our ability to live completely fulfilled and content in our home because we need the connection of touch and fellowship and meaningful interaction.
The disease has shown us how profoundly interconnected we are by altering the connections and preventing us from truly going home.
Everyone in the world is cordially invited to celebrate World Cyanotype Day at A Smith Gallery in Johnson City, Texas on
Saturday, September 26, 2020
by creating cyanotype flags of their interpretation of “Interconnected” on white cloth, each 12×12 inches (30×30) cm.
Strung together, the flags symbolize how interconnected we all are on the planet we inhabit.
If you would like to participate in the A Smith Gallery flag installation, please send your flags to the gallery.
We also invite you to celebrate with your friends wherever you find yourself on September 26, World Cyanotype Day.
If you would like for A Smith Gallery to hang your flags in celebration of World Cyanotype Day, please mail or ship them for delivery by September 18, to:
A Smith Gallery
103 N Nugent #175
P O Box 175
Johnson City, TX 78636
If you would like for us to return your flags, please include return address and postage.
The installation will hang in the gallery until November 8. The flags will then be taken to New Orleans to the Healing Arts Center for an exhibition beginning in December for PhotoNOLA until the end of Mardi Gras.
There is no entry fee. We just want to fill the gallery with cyanotype flags!
For more information or questions about World Cyanotype Day in general, please contact amanda@asmithgallery.com.
Social media links worth checking out, also embedded above
www.instagram.com/worldcyanotypeday
TexasGirl Photography 
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