Kate Shannon, the 2025 Artist Laureate for The Ohio State University will present a curated exhibition of cyanotypes, Grasses in Sun and Shadow, October 21 through November 13, 2025, in the Wayne and Geraldine Kuhn Fine Arts Gallery, Morrill Hall at The Ohio State University at Marion, 1465 Mount Vernon Avenue, Marion, OH. The community and the campus are invited to attend a free opening reception on Tuesday, October 21, 12:30 p.m. in the Kuhn Gallery.
The cyanotype process is one of the earliest photographic methods, using light-sensitive chemicals, sunlight, and water to produce vivid blue photographs. It was popularized in the mid-1800s by botanist Anna Atkins, who used the process to create camera-less impressions of plants and, in doing so, highlighted the dual nature of the new photographic medium as both art and science. During the reception, Shannon will provide a description and detail on how this unique art form comes to life.
Grasses in Sun and Shadow features artworks by members of the Ohio State Marion community who, like Anna Atkins nearly two centuries ago, used the cyanotype process to create camera-less imprints of natural elements at the Larry R. Yoder Prairie Learning Laboratory. Shannon says, “In an era increasingly defined by virtual experiences, it was refreshing to work with these individuals beneath the sun, tracing the fleeting shadows of the prairie’s grasses, flowers, and leaves. I invite you to revisit the gallery throughout the month, as the seasons change beyond each carefully crafted impression, forever preserved in blue and white.”
Kate Shannon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art at The Ohio State University and Ohio State’s 2025–26 Artist Laureate. Her work explores photography’s relationship with memory, materiality, and the digital age. Her artwork has been exhibited widely, and she has received Ohio State Mansfield’s Campus Awards for both Excellence in Scholarship and Excellence in Teaching. In 2024, she presented research on Ohio State’s Floyd and Marion Rinhart Collection of 19th-century American photographs at The Daguerreian Society’s Symposium in Houston, Texas, and is currently developing a creative project that reexamines these historical images using contemporary tools. Shannon earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Kentucky and her Master of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University.
For questions or more information contact Leslie Beyer-Hermsen (beyer-hermsen.1@osu.edu) or Kate Shannon (shannon.112@osu.edu)