Chemigrams are an experimental type of cameraless photography that uses resists, such as varnish, oil, or wax, to create abstract, and oftentimes unpredictable, images on light-sensitive paper. Chemigrams were Invented by Pierre Cordier in 1956, and he proclaimed claims chemigrams to be, “Most likely, the ultimate adventure of gelatin silver bromide.”

In this workshop, you will learn the basics of this fun process and how to incorporate different kinds of mark-making — including painting, drawing, and printmaking processes — into your chemigrams. Instructor Bridget Conn will give an overview of how chemigrams work, demonstrate a variety of tools and methods to explore mark-making, and give guidance on how to achieve control over value, texture, and even color.

Workshop participants will have plenty of time to get hands-on with the process, and the workshop will end with a mini-critique, when students will present their most successful piece.

All materials for the workshop are provided onsite. Participants are encouraged to bring their own resists to experiment with, including lotion, lipstick, nail polish, and honey.

This class is suitable for all beginners, or those who want to expand their knowledge of the various ways chemigrams can be made. Basic darkroom experience is helpful but is not required.

Bridget Conn is a photographic artist who explores the potential of photography as a chemical and physical medium through cameraless experimental processes. Dealing with themes of societal struggles, awe and wonder, challenges in communication, digitized vs. physical encounters, and the importance of making and admitting mistakes, Conn investigates the boundaries of photography with prints, wall installations, and sculptural works. She received her BFA from Tulane University and MFA from the University of Georgia. She currently resides in Nashville, Indiana, USA.

Conn’s awards include Klompching Gallery’s FRESH 2022 exhibition finalist, rfotofolio’s 2021 Denis Roussel Awards, and being shortlisted for the 2023 and 2024 Denis Roussel Fellowship. She has exhibited at Gallery 1/1 in Seattle, the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO, the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA, Candela Books + Gallery in Richmond, VA, The Halide Project in Philadelphia PA, and Sparks Gallery for the Medium Festival of Photography in San Diego. Internationally she has shown in the Chiang Mai Photography Festival in Thailand, the Institute of Photographic Studies of Catalonia in Spain, as well as venues in Italy, Hungary and South Korea. Her work has been featured in Lenscratch, Analog Forever Magazine, The Hand Magazine, Exposure Magazine, Aeonian Magazine, Focal Plane Journal, and in Christina Z. Anderson’s 2022 book “The Experimental Darkroom”.

Conn is the founder and former director of The Asheville Darkroom in Asheville, North Carolina. An enthusiastic educator, she has taught workshops at the Penland School of Crafts in NC, at The Experimental Photo Festival in Spain, at conferences for the Society for Photographic Education, and at numerous colleges and universities across the Southeast US. She is actively making plans to open her own darkroom workshop facility in the forested rolling hills of southern Indiana, and is open to opportunities to offer workshops across the Midwest and beyond.