Black and White and Color Through a Mixed Media Lens
with Katie Shapiro
November 7 – December 5, 2026
*
Course Description
Photography has long been shaped by a choice between black and white and color. Each approach has its own history, visual language, and emotional impact, but what happens when they come together in the same image?
In this new online workshop, artist Katie Shapiro explores the relationship between monochrome photography and color, looking at how they can interact, challenge, and transform one another. Through a combination of photography, transparent color, layered surfaces, colored light, projection, and mixed-media processes, you experiment with new ways of building and experiencing images.
Black-and-white photography provides a foundation for exploring form, texture, space, and visual structure, while color introduces shifts in perception, emotion, and meaning. Through hands-on exercises, you investigate how small changes in hue, transparency, and layering can completely alter the way an image is seen.
Rather than treating color as an addition or finishing element, Katie approaches it as an active part of the photographic process. Color can reveal, obscure, interrupt, or transform the image beneath it, creating new relationships between photograph, material, and viewer.
Throughout four sessions, you are encouraged to experiment, take risks, and embrace unexpected results as you develop your own approach to working with photography and color. By the end of the workshop, you gain new ways of thinking about the photographic image and expand your understanding of how black and white and color can work together to create something entirely new.
Additional Information
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
What You Should Know:
Participants can work with either printed or found photographs. A materials list will be provided prior to the start date.
This workshop is not focused on camera or editing software instruction, so participants should be comfortable working independently with their own digital equipment and tools.
Special Notes:
Class will meet 10:00 am – 12:00 pm (Mountain Time) on Saturdays starting November 7 and ending December 5; no class on November 28 (four online group sessions). Enrollment is limited to 12 participants.
Zoom Video Conferencing software (available for no charge from Zoom.com) will be used to facilitate the class sessions. Further details will be emailed to registrants.
These live online sessions take place in the standard Zoom meeting format. Students can use their microphone and camera, see and hear the instructor and other students, and participate in live discussion and interaction throughout the sessions.
Santa Fe Workshops always aims to produce a high-quality experience for our online attendees. That said, variables including regional and local internet provider speeds, traffic on Zoom's servers, and your own computing hardware can contribute to a less-than-ideal streaming event. While we do our best to minimize the impact of these variables, they are outside the control of Santa Fe Workshops.
Policies:
View Cancellation and Transfer Policies for online programs.
Recording class sessions using personal devices or third-party tools is not permitted. Session recordings are provided by Santa Fe Workshops and are available to enrolled students for two months after the class. This policy helps protect the intellectual property and privacy of both instructors and students.
about
Katie Shapiro’s practice explores the ineffable—making visible what cannot be seen. Her recent work focuses on themes of motherhood, deepening her ongoing investigation into perception, presence, and the unseen. She holds an MFA from the University of California, Irvine, and a BFA in Photography from CalArts.
Katie’s work has been exhibited internationally, with recent and past shows at institutions including Aperture Gallery, Kopeikin Gallery, Klompching Gallery, Christopher Grimes Gallery, and The Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, CA. Her work has appeared in Artforum, The Los Angeles Times, and New York Magazine. Her work is included in numerous private and public collections, notably the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Huntington Library and Art Collection, the California Museum of Photography in Riverside, and the Amon Carter Museum Library.
Katie has held residencies at the Banff Centre in Canada and Bullseye Glass in Pasadena, and recently attended Mass MoCA as an artist-in-residence. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Website: katieshapiro.com
Instagram: @katieshapirostudio
