Michelle Samour
Blue

Media: Pigmented, poured paper pulp (Abaca fiber)
Size: 10’ x 20’ x 5"
$15000

Artist Statement:
In this work, transition and change evidence themselves environmentally.

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 is a multi-media artist whose installations, drawings and handmade paperworks explore the intersections between science, technology and the natural world. Samour resides in Boston, Massachusetts, and is a Professor of the Practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) at Tufts University. She has been a Scholar-in-Residence at the Tufts European Center in Talloires, France; and an Artist-in-Residence at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, ME; the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada; and P.R.I.N.T. Press in Denton, TX. Samour has exhibited at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA; the Museum of Modern Art in Strasbourg, FR; the Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, WI; the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in Houston, TX; the Racine Art Museum, WI; and the Fitchburg Art Museum, MA. She has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council including a 2014 Fellowship in Drawing, a Society of Arts and Crafts New England Artist Award, and grants from the Cushman Family Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Daynard Fund to study historic papermaking in France and Japan. Samour has been featured in The Boston Globe, The Boston Herlad, ARTnews, Surface Design, FiberArts and Hand Papermaking Magazine, and on various National Public Radio member stations. Her work is included in public and private collections including the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, International Paper Company, and the Meditech Corporation.

http://michellesamour.com/