Alternative Photo Retreat, Hollyhock, Cortes Island B.C. Canada (2024)

Hollyhock Residency, Cortes Island, British Columbia (2024)

Coming out of the pandemic and finding my life divided between two landscapes, two studios, one the traditional incubator studio space in the city of Toronto and the second, a large garden on the shores of Lake Erie, I was finding it difficult to flow through the transitions the travel between two homes.  In reconciling  this rich fortunate conundrum  I decided the plan for 2024 would be a year to act on various curiosities- new and old interests without asking too many questions of why? And where was this taking me? Or to what end? As this often stopped the flow. So each month I enrolled in both in person or online workshops from academic lectures in art history, botany, landscape architecture and poetry to flower pressing, botanical embroidery, photography (historical, alternative, analogue and digital), indigo and natural plant dying.  As well I planted a new garden, that was specifically for dying  or toning photographs. The plants included in this garden were Indigo, coreopsis, marigold, woad, black hollyhocks and scabiosis.  I also began to forage my little forest for lichen and wild weeds and seeds that when heated released good dyes or toning agents for photographs.

The culmination of this plan and one that integrated into my project was a workshop/master class that Sarah Fuller, artist, friend and founder of the Institute of Unusual Studies was holding at Hollyhock Retreat Centre on Cortes Island. It would be a great addition to my self-directed curriculum as the focus was alternative photography using the cyanotype process, plants and objects from the gardens and eco-system of Hollyhock, to create one of a kind images on fabrics.

My week spent at Hollyhock was enriching, stimulating and built on much of the knowledge I had gathered from my year of workshops. The beautiful landscape and close knit community meant that I left Cortes inspired to return to my studios and continue to enlarge the range of my world.

www.sarahefuller.com

www.hollyhock.ca

Hollyhock is a retreat centre that hosts meaningful programs from exploring a creative life to discussions about climate change etc. It is situated on the shores of Cortes Island in the Salish Sea, British Columbia.