Florescence – Marybeth Kampman

First Tuesday ArtWalk/Reception 
* August 1, September 5, October 3, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Exhibition Dates:
* August-October 2023

Florescence – Marybeth Kampman featuring scanography and cyanotype.

Marybeth Kampman

After many years as a garden photographer, I began using my scanner to preserve and enlarge the flower pressings I saved as an herbarium. This opened up a new world to me. Not only could I make digital images which were exact facsimiles of the flowers that I had pressed, but I was also able to increase the resolution of my scans to capture detail at a macro level.

Now I could print extremely detailed, larger than life images. I was hooked. I collaborated with Cindy LaMar to create A Gardeners Herbarium, a collection of high resolution prints of our pressed botanicals which we exhibited jointly.

For the past few years I have been experimenting with translucent scanning using fresh flowers, vegetables and seaweed. Using the scanner a light source is similar to using a camera with a macro lens and a light box. The scanner’s light source shines through the flowers from above, creating translucent images. I layer the plants on the scanner’s glass platen freely overlapping them or placing them on their sides and scan at high resolutions. This results in natural, detailed, realistic images that can be printed at a large scale.

Recently I have been experimenting with creating digital negatives from my seaweed scans which I then print as cyanotypes.

I print on archival watercolor paper and mount the prints on birch panels. I then brush on multiple layers of varnish which brings out the mid tones and enhances the color creating a painterly effect. It also provides a protective finish.

My meanderings in Marin, my own and friends’ gardens, and  farmers markets provide me with a surfeit of flowers which have a way of finding themselves onto my scanner becoming the medium for my art.

My mandala collection, a photographic collection, grew out of my love of The Marin Farmers Market. For the past several  years I have created mandalas using the seasonal fruits and vegetables that I have just bought that day and then photographing them in natural light.

I have contributed numerous images to UC Marin Master Gardeners website and publications, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and local garden organizations highlighting garden design and illustrating best gardening practices.