ROWENE WEEMS
FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHER
All photographs copyrighted
©roweneweems+8th Art Studio, LLC
HOW I SEE
I am not interested in shooting new things- I am interested to see things anew.
-Ernst Haas.
I photograph because I have to. It’s how I preserve beauty, pain, humor, mystery and joy. My subjects are light, shapes, patterns, and motion. Everything tells a story. I want my viewer to feel the energy or calm, the wonder or confusion in particular moments. Living almost half a century in the West has sharpened my eye to the nuances of space, where light and shadow perform on a 360° stage. Through the lens and digital darkroom,
I experiment with ways to increase the impact and creativity of my work.
I have been surrounded by art all my life. My mother, an artist, photographer, and museum docent, made sure we were exposed to all art styles and mediums. I fondly remember Miró puzzles, Degas and Edward Hopper posters over our washing machine. I received a BA in Fine Arts from Kenyon College, with additional art and photographic study at Boston Museum School and the University of Colorado. My continued photographic development includes several workshops at Santa Fe Photography Workshops and Rocky Mountain School of Photography. After receiving a master's in counseling psychology, I dreamed of becoming an art therapist. However, a brief career as a therapist turned into teaching higher education psychology and twenty years as a museum director/curator. I currently spend half my time outside NYC in Westport, Ct. which juxtaposes urban and coastal inspirations to my other wild west home.
The Poetry & Motion Impressions series began in 2017 as a deeply visceral experience. Images are created in-camera with slow shutter speeds (now known as ICM). They reflect my lifelong attraction to impressionist painters and the partially rendered sketches of the masters. Like them, I try to create mystery and beauty by softening the world, moving the viewer to feel the energy or calm of a captured moment. Photographer Ernst Haas put it beautifully when he explained why he chose motion to liberate his work ...
In music, one remembers never one tone, but a melody, a theme, a movement. In dance, never a moment, but again, the beauty of a movement in time and space...
The Workers of the World series highlights the often-overlooked workers. I've been photographing workers on the streets for years but began intentionally starting conversations and learning their names during Covid. It gives me joy to see how much they seem to love being recognized. They matter.
My past work with historic photos as a museum curator influences the more recent Wish You Were Here vintage postcards series. This work is more narrative, intending to evoke nostalgia through subject, desaturation, and textures. The process has been my own nostalgic journey, remembering the years of uncovering "shoeboxes of museum treasures.
JURIED PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITS
Liquid +Sky II Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Emerging Artists, Limner Gallery, NYC
Trees, Photoplace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
“She”, A. Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
Magic of Light, Photoplace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
All About Light, SEC4P, Greenville, SC
Essential Water, Photoplace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
World in Motion, SEC4P, Greenville, SC
Botanicals, A. Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
Liquid-Sky, Praxis Gallery, St. Paul, MN
Current Pathways, SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
Portals: Windows, Mirrors & Doors, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
Domicile, A. Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
Luminosity: The Beauty of Light, New York Center for Photographic Art, NYC
Windows: Creativity Continues, Santa Fe Workshops, NM
Open Call, SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
Trees*, Juried, PhotoPlace Gallery, VT
Trees, Juried, New York Center for Photographic Art (NYC4PA), NYC
Color, Juried, SE Center of Photography, Greenville, SC
Motion, Juried, Photography Center of Cape Cod & Cape Cod Art Center, MA
Celebration, Santa Fe Photography Workshops, NM
Home, Santa Fe Photography Workshops, NM
Pathways, Boardwalk Gallery, Greeley, CO
SOLO EXHIBITS
Wish You Were Here, Westport, Westport Books Gallery, Westport, Ct.
Poetry & Motion, Solo Exhibit, Northwest Sinclair Gallery, Powell, WY
Imagining Metal, Solo Exhibit, Plaza Diane Arts Center, Powell, WY
New Work, Solo Exhibit, Gestalt Studios, Powell, WY
Home, Solo Exhibit, First Bank of Wyoming Gallery, Powell, WY.
Borders Bookstore, Solo Exhibit, Billings, MT
Metallic Dreams, Solo Exhibit, Northwest Sinclair Gallery, Powell, WY
North Windows, Solo Exhibit, Park County Library Gallery, Powell, WY
GROUP EXHIBITS
Westport Artists, Westport Women's Club Gallery, Westport, Ct.
Plaza Diane Art Center Invitational, Powell, WY
Art Auction, Juried, Nicolaysen Museum, Casper, WY
Shoot Like a Woman Photography Group Exhibits (three) WY
Plaza Diane Arts Center Group Exhibit, Powell, Wy
AVA Art Center Gala Live Auction Fundraiser, Gillette, WY
AVA Art Center Gala Live Auction, Gillette, WY
Featured Artist, Open Range Images Gallery, Cody, WY
Miles City Museum Invitational and Traveling Exhibit, Miles City, MT
Ann Simpson Art Mobile, State of Wyoming traveling exhibit.
Nicolaysen Museum Art, juried Live and SilentAuction, Casper, WY
Yellowstone Art Museum, juried Silent Auction, Billings, MT
AVA Art Center, Gala Art juried Live Auction, Gillette, WY
Rocky Mountain Biennial, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
Postcards, Toucan Gallery, Billings, MT
Little Picture Show, Custer County Art Center, MT
Travels, Two Person Exhibit, NWC Art Gallery, Powell, WY
AWARDS
1st Place, Celebration, Santa Fe Photography Workshop, NM
Honorable Mention, Liquid ~Sky, Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, Minn.
Honorable Mention, Trees, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
Juror’s Selection, Trees, New York Center for Photographic Art (NYC4PA)
Honorable Mention, Santa Fe Photography Workshop, NM
AVA Honorable Mention, Paths, Boardwalk Gallery, CO
Honorable Mention, Home, Santa Fe Photography Workshop, NM
2nd Runner-up Best in Show, Little Picture Show, CCAC, Miles City, MT
PUBLICATIONS
Escape Into Life Magazine, Featured Artist 2022
Poetry East, Cover Photo 2022
Photo-of-the-Day, Don’t Take Pictures Magazine
ICMMag, Intentional Camera Movement Magazine, Featured Artist 2021
Unique & Different, Memoir by Warren Murphy 2021
Princeton Architectural Press, Tippet Rise Art Center
Architectural Digest, Discover Tippet Rise Art Center
Center for Fine Art Photography Advertising Poster, Fort Collins, CO
Paths, Boardwalk Gallery Book, Greely, CO
Arcadia Press, Then and Now: The Photographic History of Powell, Wyoming
Other professional work includes events, home/architecture, weddings, and portraits
All work is for sale. Limited Editions on some work.