Custom Sunprint

What is a sunprint?

A sunprint is an original, one of a kind contact photograph, made by capturing a photonegative image on fabric with one or more washes of light-sensitive water-based paint. Sunprinting, also called heliography, is a contact photography process which originated in the 1800s. Just like a regular photo, once developed a sunprint is no longer light sensitive and can be displayed under full lighting. A sunprint on fabric can even be ironed.

And what's magical realism?

Magical realism is a subcategory of surrealism. I have always had an awareness of the magical real, as my Native American father taught me. To me, creating beauty is spiritual. Art is meditation. The world I depict in my art is a world where nature and supernature are one. The medium of sunprinting is ideal for magical realism, since a sunprint is a direct manifestation of the convergence of the ethereal force of natural sunlight and the physical form of the printed objects, and thus, a union of the divine and earthly realities.

How does this custom sunprint thing work?

When you order a custom sunprint, you own all rights to the image, including reproduction rights.  If your sunprint was created with an object or paper cutout that survived the printing process, you can choose to have the object or paper mask shipped with your sunprint, or have the object or paper cutout destroyed.  Plants and most paper cutouts do not survive the sunprinting process, but sometimes a paper mask can be used again several times.

The actual printing takes 1 full day per layer, with most sunprints comprising 2 layers.  However, the design phase can take much longer.  With a custom sunprint, if I am doing a sunprint with a paper cutout, you can choose whether to simply give me a topic subject, or have me email photos of sketches for your approval.  Obviously, if I am using a live plant or other object instead of a paper mask, there will be no sketches involved. But obtaining the object can take some time.  The sunprints created for the Native Seeds series started out with seeds, and I had to grow the plants. If the sunprint or sunprint series you have in mind will take me longer to design or obtain than eBay allows for handle time, please contact me and we'll work something out.

.

Where to see my sunprints: 

In person:

I've had my sunprints exhibited in numerous galleries, including two solo shows, "Plants and Animals" at the Enterprise Gallery on the Las Vegas Strip, and "Faerie" at the Liberty Pointe Gallery in Henderson, NV. My sunprint "Las Vegas Skyline with UFO" is in the permanent collection of the Hammergren Home of Nevada History, a private museum. I'm currently moving away from galleries and faires to devote more time to this website. 

The next big offline presentation of my art will be in 2010 when Native Seed SEARCH will auction the Native Seeds series, which I am currently creating for them. Native Seed SEARCH is a nonprofit organization with two missions, to preserve the biodiversity heritage of Native food crops of the American Southwest, and to provide free food crop seed to Native American Indians in the Southwest. During times when I had no income, their free seeds for Native American Indians program kept food on my table. Now that I am an established artist, I am giving back by creating the Native Seeds sunprint series for them.

On the net:

Please click on the Me symbol to go to my About the Artist page, and scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find my Favorite Links.  These will take you to various sites on the net where my sunprints are displayed, including the eBay Guide to Sunprint Art.  The button at the bottom of the page to join the Yahoo group Lale Library will bring you to my blog, where you can get the latest info on all my creative endeavors, including upcoming shows you can see in person.

Ready to buy? Please click on the Sunprint Art category in my store over on the left hand side of the screen, and select a Custom Sunprint listing:

Small $50 largest dimension 7" or under, for example 5" x 7"

Medium $100 largest dimension 14" or under, for example 11" x 14"

Large $200 maximum dimensions 25" x 32" (the size of my printing plate)

Giant $500 any size greater than 25" x 32", which is larger than my printing plate and takes special arrangements to make.  The Giant Circle sunprint is done on a circular textured surface.