Glass and Cyanotype – A Snapshot of Light and Time

Leia Guo, Mireille Perron

What do glassmaking and an almost 200-year-old photographic process have in common? Turns out, quite a lot! In this multi-session lecmo, Alberta artist Leia Guo and professor emerita Mireille Perron join forces to explore the historical interplay between glass and cyanotype, one of the first camera-less photography techniques. First, join us for a 1-hour lecture for a snapshot of how innovations in both mediums during the 1800s influenced the artistic and scientific communities, and an introduction to contemporary Canadian artists who are using them today. Afterward, get hands-on with a 2-hour workshop where you can create your own cyanotypes under the light of the Midnight Sun! Bring your own glass or respectfully borrow from the Lumel Studios collection of glass animals: Yukon Fish, Animals and Birds Series to combine with local flora and found objects to create a one-of-a-kind print. Materials included.

Artist Bio: Leia Guo (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Mohkinstsis (Calgary, AB) who works at the intersection of analog photography and contemporary glassmaking. Her interest in glass lies in its ability as an optical material to displace and refract light in photo-sensitive processes, including silver gelatin and cyanotype. Deviating from traditional aesthetics of glassmaking within craft, she uses both the presence and absence of glass in the darkroom to create unique photographic prints. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art in Glass and a Bachelor of Design in Photography from the Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts) in Calgary, Alberta. Leia was a finalist for the coveted 2024 Canadian RBC Award for Glass and she was the Alberta Craft Council’s recipient of the 2024 Early Career Achievement Award. She has been featured in prestigious national and international exhibitions, including at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, TREX, Exposure Photography Festival, and the Tacoma Art Museum. When Leia is not in studio, she works as an educator in Calgary’s arts and culture sector.

Mireille Perron was born in Montréal, Québec. Since 1989, Perron has lived and worked in Mokinsis/Calgary, Alberta. She is a professor Emerita at the Alberta University for the Arts. Her installations have appeared in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, Europe and the United States. She is the founder of The Laboratory of Feminist Pataphysics (2000). She has also written and published on various subjects related to representation. Most recent examples of the range of her work include the solo exhibition The Anatomy of a Glass Menagerie, Nickle Galleries, Calgary, 2019, the essay Contextual Bodies: From the Cradle to the Barricade, for Prairie Interlace: Weaving, Modernisms and the Expanded Frame, 1960-2000, University of Calgary Press (2023), presenter A Seat at the Table, NCECA panel Meeting the Moment: Fertile Disruption (2022) and Leaving an Impression, a cyanotype workshop, Alberta Craft Council, (2022).