Susan Arthur Whitson

Susan Arthur Whitson - Photography


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1. Bambi II
2. Billygoat
3. Brothers' Place
4. Chocolate Bunnies
5. Elephants
6. Horse on Ridge
7. Lavender Peeps
8. Peeps in Thyme
9. Rabbit Chasing Fox
10. Fox
11. Red Horse
12. Reindeer
13. Seatbelt and Bunny
14. Squirrels
15. Treed Kitty
16. Pumpkin Field

Artist Statement
These pictures are made primarily outdoors, often with the assistance of tiny, mostly plastic models. I search locations until I find an inviting site that seems appropriate for whatever characters I have brought with me that day. Using Conventional "in camera" effects rather than post-exposure manipulation of the image, I create a micro-universe. I create not just a world in miniature, but also one that has its own unique scale. The animals and other props are avatars - helping to unlock emotions that I want to share, from tranquility to terror. A fusion of the real world and my imagination, I create places to visit that didn't exist before. I like to think that these are unique places hiding in plain sight.


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1. Big Pink
2. Dahlias
3. Fenced Out
4. Green Ribbon
5. Longmeadow
6. Mound
7. Orange Wisp
8. Pink Ribbon
9. Samels' Place
10. Suture

Artist Statement
This ongoing body of work reflects a more formalist sensibility. In these images I deal more directly on a one-to-one scale with the world. Focusing my camera on the natural or constructed environment, I seek to isolate an area of focus (literal and metaphorical) for an evocation of emotion and a presentation of formal beauty. These works are for me a meditation on the act of seeing, a primal or pre-verbal view of the world.

About Susan Arthur Whitson

Contact Information
Philadelphia, PA
tel: 215-248-0664
e-mail: biscuitstwo@juno.com
Please contact artist for purchases, commissions, etc.

Artist Bio
Susan Arthur Whitson has been making photographs for over 25 years. A graduate of Wellesley College, she earned a Master’s Degree in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin. Subsequently she worked closely with a number of prominent photographers and estates for over 12 years in New York, as Assistant Director of Photography at the Robert Miller Gallery, and as Director at Houk Friedman and Edwynn Houk Gallery. In Philadelphia, Ms. Arthur Whitson has helped to organize photographic seminars, competitions and exhibitions through her work with PhotoSession, the Center for the Photographic Image, and the University of the Arts. For over 7 years she has taught photography, at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and at the University of the Arts and Drexel University in Philadelphia. Ms. Arthur Whitson’s photographs have been exhibited in numerous juried exhibitions and competitions, and are in many private collections.

Education
1983-1985
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
MA, Art History

1976-1980
Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
BA, Art History

Awards
2001
Utrecht Award, Annual International Competition, The Print Center. Philadelphia, PA

Second Prize, Heart Show, Need in Deed, Philadelphia, PA

Professional Experience
2005-present
Advisory Board, Philadelphia Center for the Photographic Image (PCPI), Philadelphia, PA

2003-present
Exhibitions programming committee, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA

2003
Competition/Exhibition Coordinator, PhotoImage03, Center for the Photographic Image (CPI) at Nexus Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2002-present
Faculty, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2002-2004
Co-curator, Sol Mednick Gallery and 1401 Gallery,
University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2002
Competition/Exhibition Coordinator, PhotoImage02, Center for the Photographic Image (CPI) at Siano Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2001
Faculty, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA

2000
Co-Director, PhotoSession, Philadelphia, PA

1999-present
Faculty, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

1997-1999
Director, Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York , NY

1992-1997
Director, Houk Friedman, New York, NY

1991-1992
Archivist, Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, New York, NY

1986-1991
Assistant Director, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY

Lectures and Talks
2000
Guest Speaker, Professional Women Photographers,
New York, NY

1999
Guest Speaker, PhotoSession, Philadelphia, PA

Guest Speaker, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

1998
Guest speaker, International Center for Photography,
New York, NY

Publications
2006
Exhibition Catalog, 80th Annual International Competition, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA

2004
“The 2003 International Photography Competition,” The Photo Review, Volume 26, No. 3

2002
Exhibition Catalog, 76th Annual International Competition, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA

Bibliography
2006
Newhall, Edith, “Photos at the Print Center,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 23, 2006

Pinson, Stephen C., “Juror’s Essay,” 80th Annual International Competition, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA

2002
Anne Havinga, Anne, “Juror’s Essay,” 76th Annual International Competition, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA

Fallon, Roberta, “Portrait of the Artists,” Philadelphia Weekly, April 4, 2002

Boxer, Sarah, “Can Not-So-Ordinary Artists Make Ordinary Snapshots? Well, Not Really,” The New York Times, March 8, 2002

2001
Fallon, Roberta, “Photo Opportunity – Snapshot imagines a wider, more inclusive art world,” Philadelphia Weekly, February 21, 2001

2000
Sozanski, Edward J., “Rewarded fourfold by trip to Glenside,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 6, 2000

Fallon, Roberta, Sweet Imaginings – The fourth installment of 'A Closer Look' is full of fantasy worlds,” Philadelphia Weekly, September 27, 2000

Waller, Diane H. “Susan Arthur Whitson: Up Front and Personal,” Professional Women Photographers, Fall

Sozanski, Edward J., "Works on Paper" The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 17, 1999

Selected Exhibitions

Two-Person

2006
Two-person exhibition, FeelDesign, Beacon, NY

Group

2006
80th Annual International Competition, Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Loveladies, NJ

The Philly Vernacular Spectacular Extraveganza, Meyerson Galleries, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Curators: Gabe Martinez and Jeremiah Misfeldt

Annual International Competition, The Print Center,
Philadelphia, PA
Juror: Stephen C. Pinson, Curator of Photographs, New York Public Library

2004
A Void, InLiquid online project as part of The Big Nothing, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: gerard brown

2004
The 2003 International Photography Competition, The Photo Review
Juror: W. M. Hunt, Hasted Hunt Gallery, New York, NY

2003
The New Normal: Artists’ Response to Life After 9/11, The Gershman Y, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: Cheryl Harper
Juror: gerard brown

One Bank Street, 5 Spot, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: Gabe Martinez

Heart Show, Need in Deed, Philadelphia, PA

2002
Annual International Competition, The Print Center,
Philadelphia, PA
Juror: Anne Havinga, Curator of Photographs, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

Snapshot, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT

2001
Heart Show, Need in Deed, Philadelphia, PA

Snapshot, Arcadia University/ Beaver College Art Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Curators: Richard Torchia, Curator, Arcadia; Gary Sangster, Adam Lerner and Sarah Vezina, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore

My Space, Our Reality, Alma Gallery, Sedgwick Cultural Center, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: Gary Reed
Juror: Dona Lantz

Heart Show, Need in Deed, Philadelphia, PA

2000
A Closer Look: 4, Arcadia University/Beaver College Art Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: Alex Baker, curator, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

Yard Sale, Downtown Arts Festival, New York, NY
Curator: Barbara Pollack, artist & writer

Art Works/Water Works, Liberty Place, Philadelphia, PA

1999
Works on Paper, Arcadia University/ Beaver College Art Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: James Elaine, (then) curator, The Drawing Center, New York

Godzilla vs. Bambi, Rockport Photo Workshops, Rockport, ME

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