Within our mission of “Igniting curiosity and imagination”, we find endless possibilities of execution within Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). Each providing their own unique twists on the world and provoking critical thinking.
“The Bug Zone”, May 4th, 2025
Thirty-Two 4inx4in Cyanotype prints in a 4×4 grid.
“This artwork was created collaboratively by guests at the Fresno Discovery Center’s Sun Booth during their May the 4th event, a community event focused on science education and entertainment. At this booth, participants learned about cyanotype printing – a historical, cameraless photography process. This technique involves coating paper with a light-sensitive solution made from ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. Once prepared, an object or image is placed on the surface and exposed to UV light.
In this activity, guests used real insect X-rays as their subjects, exposing them to direct sunlight for a short period of time. After exposure, the objects were removed and the prints were rinsed in water to wash away the unreacted chemicals and fix the image. Areas exposed to direct sunlight turn a rich blue, while shaded sections remain white – resulting in striking silhouette-like images known as photograms”
-Mr.Miguel
Within STEAM, Arts are typically seen as crafts. Being an educator with a background in Arts, I wanted to pull away from the term ‘crafts’, and push towards Art in a Fine Arts context. To do this, I chose a historic art process called “Cyanotype”. Cyanotype is a photographic printing process created by John Herschel, in 1842, as an astronomer who sought out a way to copy the notes in his notebook. Though Herschel is credited with the invention of cyanotypes, originally experimenting with iron salts, he used it primarily for blueprints. Anna Atkins, a botanist, is the first artist to physically create an extensive body of work with this process, creating a book with 424 cyanotypes of flora, just one year after the invention in 1842.
The cyanotype process uses the chemicals potassium ferricyanide and ammonium citrate, to print directly onto a surface using digital negatives and physical objects. Due to the recent development of digital photography, taking photos is easier than ever, taking up minimal space, accessible from your pocket and capturing the frozen image of the world. Though revolutionary, this development has caused the more unique processes of photography to be widely forgotten. During this event, I educated guests on the history and technical aspects of cyanotype printing, while assisting guests to make their own prints. The first step is to expose their chemically coated surfaces to the sunlight, with real, scientifically accurate insect X-Ray film sheets laid atop them. Once exposed for the desired time period, the prints are then removed from direct sunlight and rinsed in water. While the print is being rinsed, there is a visual transformation from pale greens and yellow ‘bleached’ tones into rich shades of blue. Guests were given the opportunity to either take them home, or donate them back to us, Fresno Discovery Center. The donated prints that I collected would then become the prints used for this artwork. Once dried, I then took the prints, matted them, framed them, wired the back of them, and then installed them inside our Science Center with the caption above.
Ultimately, this project is a small glimpse into what art Education can offer. Through informed and educational activities, we can provide accessible and creative forms of art for guests of all ages and backgrounds to learn and experience new forms of expression. Through the use of cyanotypes, we introduced an audience to a historical practice, embracing community, and giving a first-hand visual experience of aesthetics within art. The content is educational, providing scenes of accurate X-Rays, while the form takes visual harmony with the grid of blue hues.
Art is not purely decoration, but an investigation that prompts us to critically think just as all STEAM disciplines do. Just as science seeks to understand the physical world, art allows us to interpret it. Behind every execution of STEAM, is the same exact method, based on observation, research, hypothesis, experimentation, data analysis and conclusion.
