PORT TOWNSEND — “Once upon a time a very long time ago, I was in art school,” said Fruma Markowitz, who’s now on her way to the Peninsula from her home in Connecticut.
This was several decades ago, the school was Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design in Jerusalem, and Markowitz was one of only a few Americans there. She used her time to explore many things, including the cyanotype process.
After graduating, she became a photojournalist, a book jacket designer, portraitist and fashion photographer, and she taught courses in Israel.
In 2003, Markowitz moved back to the United States, where she started a new life, showing her work in galleries across the country, and teaching.
Markowitz will host one of her favorite activities from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 30: Cyanotype Family Funday, an afternoon of making prints on paper with sunlight and a sun-sensitive solution. She’s planning all of it — what she calls “blue alchemy” — at Northwind Art School at Fort Worden State Park.
Information and registration for the class, which participants can join any time during the afternoon, is found under Take a Class at https://northwindart.org. This is an all-ages workshop, with a $45 fee covering up to two adults and up to four children.
Why is this East Coast artist coming to Port Townsend? Simple. That one other American, the guy who became her best friend back in art school, lives here. He’s Brian Goodman, also a photographer and a fellow teaching artist at the nonprofit Northwind Art School.
Markowitz gets to visit Goodman and his family and teach her beloved cyanotype class.
After all these years, this art practice still delights her. For one thing, “you get to be outside. You’re not stuck in a room,” and when you create your sun prints, “you never know what you’re going to get … when that image comes up in the water, it’s like, ‘Oh, my God,’” she said.
The blues are like the sky, the white is like the clouds — yet there are always surprises when the prints emerge.
Markowitz emphasizes that the cyanotype solution is non-toxic and safe for people of all ages to use. She provides all of the supplies for the class; the sun provides the light, and “it is the easiest, peasiest thing; it’s really magical.”
Leila Block, a Northwind Art School staffer and teaching artist, looks forward to seeing what families create together.
“Cyanotype is so fun. You might be able to make a boring cyanotype, but I don’t think so,” Block said.
For more about activities hosted by Northwind Art, which operates the school at Fort Worden along with Jeanette Best Gallery at 701 Water St. in downtown Port Townsend, visit www.north windart.org.
Cyanotypes, made from sunlight and nontoxic UV-sensitive solution, are one-of-a-kind artworks, teaching artist Fruma Markowitz says. (Fruma Markowitz)
