Blueprint of a Collection

BLUEPRINT OF A COLLECTION: CYANOTYPE PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID SOKOSH
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne, Vermont
shelburnemuseum.org
through October 26, 2025

There’s something different on view this year at Vermont’s Shelburne Museum, renowned for its superb holdings of American material culture, especially works by folk and self-taught artists. The exhibition “Blueprint of a Collection: Cyanotype Photography by David Sokosh” highlights images of old works newly created by a photographer and filmmaker based in New York’s Hudson Valley.

For the last two years, Sokosh has carefully explored the museum’s collection, photographing specific artifacts using his large-for-mat camera and the 19th-century cyanotype process, which is best known for its deep blue tones. The artist has selected a diverse array of objects ranging from weathervanes and glass goblets to quilts and architectural details. In his photographs, a lighthouse lens is removed from its original context to become a striking study in form, or the details adorning a mammoth jug evolve into rhythmic, abstract patterns. Sokosh has created 25 different photographs in two sizes: 20 x 24 and 32 x 40 in.

In addition, Sokosh has made a group of experimental photographic objects — cyanotypes applied to four new hat boxes and one new quilt. Also on view is his groundbreaking video presentation, composed of more than 6,000 individual cyanotype prints that have been scanned and sequenced to re-create motion in a process Sokosh calls a Cyanimation Moving Picture.

All of these pieces take their cue from the passionate collecting of Shelburne Museum founder Electra Havemeyer Webb (1888–1960), who rightly foresaw that “simple” examples of Americana were at risk of being destroyed or neglected. In various ways, Sokosh’s show bridges past and present, allowing familiar icons to take on new meanings and appearances.

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