Impressions, 2018-2021
Impressions demonstrates Blanchard’s exploration of the art of scanography, which is the process of using flatbed scanner technology to create printable, digital art. This collection works on photosensitive fabric and paper showcases art that she has been developing since 2018.
With an interest in alternative processes of image creation, Blanchard’s scanography process draws inspiration from the nineteenth century technology of photograms. This method involved placing objects upon photosensitive paper, which would create patterns of outlines and silhouettes. Blanchard mimics this technique by physically placing and moving fabrics, leaves, flowers, and even printings of old photograms along the surface of a flatbed scanner. She works with and against the scanning process to produce fluid and undulating digital images. Some of the final works float freely on fabric, unframed and unbound, while others lie static on a surface: defined through mounting or framing. Part photograph, part collage, these images have a playful quality that recalls the discovery and awe that early users of the photographic process must have felt. Indeed, even the show’s title, Impressions, hearkens back to the first book to be photographically printed and illustrated, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, by Anna Atkins.
Blanchard asks us to consider: Do these images hold the kinetic energy captured across the scanner in their digital printing? Do they represent motion contained or motion liberated? Blanchard leaves you with an invitation to ponder these digital images on fabric and paper.
