I am a fine art photographer and educator born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and worked in my Oakland studio for more than twenty-five years. My work has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally and resides in various corporate and public art collections, including those of the Alameda County Art Commission, Berkeley Civic Arts Center, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the David Brower Center, and the Kala Institute. My work is represented by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, Danielle Wohl Fine Art, SLATE Gallery, and the Kala Institute Art Gallery.
In recent years, I have been working on various public art commissions, creating large scale artworks for public spaces. I am particularly enthusiastic about public art as it provides an opportunity for art to enliven and add beauty to spaces that people experience as part of their daily lives. In this context the art can provide a bountiful visual experience that creates opportunities for reflection, contemplation and discourse. These projects are also exciting because they have enabled me to actualize my work at large scale and in many different types of materials.
I taught photography at California State University (East Bay) for more than a decade and was an adjunct professor in the photography departments at both Ohlone and Solano colleges. I currently teach photography at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in both the graduate and undergraduate divisions.
Artist Statement
In many of my works in the Topographies series I use the rigidity of the photographic picture plane and the grid structure as points of departure while looking for organic rhythms to emerge. I am interested in the contradictory nature within these constructions. For me these images present a discourse of contradictions- micro and macro, time and timelessness, and the containment of things that cannot be contained. The grid lends geometry and so tends to rationalize or abstract what would otherwise be mainly pictorial. I am filling a vast expanse, a kind of landscape, without perspective.
Here I use the idea of topography, a description or an analysis of a structured entity showing the relations among its components, as a format in which I can keep small details and still make a space that could go on and on, like the ocean itself. When we look at the world we assemble small views into a large idea like "the ocean.” We can't see it all at once and my views construct the whole from its parts.
Other series such as Somewhere, rely upon different types of construction. I use digital drawing along with photographic data to create images with a compressed perspective. These works are also based on elements of time in that they are complex compositions that describe fragments of information, time, and space. Our sense of time is constructed from small views like hours, days, weeks, and we assemble those into a larger idea of life itself. The idea of making one photograph of any given moment in time is not enough for me. I prefer to gather together many moments, each with its own unique characteristics, into one unified whole. I often use layering of images to both obscure and reveal what lies beneath the surface. I want to capture the feeling of time, light with its reflections and refractions, and movement. This, to me, suggests the space both above and below the surface, the present and memory, gathered together into one.
Swim series
The Swim series is about the vernacular dance and choreography inherent in the everyday experience of swimming. I am looking at the choreography of the body when a person's weight is lifted by the water. Each individual body responds to the freedom of weightlessness in the water environment in a unique way. This is what fascinates me when observing ordinary people in the water. Later, when composing the pieces, I look for patterns of movement and rhythms that speak about how the subjects, who become my “dancers,” relate to each other in the overall choreography of the scene. I construct specific patterns of movement across the space of the photograph. I’m interested in how each dancer’s movements lead into, compliment, contrast, and punctuate the movements of the other.
The works are constructed using the rectilinear picture plane and the grid as a point of departure. Within the confines of this geometric rigidity I look for the organic rhythms of the water and the “dancers” to emerge. I enjoy working within this contradictory space where the unyielding geometric structure attempts to contain the fluidity of the water and the bodies.
Virtually No Place Like Home series
In my photographic travels I am always fascinated by the unique personal sensibilities expressed in the exterior of homes. This personalization is what makes them homes, not just houses. In many of the places I have photographed people choose to exhibit symbols of belief, politics, identity, or simply their own sense of aesthetic on the canvas of their home’s exteriors and the surrounding landscapes.
In an age of manufactured consumer identity, Virtually No Place Like Home feels like authentic Americana, where a home is a place of sanctuary and inhabitants can express their identities, beliefs and concerns safely to their community. Upon closer investigation of this view of Americana a crack in the facade is revealed. Here the "reality" of each homes’ exterior and the landscape within which it appears is brought into question.
These images are constructions that assimilate fantasy with reality. I have long been interested in the social media "selfie" phenomenon where images that are manipulated through the use of readily available photo modification apps present to the online world a more perfect vision of the self along with narratives of lives perfected. As in these selfies, the images in this series feel somewhat believable on an aesthetic level as they explore the quirky and unique appearances of homes from the small towns of America. Yet there is a subtle feeling that there is something manufactured here as well. But can we put our finger on exactly how and where the images depart from reality? I'm taking a similar approach to this content as to the online selfie where a kind of filter has gone up that blurs the lines between the “real” and the fabricated. Everything that is presented in these images existed in the real world but not necessarily in the location or form in which I present them.
During these months of "sheltering in place" this series has taken on new meaning for me. These solitary houses speak of physical and social isolation; both the safety and comfort and the loneliness and exile of home. There’s a new sense of of urgency in using the home's exterior to signal to others information about who lives within these walls and what is important to them. I’ve seen many new manifestations of this need to share and express these concerns in the homes I’ve encountered during this period.
The 2020 “Shelter in Place” holiday season has been the impetus for a new series, Virtually No Place Like Home (for the Holidays). During this holiday season the desire to bring light into the darkest of times has been particularly evident. I noticed that many peoples’ holiday decorations are more elaborate than in years past and many people have left their decorations up well beyond the end of the holiday season. In these works I have aggregated many of the most poignant decorative elements from the homes I’ve observed and assembled them into new scenarios. As with the original series the question of where the “real” ends and fabrication begins is purposefully hard to discern.
RESUME
INVITATIONAL
2021
ARC Gallery, San Francisco, 48 Pillars
2019
Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, CA, Blue
Albany Community Center Art Gallery, Albany, CA, Song Cycle, solo show
2018
Art San Diego/Jen Tough Gallery, awarded Best in Show
2016
Jingletown Art Center, Oakland, CA, Forty Fridas
2015
Rhythmix Cultural Center, Water, two-person show
Slate Gallery, Oakland, CA, Body Language, three person show
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, Counterpoint, solo show
2014
California State University, East Bay, University Art Gallery, Conceptual Photography
Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Oakland, CA, Spanning the Bay
2013
David Brower Center, Berkeley, CA, Congregating
333 Bush Street Lobby Installation, San Francisco, CA
Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Oakland, CA, Crossing Over, solo show
2012
Rhythmix Cultural Center, Alameda, CA, Counterpoint, solo show
Oakland Airport, From the Golden Gate Bridge to Oakland, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
Mills Building Lobby Installation, San Francisco, CA
2011
Kala Institute, Berkeley, CA, Fresh Work
Academy of Art University Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Faculty Show
Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA, Counterpoint, solo show
PHOTO Gallery, Oakland, CA, Counterpoint, solo show
Berkeley Civic Arts, Center, Berkeley, CA
Mills Building Gallery, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Art Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA, You Look Familiar
2010
Louie Meager Gallery, Ohlone College, The Educated Eye
California State University, East Bay, Hayward, CA, University Art Gallery, Annual Faculty Exhibit
2009
Alameda Public Library, Topographies and Past Tense, solo exhibition
Autobody Gallery, id:Entity, three person show
Academy of Art University Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Faculty and Alumni Show
Kala Institute, Berkeley, CA, Fresh Works
California State University East Bay Art Gallery, Hayward, CA, Annual Faculty Exhibition
2008
Soap Gallery, San Francisco, CA, By the Bay
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, Innovation and Imagination
California State University East Bay Art Gallery, Hayward, CA, Annual Faculty Exhibition
Louie Meager Gallery, Ohlone College, Fremont, CA, The Art of Grief
Dorothy Herger Gallery, Solano College, Fairfield, CA, Annual Faculty Exhibition
Artwork SF Gallery, San Francisco, CA, One Night Stand
2007
K Gallery, Alameda, CA, The Locals, three person show
Kala Institute Gallery, Berkeley, CA, Artist in Residence Annual Exhibition
2007
Dorothy Herger Gallery, Solano College, Fairfield, CA, Annual Faculty Exhibition
Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA The Looking Glass
2005
California State University East Bay Art Gallery, Hayward, CA Annual Faculty Exhibition
Kala Institute Gallery, Berkeley, CA Artists in Residence Annual Exhibition
2004
Works/San Jose, San Jose, CA Beginnings and Endings, three person show
2003
California State University Art Gallery, Hayward, CA Annual Faculty Exhibition
2002
California State University Art Gallery, Hayward, CA Annual Faculty Exhibition
2001
Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA, Annual Awards Show
University YWCA at Cal Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, The Unfashionable Human Body, solo show
1999
Anita Seipp Gallery, Palo Alto, CA, Disorderly Conduct, three person show
1998
Matrix Gallery, Sacramento, CA, three person show
1997
University of Nevada, Exit Gallery, solo show
Napa Valley College Main Street Gallery, Every Picture Tells a Story, three person show
Works Gallery, San Jose, CA, Voilà, la Femme, three person show
1987
San Francisco State University Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA solo show
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2020
DeYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA, Bay Area Artists
Art Call, Summer Portfolio Show
2015
Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, CO, H2O/Water, Honorable Mention award
2014
ARC Gallery, San Francisco, Four Square
2013
Dickerman Print, San Francisco, CA, New Residents Exhibition
333 Bush Street, San Francisco, an exhibition organized by Suzy Locke Associates and the Kala Institute, Berkeley, CA
2012
Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA Snap
2011
ARC Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Foto, Pushing Boundaries
San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA, You Look Familiar
Oakland International Airport, From the Golden Gate Bridge to Oakland: Trade and Tourism
Berkeley Civic Center, Berkeley, CA, Civic Art Exhibition
Mills Building Gallery, San Francisco, Kala Art Institute Artists
2010
Frank Bette Center, Alameda, CA, Alameda on Camera
Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA, Faculty and Alumni Photography Exhibition
Vermont Photo Space, Essex Junction, VT, Interactive Portraits
2008
Frank Bette Center, Alameda, CA, Alameda on Camera
2007
Frank Bette Center, Alameda, CA, Alameda on Camera
2006
University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, International Print Exhibition
NAU Art Museum, Flagstaff AZ, 3rd Biennial National Print Exhibition
2005
Kellogg Art Gallery, Cal Poly CSU, Pomona, CA, Ink and Clay Henry Hopkins, curator
2003
Lankershim Art Gallery, North Hollywood, Eye Feast (November) and Random Thoughts (December)
Millard Sheets Gallery, Pomona, CA, Envisioning the Future
2002
Napa Valley College Fine Arts Gallery, Bay Area Art V, Rene Di Rosa, Juror
2001
San Jose Art League, Genderplex
Napa Valley College Art Gallery, Bay Area Art IV, Rene Di Rosa, Juror
Buddy Holly Center Gallery, Lubbock, Texas, Illuminance
2000
Napa Valley College Art Gallery, Bay Area Art 3, Rene DiRosa, Juror
1999
Calumet Photo Gallery, San Francisco, Is it Photography 2?
San Francisco Camerawork, Commotion
Fine Arts Center In Taos, The Manipulated Photographic Image
Eastern New Mexico University, Annual Photography Exhibit
1997
Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA, Statewide Photography Exhibition, Sandra Phillips, curator
1995
San Bernadino County Museum, 30th Annual Open Exhibition, Henry Hopkins, juror
Bayfront Gallery Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA, California Dreaming, Philip Linares, juror
Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA, Exposures ’95, Sandra Phillips, juror
1994
Center For the Visual Arts, Oakland, CA, Third Annual Photography Exhibition, Rupert Jenkins, juror
Alameda Historical Museum, Contemporary Women Artists
1992
Bayfront Gallery Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA, Women on Women
1991
ACCI Gallery, Berkeley, CA, Images & Objects
1989
Natsoulas/Novelozo Gallery, Davis, CA, Calgene Contemporary Fine Arts
Eye Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Selections ’89, Joan Murray, juror
1988
National Congress of Art and Design, Salt Lake City, Utah, Artreach ’88, Henry Hopkins, juror
Natsoulas/Novelozo Gallery, Davis, CA, Introductions’88, Roy De Forest, Mel Ramos and Clayton Bailey, curators
1987
San Diego Art Institute, California Art, Henry Hopkins, juror
New Mexico State University Art Gallery, New American Color
Gallery House, Palo Alto, CA, Kenneth Baker, juror
Artist’s Collaborative Gallery, Sacramento, CA, Emerging Artists ‘86
1984
Kresge Art Museum, East Lansing, MI
Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria VA, Lynn Warren, curator
Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA, Henry Hopkins, juror
GRANTS, AWARDS, RESIDENCIES, PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS
2021
Kaiser Permanente, Berkeley, commissioned to create two large scale artworks for medical facility.
2020
Art Call, Summer Portfolio Show, Awarded Best in Show
2019
Pollux Award Gala Exhibition, Honorable Mention for Collage Category
Alameda County Art Commission, commissioned to create 6 artworks for utility box project
2018
Art San Diego, Awarded Best In Show
2017
Beautiful San Francisco MUNI Public Art Project, commissioned to create 8 artworks for San Francisco MUNI buses
Alameda County Art Commission, Transition Day Reporting Center Decorative Glass Public Art Project, commissioned to create design for large glass element
Private Art Commission, San Francisco, commissioned to create large-scale mural translated to 3M Wall covering
Kaiser Permanente Offices, Oakland, CA, commissioned to create two artworks translated to metal for executive offices
923 Folsom Street, San Francisco, commissioned to create a design translated to architecturally integrated insulated glass unit for ground floor windows of a new SOMA mixed –use development
2016
Texas Tech University, finalist for commission to create large outdoor mural for Engineering building
Mountain View Community Center Project, commissioned to create large scale photographic entryway mural
2015
Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, CO, H2O/Water, Honorable Mention award
Northern Texas University, Denton TX, commissioned to create large-scale artwork for Bruce Hall featuring imagery of university life and community
City of Newport, Oregon, finalist for commission of artwork for Newport Municipal Pool facility
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, commissioned to create artwork for new Police Headquarters facility
City of Morgan Hill, CA, finalist for commission of Gateway three-dimensional artwork for entrance to city
2014
Texas Tech University Rawls Golf Course Team Facility, commissioned to create a large-scale photographic tile mural for outdoor gateway
2013
San Francisco General Hospital Emergency Department Art Wall, San Francisco Art Commission, finalist
Elevate Atlanta 2013, commissioned by City of Atlanta office of Cultural Affairs to create large-scale banner installations
Temple Beth El, Charlotte, NC, artwork commission for large-scale photographic mural on metal
Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital Expansion Project, Stanford University, artwork commission for two large-scale photographic murals
Palo Alto Public Art Commission, finalist, Regional Water Quality Control Plant Project
Dickerman Prints, San Francisco, CA, Awarded Artist in Residence
San Lorenzo Public Library, finalist, commission of glass feature for library exterior
Alameda County Art Commission, Highland Hospital Public Art Project, 6 artworks commissioned for hospital
Los Angeles Metro Expo Line Public Art Project, finalist, station artwork commission
San Francisco Art Commission, Acquisition of 3 artworks for new Public Utilities Commission Headquarters, San Francisco, CA
Berkeley Civic Art Center, Honorarium Award
2011
Dimond District Public Art Commission, Oakland CA, mural artwork commission
Oakland Museum of California, Professional Services Division, artwork installed in Oakland City Center
Alameda County Art Commission, Ashland Youth Center Project, finalist, artwork commission Alameda County Art Commission, Ashland Youth Center Project, finalist, building exterior design
Kala Art Institute and City of Berkeley Public Art Exhibition, Milvia and Shattuck, Berkeley, CA
City of Berkeley Civic Arts Center installation of artwork
2010
San Francisco General Hospital Public Art Project, finalist, commission to create two large scale glass elements with photographic imagery, SF Arts Commission
Frank Bette Center, Alameda on Camera, Awarded Best in Show, Alameda, CA
2004-14
Artist in Residence, Kala Institute, Berkeley
2004
Millard Sheets Gallery (in association with The Smithsonian Institution), Pomona, CA, Envisioning the Future, Awarded Third Prize
PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA COVERAGE
2019
Pollux Award Gala Exhibition, Honorable Mention for Collage Category
2018
The Photo Review, 2018 Competition, Some (Relatively) Small Buildings
2016
Academy of Art U News, Issue 10, 2016, Photography Instructors Team Up On Winning MUNI Project
2014
Shots Magazine, June 2014 Issue
Lens Culture Online Magazine, Editor's Pick, February
2011
Lenscratch online, Counterpoint project
2007
San Francisco Chronicle, The Great Bra Debate, November 7, 2007
2006
Like Sand from Orchid’s Lips, TCB-Cafe Publishing, San Francisco, CA, 2006
2001
Hayden’s Ferry Review, University of Arizona Press, Spring/Summer 2001, issue 28
1999
New Mexico Photographer Magazine, May Issue
The Taos News, Tempo Magazine, Taking Control: The Manipulated Photographic Image, March 4th Issue
1998
New Mexico Photographer Magazine, May Issue
Photographer’s Forum Magazine, Best of Photography Annual
Shots Magazine, Issue #61, June Issue
Sacramento News and Reviews, Goings On Art Review, March Issue
1997
Our Children Magazine, The Arts Go to School, January/February Issue
Spartan Daily, Mixed Media, September 8th Issue
The Alameda Journal, Unique Project put Young and Old on Common Ground, October 17th Issue
San Jose Mercury News, MACLA takes Viewers on an Amusing, Rad Ride, September 21st Issue
1987
Photo Review Magazine, Summer Issue
TEACHING
2008-20
Adjunct Faculty, Photography Department, Academy of Art University graduate and undergraduate divisions, San Francisco, CA
2000-10
Lecturer in Photography, Art Department, California State University, East Bay
2003-08
Adjunct Faculty in Photography, Art Department, Ohlone College, Fremont, CA
2006-12
Adjunct Faculty in Photography, Art Department, Solano College, Fairfield, CA
EDUCATION
1981
M.F.A. (Photography), CUNY-Brooklyn College
1978
B.F.A. (Photography), School of Visual Arts, NYC
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Alameda County Art Commission
Kala Institute, Berkeley, CA
Berkeley Civic Arts Center
San Francisco Art Commission, Laguna Honda Hospital
Dickerman Print, San Francisco, CA
The Brower Center, Berkeley, CA
San Francisco Public Utility Commission
City of Atlanta Cultural Affairs Commission
San Francisco General Hospital
Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center
Laguna Honda Hospital
Kaiser Permanente, Oakland and Berkeley, CA
Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford University
City of Mountain View, CA
REPRESENTATION
Springboard Arts, Chicago
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artist Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Kala Institute Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Danielle Wohl Fine Art, Palo Alto, CA
Suzy Locke and Associates Fine Art Consulting, Oakland, CA