Michelle Samour
Blue

Media: Pigmented abaca, specimen pins

Artist Statement:
Blue is a reflection/reinterpretation of the algae used by botanist and photographer Anna Atkins, from her book, Photographs of British Algae (1843-45), taking them out of her historicized book and bringing them into a contemporary context. Using pulp that I have pigmented blue, I am referencing Atkins’ original ‘blue’ cyanotypes; the addition of reds and oranges suggest how the warming of the oceans and subsequent red tides have altered algae since Atkins recorded her specimens over 150 years ago. The resulting specimens are pinned to the wall with specimen pins, as documentation of Atkins’ process, and acknowledge the botanical/scientific pursuit of classification and dissemination of species. These algae reside between the actual algae that Atkins used and the final cyanotype photograph.

Biography

Michelle Samour has been teaching papermaking and working with handmade paper and pulp in her own practice for 40 years. She is Professor of the Practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) at Tufts University, where she teaches innovative approaches to working with handmade paper.

She has received Artist Fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a Society of Arts and Crafts New England Artist Award and grants from the Cushman Family Fund and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to study historic papermaking in France and Japan. She exhibits her work nationally and internationally.