Blue Star Sunday: Cyanotype Activity

Cover image: Kathy Vargas, Frog Plate Lunch, 1990

Join the Mexic-Arte Museum on Sunday, August 1st from 1pm – 3pm for a free cyanotype activity led by Mexic-Arte Museum Education Teaching Artist Selene Bataille and Intern Assistant Amy Anderson! Visitors are welcome to make their own cyanotype inspired by Kathy Vargas’ work. Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that originated in the 1840s. Cyanotypes are known for their distinctive deep blue color and they are a versatile art form for combining photographic and hand-drawn imagery.

This event is in collaboration with the Blue Star Museums Program. The Mexic-Arte Museum, a collaborator in the Blue Star Museums program, offers free general admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and up to five family members—including U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, National Guard, Coast Guard, National Guard and Reserve, U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps, and NOAA Commissioned Corps—from Armed Services Day through Labor Day. (For all free and discounted military tickets, present ID in person at admissions desk)

Kathy Vargas was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and is recognized as one of the most prominent and celebrated contemporary Chicana artists. Vargas’ work is influenced by her family history and the cultural awakenings of the 1960s and 70s. Vargas’ photograph Frog Plate Lunch montages white circles over a plate of frog legs with a knife and fork. The layered photograph has a surreal dream-like quality that  invites the viewer to interpret the image from a personal perspective.

This free activity is in conjunction with Mexic-Arte Museum’s current in-person exhibition, Mexico, the Border and Beyond: Selections from the Juan Antonio Sandoval Jr. Collection.