Artwork by Barbara Sullivan ‘22

Barbara Sullivan’s show is called “Segué”. She has made large wall drawings, 8’ tall which are the color (Prussian Blue) of cyanotypes on mylar. She then has placed shaped frescoes atop the drawings to present narratives that segue between interior and exterior spaces. Sullivan says” My intention is to honor and combine two historical mediums which together create environments suggesting nostalgia and memory, the bridge between the domestic indoor and the natural wild of our outdoor lives.” She likens these ideas to the ways that people decorate their homes, wallpaper depicting animals, birds and flowers, that imagery brings the outside inside, just as windows in paintings act as portals to the exterior world.

Frescoes date back to 3500-3200 BCE likely earlier. Cyanotypes originated with John Frederick William Herschel around 1840. Historically, both mediums use natural materials, and rely on chemical reactions. Frescoes using earth pigments and ground limestone and aggregate, cyanotypes using iron, salt compounds, citrus juice, vinegar, washing soda, and plant materials such as turmeric and paprika. Both mediums rely on water, time, sunlight, and temperature to dry and cure. Both mediums require laborious preparation and have held up through the ages.