I
am a photography, video, and multimedia artist working
in Florida and North Carolina. I will be receiving my Master of Fine Arts
- Studio Art degree from Florida State University in 2008, and I earned a
Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina
in 1998. I worked for seven years
as a freelance commercial photographer
and videographer in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where my clients included
businesses, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions – creating
portraits, architectural photos, product photography, public health videos,
event documentation, modeling portfolios, and advertising images. Alongside
of my current art and teaching pursuits, I still do occasional commercial
photographic work, particularly taking photos of artworks for my fellow artists,
but I now find I spend more time on web
design due
to the flexible hours it allows.
One of my goals in earning a Master of Fine Arts degree is to pursue teaching at the university level. For Fall 2008, I will be teaching as an adjunct instructor at Florida State University, with courses in basic darkroom photography, advanced studio lighting, and web design. Then in Spring 2009 I will be teaching in Florence, Italy at FSU's studio abroad program — having received the Art Department's Florence Teaching Award. As a graduate teaching assistant at Florida State, I taught digital photography and web design. I have also had the wonderful opportunity to teach in China during the summers of 2006 and 2007, at Shanxi University and Taiyuan Normal University (where I have been named an Honorary Professor in Art).
I have participated in numerous local, regional, national, and international exhibitions, including a recent solo show at the Ningbo Museum of Art in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China and receiving an Honorable Mention in the Photo Review 2007 national photography competition. My work is represented through the Adam Cave Fine Art gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina.
In addition to my photography career, I have enjoyed extensive community involvement, including: serving on local government advisory boards, leading a public art program, being a Cub Scout leader, and directing public-access television shows. I have also been a leader within the Master of Fine Arts program, helping to form the League of Graduate Artists and the Big Bend Contemporary MFA student gallery at FSU. My artwork derives influences from studies and interests in philosophy, science, engineering, and politics.
(headshot by Andrew Ross)