Eva and Dan Barstow – Artists
We combine the mid-19th century technique of botanical pressing, used for studying plants, and traditional print-making techniques such as collography, etchings, and solar plates, with contemporary digital photography to create limited edition prints that we call marine botanical art. The juncture of science and art, of ancient and modern, engages and inspires us.
Eva creates the original pressings from seaweed gathered during our travels, using a process called “floating out”. She lays out the seaweed on high-quality printmaking paper immersed in water, coaxing it into a composition that achieves the desired movement and artistic expression in the artwork. The completed images are put into a press, where the natural starches in the seaweed bind with the paper to create an integrated whole.
Eva also creates waterscape images using collographs, encaustics, water colors and other media, to use as backgrounds. Once the pressings and waterscapes are complete, Dan scans the originals into the computer at very high resolution. We then create compositions that mirror the play of seaweed in the ocean. We print them with archival papers and inks.
As the earth’s climate enters a time of increasing turbulence, we hope our artwork increases awareness of the planet’s beauty and fragility, and engages others to share our concern for the environment.