WORKSHOP // Anthotypes: an introduction

This taster workshop will introduce you to the world of Anthotypes, making photographic prints from plants and pulps using UV light and contact printing. Participants will be guided through designing preliminary compositions and making some rudimentary exposures on pre-prepared papers. Students will have the opportunity to try out other plant based photosensitive emulsions with a few supplied and group foraged materials while having a freeform discussion on the history of this media and its influence on the history of photography from inception to contemporary practices. Everyone is encouraged to bring in waste or found materials for guided experimentation and more information will be provided upon sign-up. Come rain or shine!

In the session you will:

• Learn the process, history, and discover alternative ways of printing
• Learn how to make your own photographic emulsions from plants
• Design your own print compositions
• Watch your very own anthotypes appear before your eyes with some pre-coated paper
• Take home different sensitised papers we prepare in class to continue experimenting once you get home
• Have time for a tea/coffee break - with biscuits!

Once you've made your first prints and had a chance to continue being creative at home, we'd love to welcome you back to the gallery on Saturday 17 August to scan and submit your prints to be included in the official international celebrations. By submitting, you'll be able to show off your new creation worldwide! From the official website, you could be:

'... shown on this website with over 80 000 visitors a month, in 2024 year’s World Anthotype gallery, in the Anthotype emulsion database, Facebook page feed and album with 10 000 followers, the Instagram @alternativephotography_com with 9000 followers, on YouTube channel, in the book Anthotype Emulsions – The collective research from photographers on World Anthotype Day. (Submission is no guarantee of publication).'

Brittonie Fletcher, (MFA) has an extensive background and general love of analogue / chemical photography in both capture and printmaking. Fletcher has been the recipient of three Coward Foundation Grants for Analogue Photography, received the 7th Annual Julia Margaret Cameron Award and several residencies and fellowships across including A Fellowship at Anderson Ranch in Colorado, the Artist selected to represent Scotland in a cultural exchange with Oulu, Finland leading up to OULU2026 City of Culture and an Arctic Circle Residency. A dedicated educator working between the UK and United States Fletcher sits as faculty or acts as visiting educator at many institutions including the Penumbra Foundation in NYC, the Royal College of Art in London and all over Scotland where she is based. Fletcher's work is published in numerous books focusing on analogue and alternative photography including three of the Routledge series on Alternative and Historic Photographic Processes highlighting Contemporary Artists: Salted Paper Printing(2017), Cyanotype Toning: Using Botanicals to Tone Blueprints Naturally(2021) and the book on Kallitype, Vandyke Brown, and Argyrotype(2023).

About AGITATE workshop pricing //

We try and keep our workshop ticket pricing as low as possible whilst paying our tutors fairly and contributing towards the running costs of the building. Tutors are paid the Scottish Artist Union recommended hourly rates of pay 5 years+. The capacity of each session also impacts the price and this depends on the spae available and the activity.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

6 William St, 6 William Street, Edinburgh, United Kingdom