Field Notes: The Photograph in Print
Somewhere in a drawer, a shoebox, or your camera roll, there’s a photograph that holds more than it shows. This November, artists Elena Ricci and Kelwin Coleman are bringing The Photograph in Print to Cheyenne and Casper, a hands-on workshop that turns those personal images into one-of-a-kind gelli prints.
Saturday, November 21 · 1–5pm
Cheyenne Creativity Center, with Arts Cheyenne
Sunday, November 22 · 1–5pm
Art 321, Casper
Something you had. Something you wanted. Something you lost.
That’s the prompt Elena and Kelwin will hand you at the start of the afternoon. From there, you’ll layer your own photographs into monotypes using a gel plate, a soft, reusable printing surface that feels a little like gelatin and behaves a little unpredictably. That unpredictability is the point. A monotype is printed once, and no two pulls come out the same.
As the session unfolds, Elena and Kelwin will pause the work to share pieces of their own practice: how each of them thinks about images, materials, and meaning. Then it’s back to the table, with both artists working alongside you.
At a moment when AI-generated images are filling creative spaces, this workshop makes the case for the handmade. It’s about finding your own voice through curiosity, experiment, and the physical act of making, and leaving with something singular you can hold in your hands.
Meet the artists
Kelwin Coleman grew up in New York City and makes work that opens new conversations about social narratives, rather than replaying the racial and sexual traumas so often found in contemporary art. He holds a BFA from Purchase College and an MFA from Tulane University, and has worked with and for a wide range of artists in print shops and galleries, private and public. He has also curated grassroots shows of artists he feels the art world overlooks. He lives in New York City.
Elena Ricci is an archaeologist, educator, and visual artist whose practice grows out of her background in anthropology. Material culture, natural and built environments, found-object assemblage, and stories rooted in place run through both her personal and commissioned work. She loves large-scale, community-based collaborations and any chance to tell stories through image-making. elena-ricci.com
About the White Pelican Project
Every year, American white pelicans make the long trip north to Wyoming from the Gulf South. This fall and winter, ALCES’s White Pelican Project follows the same path, bringing six artists from New Orleans and Austin to lead free public workshops in Casper, Cheyenne, Laramie, and Jackson.
Want a preview? Watch a gel plate printing demo.
This workshop series is made possible through a grant from the Wyoming Arts Council.
