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#metamorphogram

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Alun Kirby

I have been back making cyanotypes.

Each of of these cyanotypes is a literal memory (as defined by my first philosophy of memory publication!).

Artist life has been hard lately. No change there, really, but it helps to make things.

A piece of white paper which shows creases from being folded into an origami form - in this case a 'square dance kusudama' - and exposed as a cyanotype. This means it has blue geometric patterns all over it - a central diamond, two layers of diagonal lines around that, then a ring of blocks, and triangles at the corners
A piece of white paper which shows creases from being folded into an origami form - in this case a random crushed form focused on the centre - and exposed as a cyanotype. This means it has blue all over it with random white areas. Looks a bit like a white ice shard explosion on a blue background
A piece of white paper which shows creases from being folded into an origami form - in this case a 'crane / orizuru' - and exposed as a cyanotype. This means it has blue geometric patterns all over it - what part of the paper was the head of the crane is top left, wings top right, bottom left, and tail. In the centre is a blurred blue x shape
A piece of white paper which shows creases from being folded into an origami form - in this case a partially completed complex model of a sun - and exposed as a cyanotype. This means it has blue geometric patterns all over it - a central white diamond extends to the centre of all sides, the four large corners are mostly blue in odd triangles with white areas shaped like random stars
#cyanotype#blueprint#origami
Public
Alun Kirby

A little toot on my own trumpet...

The 10 images in the series 'The Scar Is Not The Memory' will be for sale as part of the 12x12 Festival in Lisbon, 7-10 December.

Everything in the festival is just €25 each.

There will be an online catalogue available shortly.

Find 12x12 on Insta here: instagram.com/1_2_x_1_2/

See a reel of all the series here: instagram.com/reel/CzlUxgxI0MG

Thank you!

#cyanotype#metamorphogram#blueprint
Public
Alun Kirby

The Scar Is Not The Memory. Metamorphogram, silk thread.

First in a series.

Unfolding origami, folds remain, like scars gained in the process.

But a scar is a mnemonic, not a memory.

Here, the memory (cyanotype + origami = metamorphogram; a visible memory) and scars overlap.

Sometimes, the process of becoming is so tough that stitches are needed to repair the damage.

Imagine an origami bowl, 4 sided, folded from a single sheet. Unfolded, the areas where light touched the bowl are now blue. The areas of the paper which were hidden from light are white. The square central area has negative images of circular forms, like ghost coins haunting the bowl. Running orizontally left from the centre, and diagonally halfway to the top right corner, are two short sections of simple red silk stitching.
#metamorphogram#origami#blueprint
Public
Alun Kirby

My piece for the Mnemosyne show at gallery AL859 in Porto.

The 2nd picture shows how it was exposed - as an origami cyanotype made of 30 individual pieces.

The 3rd picture shows all the developed individual images opened out.

The exhibited composition reflects how our unique experiences of the same event come together to give us a new, shared, social memory.

On a black background hangs an abstract origami construction in three dimensions. It is made of 30 pieces of paper, each showing a unique variation of the same simple geometric image - a blue-green diamond shape in the centre of a white square, multiply-creased paper with a few short blue-green lines at the edges. Some pieces are folded into their origami form, others partially or fully open, but all connected to make a single piece. Central is an octagon, linked at the edges to open or fully folded pieces, which are in turn linked until all 30 pieces have been used. It's a bit like a wonky, misshapen snowflake.
The original, unexposed origami form made of 30 units, each folded from a square of paper.It looks like an icosahedron with the tips of the points cut off, and is a uniform blue-ish green colour. It is sitting on a rug showing blocks of various colours
The 30 exposed units, unfolded and developed to present as 30 squares of white paper, each with a diamond of blue-green in the centre and short white lines at the corners. Each differs from all the others to a greater or lesser extent. They are shown in a 6x5 grid, alternating between having the diamond horizontal or vertical.
#cyanotype#metamorphogram#origami
Public
Alun Kirby

This is 'crumple' origami. Used a lot by French origamists 'Le CRIMP'.

Thin, crisp paper (here tracing paper) is folded and then crushed. The process allows the paper to be shaped into flexible, organic forms.

This paper was coated in cyanotype. The form I made was exposed in the sun for 10 minutes, and developed.

If I hadn't put my fingers through the wet paper it would be good!

An origami form made of crumpled, matt blue paper. It looks like irregular square open cones, points away from us, which join at their upper edges. There are 16 of these cones, but only 4 are clearly fully visible, as the overall structure is like a hemisphere and the other cones are not facing our viewpoint
A single piece of white paper, which looks like it has been divided into 16 squares (4 by 4). Each square has an abstract starburst of blue lines - the lines all come from the centre of each square. The overall effect is that this is 16 individual squares stuck together, but it's not. It's just one sheet of paper, which used to be the origami form in the previous image. The cyanotype exposure has made these patterns.
A close up of the coming together of four corners of the squares in the previous image. The 'joins' are clearly creases
Close up of a single square from the overall image. Fragments of 8 other squares can be seen around it; four joining at the sides looking like strips of stripes, and four at the corners looking like small squares. All is blue and white stripy loveliness
#cyanotype#origami#blueprint
Public
Alun Kirby

I've been interviewed about my background, process, cyanotypes, origami, memory and more.

You can watch it here (18 mins):
youtu.be/1V7hR8fEvnA

(Disclosure: Subcultours facilitate artist workshops, and invited me to join them)

I hate being in front of the camera, so this is a rare occurrence. And... is there anyone out there who likes the sound of their own voice?

YouTubesubcultalk with cyanotype artist Alun Kirby from Porto, PortugalBy subcultours
#cyanotype#blueprint#origami
Public
Alun Kirby

This is the 'Spreading Hexagons' tessellation, by Eric Gjerde.

I folded it from 200gsm watercolour paper coated with cyanotype chemicals.

It sat outside almost five days.

Long exposure pushes cyanotype blue into a golden-greenish blue instead.

I like how the edges of the folds have described a multiplicity of hexagons.

Origami is cool.

White paper with a greenish-blue hexagon in the centre. Radiating from it are fragments of other hexagons.
Blue-ish paper with a greenish-brownish-blue hexagon in the centre. Radiating from it are fragments of other hexagons. This is the cyanotype before it has been washed.
An origami tessellation. The paper is greenish brownish blue and there is a single hexagon at the centre. Under its edges are 6 more hexagons, and they in turn have hexagons under them. Apart from the centre, all the other hexagons are only partially visible
An origami tessellation seen from underneath. The paper is white and there is a single hexagon at the centre. At its edges are 6 more hexagons, and they in turn have hexagons next to them, like a tiled floor
#blueprint#cyanotype#hexagon
Public
Alun Kirby

Sometimes you make things for sheer curiosity.

I've been trying tessellated origami forms for a while. This one is appealing as it is easy to fold and fun to play with.

I folded it from a sheet of watercolour paper coated with cyanotype.

It went outside for a day or so.

When developed, it looked like the final picture.

So now I know. Curiosity sated. Until next time.

A sheet of green-grey paper folded into an origami tessellation which is linked squares. a multicoloured rug can be seen behind it
A sheet of grey paper folded into an origami tessellation which is linked squares. it is resting on a window box with plants, and is the same sheet from the first picture
A sheet of white paper which has been coloured mostly blue. it has been creased into many small squares, some with diagonal creases. there is much variety within the squares as to the amount of blue or white they contain.
#blueprint#cyanotype#metamorphogram
Public
Alun Kirby

Took the 30-unit modular origami apart and developed all the pieces into 30 similar but unique images.

30 objects which had exactly the same preparation, exactly the same form, became part of the same 'community' in the same place for the same time.

And yet, each perception differs slightly, each memory is the consequence of individual experience within that group.

But now, what?

30 square pieces of white paper laid out, very slightly overlapping, on a pair of wooden sun loungers with plant pots at top right. Each paper has the same basic image of a blue-green diamond in the centre and a few short lines extending from the edges, but each image is slightly different
#cyanotype#blueprint#origami
Public
Alun Kirby

30 Views of a June Day - work in progress.

Cyanotype-coated watercolour paper made 30 'turtle' units for this model.

It was left outside for 24 hours. It's now going to be developed and... possibly collaged or reconstructed.

Exploring ideas about how we each have unique memories of a shared experience. Variables, in this case, include our point of view and our interactions with others.

Greenish-greyish paper folded into origami units that are like hexagons with small flaps on two sides. There are 30 all together, including a group of 3 and a group of 4. All on a multicoloured rug background
Greenish-greyish paper folded into origami units that have been put together into a 30-unit model, which is like a pointy hollow star with the points cut off. All on a multicoloured rug background
#cyanotype#origami#metamorphogram
Public
Alun Kirby

Started some (cyanotype mixed with origami) images.

Folded from archival tissue paper, which results in poor origami, but the image will be what I need.

Maple leaf, by Peter Engel. Argonaut and Flat Shell w/10 segments by Tomoko Fuse.

Exposing for... a while... in a contact frame.

Ably assisted by Border Collie.

Origami of a shell with 10 segments. The paper is a dark greenish grey, on a white background
Origami of a maple leaf. The paper is a dark greenish grey, on a white background
Three origami pieces pressed inside a glass-fronted contact frame, for exposing. The frame is guarded by a Border Collie. There is a multi-coloured carpet and some bookshelves in the background
Origami of an Argonaut shell with 10 segments. The paper is a dark greenish grey, on a white background
#cyanotype#blueprint#origami
Continued thread
Public
Alun Kirby

And finally, because we've used coloured threads for the sashiko on the front...

...and have stitched through the batting and backing...

we get a series of beautiful patterns on the rear of the quilt as well.

This was a lovely collaborative project. I hope to do more quilting soon.

THREAD 9/9


Sashiko stitchwork in blue thread on a white quilted backing. The lines of the sashiko make an abstract triangular geometric pattern
Continued thread
Public
Alun Kirby

The sashiko stitching adds so much beautiful detail.

It draws the eye to new patterns within the whole, and links sections through (here it comes...) a common thread.

Tessa Layzelle, textile artist, take a bow.

instagram.com/tessa__layzelle/

THREAD 8/x


Sashiko stitching on a geometric quilt in blue and white triangles, quite close up view
Sashiko stitching on a geometric quilt in blue and white triangles, quite close up view
Sashiko stitching on a geometric quilt in blue and white triangles, quite close up view
Sashiko stitching on a geometric quilt in blue and white triangles, quite close up view
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