Saturday, March 7; 1pm to 4pm

Instructor: Mohammed Shamma

In this workshop you will explore the technique of photographic Cyanotypes, using digital negatives to turn your own photographs into stunning Prussian blue prints.

The instructor will give a brief history of the process and its creative potential, and he will describe the chemistry and materials involved. He will demonstrate how to mix a two-part sensitizer solution, coat watercolor paper, create digital negatives, and expose and develop your prints. He will explain Cyanotype toning techniques that allow you to use tea, wine, and tannic acid if you want to expand beyond the classic Prussian Blue.

As this process can use either the light of the sun or portable UV exposer units, you will be able to print either indoors or outdoors. You are welcome to bring your own botanicals and found objects.

Over the past decade, Mohammed has returned to analog photography as a way of reconnecting with craft and materiality. His work often employs unconventional surfaces, including papyrus, to explore the intersection of his Egyptian heritage with contemporary travel, landscape, and street photography. He invites viewers to reflect on how we perceive artifacts, museums, and archaeological sites through our globally connected lenses. Mohammed works across multiple image-transfer and printing techniques—including inkjet, dye sublimation, thermal transfer, cyanotype, and Polaroid emulsion lifts—and is currently focused on the intricacies of carbon transfer printing.

Instagram: @popiris_studios.

Fee: MarinMOCA Members: $120; Non-members $140

Materials Fee: An additional materials fee of $15 will be paid to the instructor

Where: Marin Museum of Contemporary Art; 1210 Fifth Avenue, San Rafael (at B Street)