Exhibit of blueprint-style photographs opens Friday at Waterbury Studios

June 9, 2023 | By Waterbury Roundabout 

Waterbury Studios hosts a new exhibit of specialty photographs with an opening reception planned for Friday, June 16. 

Titled “CYANOTYPICAL,” the show features blueprint portraits by Benjamin Aleshire through Aug. 18. Waterbury Studios is located at 7 Stowe St. 

Shot in April, this portrait of artist and activist Molly Crabapple in her studio in Brooklyn is created on medium format 120 film and printed 24x24" onto cotton fabric in the sunlight from enlarged negatives as cyanotypes. Photo by Benjamin Aleshire

Aleshire is a poet and photographer who grew up in Cuttingsville, Vermont, and recently completed an MFA program in Creative Writing at New York University. He received a fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center in 2020 and his work has been on view at The Generator, Burlington City Arts, the Burlington International Airport, and at the Prospect 3 Biennial in New Orleans.  The larger pieces in this show were created during a residency at The Generator in Burlington.

Curator Joseph Pensak of Waterbury Studios explains that to create the striking photographs featured in the upcoming show, Aleshire uses the same basic chemistry formula invented in 1842 by Sir John Herschel, which was used primarily to create architectural blueprints. An emulsion of ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide, when mixed together, becomes sensitive to ultraviolet light. After exposure in sunlight, the prints are washed in water, leaving only the ferric ferrocyanide (Prussian Blue pigment) behind, Pensak explained. 

Friday’s reception is from 5 to 8 p.m. and it will feature a poetry reading by Aleshire and Skye Jackson at 7 p.m. Aleshire also will give an artist talk about the process of making cyanotypes at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 23.  

Learn more about Aleshire and his work at cyanoportraiture.com and on Instagram @Benjamin.Aleshire.