‘Wild Eye’ art and nature project launches community seaweed artwork display in Scarborough

The display features seaweed sun-prints created by the local community using the ‘sun-print’ or “cyanotype” photographic technique.

Participants include Scarborough Sixth Form, Scarborough Disability Action Group, Gallows Close Community Centre, Barrowcliff Primary School, and members of the public.

The project, After Anna: Blueprint Impressions from Today’s Seas, is inspired by the pioneering work of Anna Atkins, an English botanist and artist, whose extensive study “Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843 - 1853)”, is considered the first book to have been illustrated with photographic images.

Some sources say that she was the first woman to create a photograph.

During a series of free creative workshops held earlier this year, Barrowcliffe taught participants how to develop the seaweed sun prints using the same technique used by Atkins.

The artwork on display was created using seaweed and plastic litter found on Scarborough’s beaches.

These items inspired discussion on the important role of seaweed for carbon capture and marine biodiversity and the devastating impact pollution has on the ocean environment.

After Anna: Blueprint Impressions from Today’s Seas,reflects on how our seas have changed in the 180 years since Atkins’s book was first published, with several species of seaweed now extinct and an ever increasing amount of plastic litter invading the marine ecosystem.

Jacqui Barrowcliffe said: “I’m so excited to be sharing some of the wonderful images produced in the workshops. It’s been a fantastic experience introducing people to the work of Anna Atkins and showing them how to make their own cyanotypes.

"One of the highlights for me is seeing people’s faces and gasps of delight as their first image is revealed - I don’t think I shall ever tire of sharing the magic of this process!

"I also love how participants experimented with the different materials and were very conscious of the message their artwork would be conveying. ”

A Barrowcliff School participant said of the session: “It was so magical when we put the paper in the water and it changed colour”, while one of the member of the public to participate remarked “Time to set aside and think specifically about what we are doing to our seas is invaluable.”

The display will be available to view in two venues: a shop window, viewed from the street, at 33 Newborough in Scarborough from July 21-31, and at Scarborough Market Hall, St Helen’s Square, YO11 1EU, from July 21- August 31 (viewable during opening hours - 8am-4pm Monday - Saturday).

The presentation of the seaweed-based art display takes place ahead of the Big Seaweed Search starting on July 23, a national campaign led annually by the Marine Conservation Society and the Natural History Museum.

First launched in 2009, the campaign encourages members of the public to monitor the effects of environmental change on Britain's sea life by exploring the seashore and recording the living seaweeds found there.

To mark the Big Seaweed Search, Wild Eye is hosting a free community event on Friday August 4, from 12-2pm, at Scarborough South Bay, meeting at the Beachcomber Kiosk. To find out more about upcoming Wild Eye events, please visit www.wildeye.org.uk.