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Visiting Artist Rebecca Clark Brings Art to Life at Hopkins
Students in Austin Casebolt’s Advanced Painting class and faculty members gathered along the stone walls outside of Thompson Hall, clipboards in tow, developing photographs using just the sun.
Led by Visiting Artist Rebecca Clark, the workshop introduced participants to cyanotype, an antique photographic process that uses light-sensitive materials and sunlight to create blue-and-white images.
Stems, leaves, wildflowers, and ferns became the subjects of the participants’ work, each arranged into individual compositions before being exposed to the sun.
“What made Rebecca Clark’s visit so meaningful was the way she revealed the poetry contained within the artistic process,” reflected Casebolt. “Students were able to witness the artist’s hand transforming something fragile and transient into an enduring image. We are tremendously grateful to Rebecca for sharing not only her technical knowledge, but also the deeper way of seeing that gives her work such resonance.”
The workshop accompanied Clark’s exhibition, Weathering: Contemporary Botanical Cyanotypes, currently on view in the Keator Gallery.
Weathering features contemporary botanical cyanotypes exploring decay, renewal, and changing landscapes. Clark’s work focuses on plant life altered by invasive vines, insect infestation, disease, weather, age, and other environmental forces.
“I choose damaged and imperfect specimens over the ideal, emphasizing form and detail,” said Clark. “My subjects are often moving, transforming, or disappearing while traditional botanical subjects are stationary and unchanging.” In the exhibit, Clark conveys that sense of change and impermanence by digitally combining blurred and sharp exposures into single images.
Members of the Hopkins community had an opportunity to meet Clark and discuss her work during an artist reception on September 24. Weathering will remain on view in the Keator Gallery through October 16.
Clark holds an MFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BA in Art History and East Asian Studies from Oberlin College. She served as Professor of Art at the Community College of Rhode Island from 1990 to 2023 and has exhibited throughout New England and nationally. Her work has been recognized with a Connecticut Artist Fellowship and as a Critical Mass finalist.
Hopkins is a private middle school and high school for grades 7-12. Located on a campus overlooking New Haven, CT, the School takes pride in its intellectually curious students as well as its dedicated faculty and staff.
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