Tri-Color Gum Bichromate
Instructor: Christina Z. Anderson
June 17 – 19
For the gum bichromate process, you can’t have a better instructor than Christina Z. Anderson and we are very proud to have her here for Phototock2015. Christina is world-class and known all over for her work and her instruction and we are very fortunate to have her with us.
Gum prints are essentially photographically controlled watercolors made in a 19th Century process called gum bichromate. Gum Arabic is mixed with watercolor paint and a photosensitive substance called ammonium dichromate, and brushed onto watercolor paper. When exposed to light in contact with an enlarged negative, the gum Arabic hardens into an image that is “developed” in plain water. Gum printing can be as loose or as exacting a practice as one desires. The range of expression from impressionistic/painterly to purely photographic is all at one’s discretion.
This workshop will be an excellent introduction to the gum process for beginners and intermediate gummists alike. Workshop attendees will go home armed with enough knowledge to continue with their own practice as simple and as complex as their setup allows.
The workshop will cover, in order:
- digital negative preparation
- shrinking and sizing paper
- mixing working strength pigment and dichromate solutions
- coating, exposing, developing, and finishing prints
- necessary supplies for a home dimroom
A laptop with Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or Lightroom plus rudimentary knowledge of one of these programs (for example, sizing and cropping images) is helpful. Bring a few simple supplies from home and the rest will be covered under a class fee.
Christina Z. Anderson’s work focuses on the cultural and spiritual landscape in 19th century techniques, primarily gum and casein bichromate. Her work has been in close to 100 shows and 30 publications. She has authored several books, two of which—The Experimental Photography Workbook and Gum Printing and Other Amazing Contact Printing Processes—have sold worldwide in 39 countries. Anderson recently co-authored Handcrafted: The Art and Practice of the Handmade Print (2014, Chinese text, co-authors Wang, Jianming, King) to promote the contemporary handmade print in China. Anderson is Associate Professor of Photography at Montana State University, Bozeman.