About

Artist’s Statement

More often than not, my photographic interests lie in examples of deterioration we most often look past. For instance, what is discarded by society  - the decommissioned submarine now reduced to the indignity of being a tourist attraction, the abandoned factory surrounded by concertina wire entrapping blowing rags, the crumbling swimming pools filled with stagnant water of a once famous seaside resort. Then there's the damage done by man's greed or thoughtlessness to the environment - the towering white tufas exposed at the shore of Mono Lake, the weed filled spillway which hasn't felt the rush of water in years, the scars caused by motor bikes on the mountain crests at Zabriskie Point. Even places as photographable as the Palouse wheat fields in Washington have been transformed by man for the worse - this area once was a rolling prairie of indigenous grasses and free flowing streams. All was plowed under to make way for commerce. 
Sometimes, though, deterioration reflects changing societal values in a positive way. An old army barracks becomes an art center. What was once a community of excluded Chinese goldminers and railroad workers is now a beautiful shoreline park. An infamous abandoned prison becomes an excuse for a ferry ride.

All that said, I also focus on Nature itself. The dialogue between land and sea seen as you walk along the shore. The grandeur of the mountains, the drama of deserts. All that's been photographed by countless artists, but it's hard to turn away.

Biography

My fascination with the process of photography began when I was around 6 or 7.  I’d sneak down the basement stairs into my father’s darkroom and watch, as long as unnoticed, faces miraculously appear on the paper in the tray my father was rocking back and forth. A wall of black and white portraits was a prominent feature in my father's study when I was growing up. As a college student, I pursued my years - long interest in painting eventually getting my Masters in Fine Arts with an emphasis on Painting from UC Berkeley. To earn a living, I then worked at the San Francisco Museum of Art directing art classes taught through the Education Department.  After 4 years at the museum, I became a gallerist working as a sales director at two San Francisco galleries before owning my own gallery as co-owner of Ivory/Kimpton Gallery. The first gallery I worked in exhibited Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Jerry Uelsmann and Lewis Baltz amongst others - this exposure affected me more than I realized at the time. In my own work, I circled back to photography giving up painting. Initially I focused on deteriorating urban structures, landscapes, shorelines and fragments of nature. In the last several years, I’ve honed in on places where man’s destructive actions against Earth leaves their mark so I can capture images of the place before it's inevitably transformed.

Selected Exhibitions

2024 Scheduled Solo Exhibition, Gualala Arts Center, Dolphin Gallery, Gualala, CA 2024 Scheduled Solo Exhibition, Bank of America main building lobby, San Francisco, CA 2024 Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA Members 2024 Juried Online Exhibition, Catherine Couturier juror 2023 International Juried Exhibition, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA, Shana Lopes, assistant curator of photography, SFMOMA, juror 2023 Landscape Exhibition, A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, juried by Kevin Tully
2023 Solo Exhibition, Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
2023 The Abandoned Landscape group show, SEC for Photography, juried by Constance Lewis, Greenville, South Carolina
2023 2121 ArtSpace inaugural group exhibit curated by Charles Cunningham, San Francisco, CA
2022 Left Coast Annual Exhibition, Sanchez Art Center, juried by Jeff Nathanson, Director of Museum of Sonoma County, Santa Rosa, Ca.
2022 Focus: Shadow and Light Exhibit, Black Box Gallery in Portland, Oregon, curated by Todd Johnson, Director.
2022 The Life of Water online exhibit, PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont, juried by Ann Jastrab, director of the Center for Photographic Arts.
2021 “Crocker Kingsley National Art Competition” group show juried by Carrie Lederer, Blue Line Arts, Roseville, Ca
2021 “Artists Vision 2021” Marin Society of Artists online group show juried by Kim Eagle-Smith of Eagle-Smith Gallery, Mill Valley, CA
2021 “Exposed” Marin Society of Artists online group show juried by Linda Connor and Michael Creedon.
2021 27th Juried Exhibition juried by Arnika Dawkins at Griffin Museum, Winchester, Mass.
2021 “Local Inspiration” group show juried by Natasha Boas at the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, Ca.
2021 Solo exhibit at Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, Ca.
2020 NYC4PA 1st Prize Winner in exhibition juried by Paula Tognarelli, Jadite Gallery, New York City
2020 “Windows & Doors” - group show juried by Clea Felien at Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA
2020 “Water” group show juried by Doug Beasley at A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
2020 “Reflections” - online group show juried by Shelley Barry of Slate Gallery through Arc Gallery, San Francisco
2020 “Expressions” - online group show juried by Andrea Schwartz of A. Schwartz Gallery through Marin Society of Artists
2020 San Francisco Bay International Photography Silver Award; image featured in Bokeh Bokeh Photo online exhibit at ACCI Gallery
2020 Member Exhibit online, Viewpoint Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2020 “Sanctuary” group show juried by Rene de Guzman, GearBox Gallery, Oakland, CA
2020 “Landscape” group show juried by Ann Jastrab, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
2020 “Vistas” group show juried by S. Gayle Stevens, A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
2020 “Between Darkness and Daylight” 3 person virtual exhibit organized by me featuring Mark Citret’s, William Farley’s and my reactions to life during the pandemic, Harvey Milk Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
2020 “The Shape of Things” group show juried by Rhoda Dubin, Praxis Gallery, St Paul, Minn.
2019 Group Show at Image Flow, Mill Valley, CA
2019 “Mother Earth: Elements and Archetypes” Six Person show curated by Isabelle Sorrell at Fused Space, San Francisco, CA
2019 “Home” - group show juried by Lisa Woodward and Mia Dalglish at The SE Center of Photography, Greenville, SC
2018 Group Show at Image Flow, Mill Valley, CA
2018 Alternative Processes group show at Image Flow, Mill Valley, CA
2018 Center for Photographic Art - Members' Juried Exhibition Online Gallery Inclusion, Carmel, CA

Public Collections

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, in Paul Sack collection promised to museum
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, limited edition book, “Urban Anomalies” Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA, limited edition book, “Urban Anomalies” Center for Art and Environment, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV, limited edition book, “Duress”

Awards

2022 Mini portfolio winner, Language of the Land, special issue, Shadow & Light Magazine
2021 Honorable Mention, “Exposed” online exhibit through Marin Society of Artists
2020 NYC4PA 1st Prize Winner, juror Paula Tognarelli, Jadite Gallery, New York City
2020 Silver Award, Bokeh Bokeh Photo online exhibit at ACCI Gallery

Publications and Presentations

2024 Book Talk online for “Duress” through Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA 2024 BookTalk presentation on “Duress” through SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC 2023 “Duress”, 64 image Monograph with introduction by Sandra Phillips, Photography Curator, Emeritus at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Published by Norfolk Press, Limited Edition of 100. Each boxed book and included archival pigment print signed and numbered. 2023 BookTalk presentation on “Urban Anomalies” through SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
2022 “Urban Anomalies,” 45 image Monograph, Published by Norfolk Press. Open edition.
2022 “Urban Anomalies,” 18 image Monograph with introduction by Michael Palmer, poet. Limited edition, each signed and numbered.
2021 Shadow & Light Magazine, Black and White Special Issue, 4 page Mini Portfolio
2020 Shadow & Light Magazine, May/June issue, Jane Ivory “Indians & Coyotes” (Showcase Portfolio Article with 8 images)