Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Contemporary art gallery Atelier, 104 E. Center St., Warsaw, will present “Um Passo à Frente: Cyanotypes” from June 12 to July 24.
The opening reception is Friday, June 12, from 6 to 8 p.m.
“Um Passo à Frente” features 26 unique cyanotypes by Fort Wayne artist Erin Patton McFarren. Executed in the sea and sand of Brazil, Patton McFarren’s cyanotypes interact with sunlight and bodies of water, allowing shifting forms of lights and movement to produce unique images on watercolor paper. This deeply physical and site-specific process is a means for marking time and place, according to a news release from Atelier.
The cyanotype process is a camera-less photographic technique invented in 1842 that relies on the silhouette and transparency of an object and produces a distinct, rich monochromatic Prussian blue image. Patton McFarren’s process uses two light-sensitive iron chemicals: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. When exposed to UV light and rinsed in water, the results are her exquisite sun prints, the release states.
According to Patton McFarren, “my performative work is a collaboration with natural elements: the light, wind and temperature of a specific season, the time of day, and the unique chemistry of water. The cyanotypes are made with non-toxic materials and interact with sunlight and bodies of water using the original 1842 recipe. My work is a meditation. I sit and watch reflections dance on the surface of the water as sunlight builds shapes on paper. This process is a celebration of life in the present.”
In 2024, Patton McFarren was awarded the Eli Lilly Endowment Creativity Fellowship, which enabled her to spend a summer creating art along the coast of Brazil, including Ubatuba, Rio and Copacabana. “Um Passo à Frente,” or “a step forward,” is the result. The works are deeply informed by their locations of origin.
Her “Guidance from Iemanjà” cyanotypes are named for the Afro-Brazilian goddess Iemanjà, known as the “Queen of the Sea.” In this series, the images rise and fall like a wave, embodying the protection and care of Iemanjà. They stand as a testament to the deity’s ever-present embrace, shielding and nurturing those who walk their path amongst her watchful waters.
According to the artist, “in my work, I explore the overlapping textures of culture, memory and reinvention. I find inspiration in the way history leaves its mark, not just in landscapes but in traditions, rhythms, and expressions of identity. Through my art, I seek to honor this complexity, creating a space where the echoes of the past meet the vibrancy of the present.”
“Um Passo à Frente” is the second exhibition in Atelier’s all-female program for 2026. According to Atelier owner and Director Sea Grandon, “I admire Erin for the environmental integrity of her artistic process and for the natural intimacy of the completed cyanotypes. This body of work muses on humanity’s profound physical, biological and psychological connection to the sea. Any step forward must honor that connection.”
Grandon believes that “Um Passo à Frente” is a perfect summer show. “‘Um Passo à Frente’ feels like sun on shoulders and surf on toes. It evokes that oceanic feeling you have when standing at the edge of the sea: that spiritual state of timelessness and that sensation of being perfectly unified with the world around you,” she said.
Atelier’s hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Atelier is a contemporary art gallery in Warsaw, owned and directed by Grandon. Grandon is a contemporary art advisor and attorney. She opened Atelier in March 2023.
Patton McFarren was born in Fort Wayne in 1976. She holds a BA from the University of Saint Francis and an MLS from Indiana University. She was awarded the Eli Lilly Endowment Creativity Fellowship in 2024 and has works included in public and private collections including the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and the Loews Resort in Miami Beach, Fla.
McFarren teaches cyanotype workshops throughout Indiana including at The Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams in Winona Lake.
