CREATIVE SERIES: The Big Camera: World Cyanotype Day 2023

Join Ijams Nature Center and The Big Camera on September 30 to make, create, and celebrate World Cyanotype Day 2023!

World Cyanotype Day is celebrated every year on the last Saturday in September. It began in 2015, in Johnson City, Texas, by Shootapalooza, a collaborative group of artists and photographers. The theme this year is “INHERITANCE” - an heirloom that could be handed down from past generations - a object, a

name or a flower or a plant. Bring an object to use on your flag. Participants from around the world make 12x12 cyanotype flags and send them to a central location to be displayed together. This year that place is Ijam’s Nature Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, hosted by the Big Camera.

Cyanotype is a printing process invented in the early days of photography that produces a blue print. Objects or  botanicals are placed on the light sensitive fabric, exposed to the sun, and rinsed in water; it’s a simple non-toxic process. It was popularized by Anna Atkins, considered to be the first female photographer and the first person to make a book using a photographic process.

The Big Camera invites you to participate in this community event. We will have a FREE Community workshop on September 30 from 10-2pm on the plaza at Ijams. You will make two cyanotype flags - one to keep and one to be displayed to be displayed at Ijams Nature Center for the month of October.

Please reserve a ticket to this event so materials can be prepped and ready for everyone that wants to attend.