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Mary Kocol
Anthotypes
July 21, 2025
Anthotypes are ephemeral photographic images made from juices extracted from common flowers, fruits, and vegetables. The plant-based photosensitive emulsion is applied to paper, dried, contact printed with an object or positive transparency, then exposed to the sun for days or weeks. It was developed in the Victorian era by scientist Sir John Herschel (who invented the better-known cyanotype), and called it phytotype meaning vegetal print. Today it’s called anthotype from the Greek words meaning “flower print.” As a gardener,Mary primarily likes to work with flowers from her garden, such as purple irises, red roses, morning glories, pansies, and geraniums for making anthotypes. She’ll show step by step pictures of how to make anthotypes: extracting color from plants, quick time lapse video clips, coating the paper, exposing the paper to sunlight (days to weeks!), and finished samples.
About the Speaker
Mary Kocol is a fine art photographer and master gardener in Somerville, Massachusetts. Mary studied photography at the University of Connecticut and earned a master’s degree at Rhode Island School of Design.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, Mary began to explore the Anthotype process, which uses the light-sensitive properties of plant-based pigments to create images. In 2024, Mary received an LLC Visual Art Fellowship Grant from the Somerville Arts Council for her anthotype work.
Mary’s earlier urban twilight photographs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, J. Paul Getty Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and many others.
Mary is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and several Massachusetts Local Cultural Council grants. She’s also a film animator, writer, book artist, and loves to work with a toy Diana camera. Her photographs are represented by Gallery NAGA, Boston, Massachusetts.