Moseley Blue

Moseley Blue artist residency in Moseley Park and Pool, Birmingham starts in April.

Cyanotype Moseley Park & Pool, 2022, © Tracey Thorne

During the lockdowns walking in my local park became a ritual, a sanctuary and an important way to stay connected to the outside. Many of us living in cities during these lockdowns relied on little green oases like Moseley Park and Pool to just keep going.

These often silent and solitary walks made me think more about the importance of green spaces within our cities and how critical these are for wellbeing. I started to think about how an artist residency could create space to creatively explore the park, and make art that is nature positive whilst thinking about climate change.

Moseley Blue is self-initiated artist residency hosted by Moseley Park and Pool where I will use the cyanotype photographic process to creatively explore the park and share with the wider community.

Cyanotype is a 170 year old photographic printing process that produces prints in a distinctive dark greenish-blue. The process was invented by Sir John Herschel, a brilliant astronomer and scientist, in 1842. However, Herschel did not use cyanotype for photography, but for reproducing notes. It was a family friend, the botanist Anna Atkins, who used the cyanotype printing process in 1843 to create an album of algae specimens. She created the images by placing objects directly on photosensitive paper; this process is called a photogram.

Photogram of ferns on newspaper, 2021, © Tracey Thorne

I will be making new work in the park and in my studio during April and July 2022 as part of Moseley Blue. I will be displaying works as I go along in Moseley Park and Pool, so keep your eyes peeled.

I will also post work online in a new tumblr photo gallery called Moseley Blue and on Instagram #moseleyblue.

There will also be a chance to run some pop-up cyanotype sessions and thanks to Arts Council England, I can offer a couple of workshops for people to have a more in depth exploration of the process.

Check out cyanotype workshop dates coming up in June book essential costs £5 per person all materials included and you get to take home the prints you have made. Workshop dates available are 1st June and 11 June

Pop up Art in the Park 16 July Free event

Join me on Saturday 16 July for a free pop up art in the park event in Moseley Park 12-4pm by the Angling Shed. There will be a pop up galley of cyanotypes and sun printing session - details here

Do get in touch if you're interested in any aspect of the residency or just want to have a chat and watch me make cyanotypes in the park.

I am grateful to Moseley Park and Pool for hosting me during the residency and to Arts Council England for helping to fund the project.