We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Laura Blacklow. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Laura below.

Alright, Laura thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

Any resources I wish I had known about

When I attended undergraduate school, no one ever told me how challenging it would be to keep making art. I did not know how debilitating the first rejection of my artwork would be, how passionate I had to feel in order to keep going, and that I could not depend solely on art sales to pay the rent for a place to live and a separate studio—a place without distractions where I could concentrate creatively. At the graduate school I attended, I made helpful career contacts and started to build a long-lasting, small community of friends with whom I talk about ideas, and they do the same with me. Because it was a non-traditional program, where grad students helped maintain the facility and were paid for teaching assistantships, as well as, credited with a discounted tuition for state residency, I now realize how fortunate I was not to be burdened with huge debt.

But, the most significant change came after I started a support group based on qualifications I defined (women, committed artists, mothers who also had to contribute to household income) more than thirty years ago. I was able to share my concerns with the group and found that they struggled with similar issues. Even though we have moved to different cities, they still are important to me, and we try to meet virtually once/month while texting or emailing at other times. These friends have become indispensable, and, when I was just starting out, I could not have predicted that they would be the encouragement and dependable source of insight for times alone in my studio.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a visual artist whose work addresses societal and personal issues. To communicate in my own way, I employ uncommon processes that exist on the edge between painting and photography. Utilizing antique photographic methods (and sometimes digital techniques), I create unusual, tactile, handmade books and prints, which incorporate words and images. I use my personal sense of beauty to gently invite the viewer to engage with the picture or page and to think about content that might be provocative without being overwhelming, serious but not enervating, or even violent without picturing gore.

The Quarantine, Portfolio consisting of intimate, one-of-a-kind books created during a frightening and sad time of isolation caused by the worldwide Covid pandemic, might present the silhouettes of graceful flowers interwoven with practical, poetic, or thoughtful text.“Small Steps”, cyanotype and watercolors, book, Collection of Sarah Gill. Words by Elena Mikhalkova

My most consistent artwork for nearly three decades has been about Guatemala. The first time I saw its luscious landscape, I fell in love with the country. I was (and still am) awestruck by the Mayan people, who make up nearly 60% of Guatemala’s population. I respect their resilience and ingenuity, to pinpoint a few impressive traits. I admire contemporary Maya, who have held onto their practices, including weaving textiles, for centuries.

“Mayan Girl”, Polaroid color photograph

They are devoted to their cultural ways, despite a deadly 36-year “Civil” War, when wearing traditional traje (Mayan handwoven clothes) often made them targets of death squads or the Army. Mainly, they are treated like indigenous people in many countries; they are economically marginalized and under-educated. Yet, in 2024, their principled tenacity has helped inaugurate the first democratically-elected, anti-corruption, progressive president in more than sixty years.

“Guatemalan Stories/ Historias de Guatemala”, Van Dyke brown print and cyanotype, book and installation

I knew when I was eight or nine years old that I loved to draw and wanted a career where I could continue to make illustrations. In addition, by the time I was in high school, I was writing a column in the local newspaper, and I enjoyed composing those articles. Eventually, I wanted to use text with my images. Although I attended an exceptionally traditional art school in college, when I saw Robert Rauschenberg’s transfer drawings—combinations of photographic rubbings and graphite drawings—I was so deeply inspired that I fought to take a photography course and then have it count toward my B.F.A. I have found that photographically-related methods are effective for focusng attention on issues of gender, race and class, topics that are the subjects of so much artwork and art criticism today!

“Shards”, black-and-white digital print and pastels on velum

I have been a dedicated instructor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, where students build individual, interdisciplinary programs. While I was early in contemporary terms, to use the techniques I teach and employ in my work, these methods have become the basis for a book I wrote, “New Dimensions in Photo Processes: A Step-By-Step Manual for Alternative Techniques”. It is a popular manual in its 5th edition, issued by Routledge/Focal Press and now published in English and French.

Cover, New Dimensions in Photographic Processes. Cyanotype and Van Dyke brown print collage

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

When I attended undergraduate school, no one ever told me how challenging it would be to keep making art. I did not know how debilitating the first rejection of my artwork would be, how passionate I had to feel in order to keep going, and how I could not depend solely on art sales to pay the rent for a place to live and a place without distractions where I could concentrate on creativity. At the graduate school I attended, I made helpful career contacts and started to build a long-lasting, small community of friends whom I bounce ideas off of, and they do the same with me. Because of its non-traditional organization, grad students helped maintain the facility and were paid for being teaching assistants, as well as, credited with a discounted tuition for state residency, I now realize how fortunate I was not to be burdened with huge debt.

But, the most important change came more than thirty years ago, after I started a support group whose make-up I defined (women, committed artists, mothers who also had to contribute to household income). I was able to share my concerns and found that they had struggled with the same or related issues. Even though we have moved to different cities, the group still is central to me, and we try to meet virtually once/month while texting or emailing at other times. These friends have become indispensable, and, when I was just starting out, I could not have predicted that they would be the encouragement and dependable source of insight that I needed.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I remember a liberating moment when I was in grad school. I was working on my first unique book, and it included hand-written journal entries plus black and white photos. I was not satisfied; I felt that I had to do something else to involve the viewer. Nathan Lyons, my professor had said, “You know that big cliff you are so afraid of jumping off? You’ll find that it is only a curbstone high.” I went back to my project, changed it to big pieces of paper that I hinged and stapled to the wall, so that the “reader” walked into each page.

Nathan was right: the leap was not so impossible! After all, if I did not like what I tried, I only had to put a piece of paper in the trash. It did not mean that I was not a good artist or that I had failed. It only meant that I had tried something, judged it not to be the right move for my undertaking, and that I now was free to try something else.

I used to give students the same advice that Nathan gave me, although I always admitted that at times it felt scarier than it really was!

“Uncovering Eden”,  Inkjet print  Words: In every Eden…there lurks…a serpent.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://laurablacklow.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laura.blacklow.129/
• Twitter: @lblacklow/X