©Marni Myers, Loopholes

The Center for Photographic Art and Lenscratch are thrilled to present the 2025 Paula Riff Award to Marni Myers. This award was created in honor of a beloved artist, Paula Riff, who elevated the photographic medium by her investigations into color and alternative processes. Paula was an innovator, using lensless photography and historical processes to create objects of remarkable beauty.

The annual Award is open to artists whose art is challenging conventional photography through work that reflects the artist’s hand, either based on the historical/alternative photographic processes or with physical intervention through cutting, sewing, etc. We received hundreds of submissions for this year’s competition from photographers across the country and around the world. Juror Paula Tognarelli  had quite a challenge selecting a single artist and we are grateful for her time and energies. When asked about the jurying process, Tognarelli  stated:

Before jurying this call for entry, I wanted to touch base with Paula Riff. Online I found Paula in discussion with the host of “Keep the Channel Open.” The conversation was recorded on December 3, 2019. Sure enough, Paula told me exactly what to look for in this year’s award call. 

I present to you the work of Marni Myers whose work for me echoed the language of the call for entry for the Paula Riff Award. Myers is an alternative process artist. Like Paula, Myers experiments, sorts, and cuts. She also repurposes cyanotype output, which adds a layer of unplanned uncertainty to all of her art work endeavors. I felt that of all the submissions, Marni checked all the boxes for the requirements of the call for entry for this very prestigious award.

My gratitude to Aline Smithson and Ann Jastrab for the opportunity to visit with Paula Riff again, as well as my gratitude to all the artists who submitted to this year’s call for entry. The moments with all of the artwork was bittersweet yet very positive and such an enjoyable experience for me. May Paula Riff remain in all our hearts and in our minds’ eye.

Paula Tognarelli 

June 19, 2025

An interview with the artist follows.

Portrait of the artist

Marni Myers is an interdisciplinary artist and visual alchemist chasing an obscure, dream-like state of minimalistic and imperfect layers. Using the alternative process of cyanotype printing to create quiet discoveries within the photographic image, she reveals her artist’s hand through tactile layered compositions, painterly textures, soft tonal transitions, and loose edges that resist perfection.

Her work has been exhibited in numerous national solo and group exhibitions including D’art Gallery – Denver, CO, SE Center for Photography – Greenville, SC, Decode Gallery – Tucson, AZ and PhotoPlace – Middlebury, VT, amongst others. In addition to her artistic practice, she works as a Creative Director and Graphic Designer. Myers holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and she lives and works in Denver, Colorado.

Instagram @mmyersphoto

©Marni Myers, Jazz Notes

©Marni Myers, Forest and Trees

Project Statement

My current work with alternative processes embraces experimentation through a tactile, hands-on approach. It involves sorting, cutting, and reassembling repurposed cyanotype prints, allowing me to shift the original concept into a new, unexpected direction. As I engage with these materials, I seek balance and tension between shapes and colors, toying within the layers to create dynamic compositions. These prints move beyond literal representation, focusing instead on a softer, more painterly quality that leans toward abstraction and invites a sense of mystery.

©Marni Myers, Beats

Artist Statement

Design and photography are two essential forces in my creative process–each one feeds and challenges the other. I’ve always been attuned to the spaces around me, a sensitivity that was nurtured growing up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. The city’s urban grid left a lasting impression on me, and I often find myself fascinated how structure and pattern coexist in our environment.

With a foundation in graphic design, my photography delves into my evolving relationship with pattern, texture, and minimalism. I’m drawn to the subtle beauty of the world around me, capturing moments that provoke curiosity. I want my images to leave the viewer wondering, to spark questions about the subject matter and how it resonates with them. In this way, I hope my work becomes a springboard for dialogue, encouraging a deeper engagement with what might otherwise be overlooked.

My current work with alternative processes is an exploration of layering, both literal and conceptual. I’ve taken a more tactile, hands-on approach to my prints, moving away from direct botanical representation. Instead, I lean into a softer, more painterly aesthetic, where abstraction and mystery take center stage. The result is work that is less about depicting the tangible and more about embracing the intangible, inviting viewers into a space of quiet discovery.

©Marni Myers, Confined

Tell us about your growing up and what brought you to photography?

As a child, I often doodled in notebooks as I anxiously waited for art classes to resume. My fondest memories were trips to The Art Institute of Chicago that instilled a strong appreciation for the impressionist and modern masters. I majored in art at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, studying the foundations of drawing, painting and photography, putting my attention towards graphic design courses–typography and page layout techniques–to visually communicate messages.

The summer between sophomore and junior year, I attended my first photography class. I borrowed a basic Pentax camera from an uncle, and that camera produced some terrific black and whites. I fell in love with the anticipation of watching the image come alive in the darkroom. I enjoyed dodging and burning and spending eight hours developing a half dozen high quality prints. That was a successful day!

After college, I lived downtown Chicago and continued taking classes. I have been attending workshops and classes off and on for the past 30 years, most of these sessions in the Denver-metropolitan area where I currently reside.

©Marni Myers, Between the Lines

Congratulations on receiving the Paula Riff Award! Were you familiar with Paula’s work?

Thank you! I am thrilled to receive this award and recognition for my exploration with alternative processes. I first learned about Paula’s work while researching cyanotype artists who have paved a dynamic path with authenticity and a creative spirit. Her work with overlapping shapes and patterns in abstraction resonated with my design sense and my need to highlight asymmetry and balance.

©Marni Myers, Bemused

When did your practice begin to explore collaging and alternative processes? Did you start off creating more traditional work?

The idea of incorporating collage into my work has been something I’ve carried with me since various college related projects, though I had yet to uncover how to incorporate it within my photographic practice until recently. During my many Colorado sun printing days, I found myself with various failed experiments. As I was walking these subpar prints to the recycling bin, an enormous light bulb of an idea went off–it’s time to repurpose these cyanotype prints into collage and show my hand and craft in the process. Many of my failures transformed into successful results. When I tone my prints with botanical specimens, the results are slightly different each time. I no longer see them as failures, but instead, an area to embrace and show no two are exactly alike.

I began as a traditional photographer using film and the darkroom. Digital photography allowed me more freedom to produce images while I cared for my two children during their younger years. In some ways, I feel like I’ve come full circle, layering cyanotype chemistry onto various substrates, but a good part of the steps are camera-less.

©Marni Myers, Dots

How much of your work is preconceived? Do you enjoy the idea of chance?

While shooting within my surroundings, I am thinking about how to evolve my current series of work. When I explore behind the lens, much of these preconceived ideas fall away so I can be present with my subjects. The goal is to slow my pace to find gems hidden in plain sight.

Once I determine a selection of images to form into negatives for cyanotype printing, the process becomes preconceived. During the cutting and assembling collage phase, I enjoy this time to discover and the idea for chance is greater. This is where I tend to contemplate the direction of art versus craft and what it means in a photographic sense where the camera is absent.

©Marni Myers, Lightweight

I’m curious if “failure” is part of your practice?

Absolutely, failure arrives during this practice when the magic of the sun plays tricks on my limited hours of burning prints. How I embrace it and what I do with failure can ultimately turn into stronger executions because I am leading with my heart and hands with less expectations for perfection. In fact, I am learning to embrace imperfection when I layer chemicals, place uneven brush strokes, and cut and assemble collage work to show my handwork.

©Marni Myers, Double Vision

What artists have inspired you?

I have an ever-growing list of artists that inspire me, especially artists practicing cyanotype and other alternative processes. I admire Melanie Walker, Jackie Mulder, and Terri Warpinski for their dimensional mixed media works, and Paula Aranoa for her unique diptychs. I want to thank Kimberly Chiaris, Emma Powell, and Diana Bloomfield for sharing their skills and passion for alternative processes by providing a cyanotype foundation and open door for discussion.

©Marni Myers, Pieces Assembled

©Marni Myers, On Edge

What’s next?

I am currently experimenting with spatial relationships and perspectives by assembling collage pieces onto wood panels and applying prints to wooden blocks. It’s also interesting to see how the chemicals react to ceramic tiles. The texture can be a blessing or a challenge. I aspire to produce multi layered pieces that show further dimensionality in installation to push boundaries of this medium. I foresee layering fabrics and exploring larger formats to allow viewers to move around my work, on and off the wall, to achieve an interactive experience. Ultimately, what I’ve learned is that my work is no longer about digitally printing another image to frame. The results are one of a kind, and more precious.

©Marni Myers, Wet Blocks

©Marni Myers, 6 Across 8 Down

©Marni Myers, 6 x 6 Ceramic Tiles