About

Artist’s Statement

 
In the past, my primary focus was on photographing people. Now I am drawn to the genre of landscape photography and make photographs on a daily basis of locations I visit repeatedly: my neighborhood and local parks in Saint Paul, Minnesota and the surrounding area.
 
I belong to the community of artists who believe that repetition and cumulative experiences with a specific place can enhance and expand one’s perception, awareness, sense of community and belonging. That a place, over time, can and will reveal its’ magic if one pays attention.
 
My photographs are informed by and built upon an accumulation of visits. They describe a developing awareness, and awakening. They portray what has changed and what remains unchanged: decay and regeneration, changing vistas, things revealed and things concealed, traces we leave in the landscape, both purposefully and without our knowledge.
 
Currently, my camera of choice is an iPhone 6s+. I shoot using the Hipstamatic app with the filters set to change randomly. This gives me less control and opens me to new ways of seeing. The only rule I follow is to obey my instinct. When I’m caught, when I feel a pull, when I sense there is something in front of me, I stop to make a photograph, generally one or two frames at most of a particular view.
 
This study of place over time opens me to feelings I might not otherwise experience, to observe differences in the way people live, express themselves, and impact the physical world, with less judgment and more curiosity. There is a certain poignancy to the images I create. There is also an undying hope and belief in our potential, rooted in the tenacity of the natural world.


Resume


Exhibitions
  • Rehearsal for the Floating Book, Senior Exhibition, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
  • Women of Strength, Solo Exhibition, The Lumber Exchange Gallery, Minneapolis
  • Beneath the Surface, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
  • Four by Four, Cafe Gallery, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
  • Minnesota Women Artists, Group Show, WARM Gallery, Minneapolis
  • Solo Show, Cafe Gallery, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
  • The Mentor/Protege Show, WARM Gallery, Minneapolis
  • Solo Show, YWCA Women’s Resource Center, Minneapolis
  • G.A.L.A.S., YWCA Women’s Resource Center, Minneapolis
  • Voices and Visions, University of Minnesota, Coffman Union Gallery, Minneapolis
  • Gone Fishing, Group Show, Balsam Arts, Balsam Lake, Wisconsin 2018
  • North, Group Show, Gallery 360, Minneapolis, MN 2018

Awards & Honors

Minneapolis College of Art and Design

  • Abby Weed Grey Scholarship: Four year, full-tuition award based on creative potential

Photo District News, 2006

  • Top Knots, MN Bride, 2003,
  • Best Wedding Photographer/Photojournalism, Lifetime Achievement Award City Pages, 1997 & 1999
  • Best Wedding Photographer

Communication Arts Photography Annual, 1991

  • Self-Promotion, Student Recruitment Catalog

Bibliography
  • Julio Ojeda-Zapata, “Through Their Eyes”, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, June 3, 2016
  • Sasha Aslanian, “Giving Back”, The MCAD Magazine, Volume 1/Spring 2011
  • Andy Steiner, “Turning Over a New Leaf”, Spaces Magazine, May 18, 2010

Education

BFA in Media Arts - Minneapolis College of Art and Design 1989

Landscape Design  and Environmental Horticulture - University of MN 2004-2007