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.
Photography is like breathing for me. My eye instinctively frames moments—light, patterns, moods, and expressions—and the camera preserves them. Each image tells a story, inviting viewers to feel the energy, calm, or wonder I experience or imagine.
I’m particularly drawn to landscapes of the natural world, candid portraits, street life, textures, and abstraction. Inspired by Ernst Haas' belief that photography is about seeing things anew, I focus on revealing fresh perspectives in the familiar.
Whether in-camera or in the digital darkroom, I am continually rediscovering and reimagining my work.
Techniques like double exposure and texture layering help me create surreal, dreamlike images that reflect my emotions—nostalgia, mystery, or wonder. These digital and other multimedia tools, much like my early darkroom days, allow me to push creative boundaries. My goal is to inspire curiosity, encouraging viewers to pause, reflect, and see the world with fresh eyes.
Art has always been part of my life. My mother, an artist, photographer, and museum docent, ensured we were immersed in it—Miró puzzles, Degas and Hopper posters above the washing machine, and Eero Saarinen's designs at my high school (Cranbrook).
I earned a BA in Fine Arts from Kenyon College, with additional art and photography studies at Boston Museum School and the University of Colorado. While I pursued an MA in counseling psychology intending to become an art therapist, my path shifted. After briefly working as a psychotherapist and psychology instructor, I spent two decades as a museum director and curator in Wyoming.
Through it all, my camera remained essential. I've attended workshops at Santa Fe Photography Workshops and Rocky Mountain School of Photography and have been exhibiting in group and solo shows for over 40 years.
I now split my time between Westport, CT—where I have urban and coastal inspirations —and my home in Wyoming's wide-open West.
Poetry & Motion Impressions Series: began in 2015 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...
Workers of the World Series: highlights the often-overlooked workers. I've been photographing workers on the streets for decades but began intentionally starting conversations and learning their names during Covid. Seeing how much they love being recognized gives me joy. They matter.
Wish You Were Here Vintage Postcard Series. As a museum curator, my past work with historic photos influences this more recent portfolio. The work is more narrative, intending to evoke nostalgia through subject, desaturation, tinting and textures. The process has been my nostalgic journey, remembering the years of uncovering "shoeboxes" of museum treasures.
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
Carriage Barn Arts Center, New Canaan, Ct.
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, 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)
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
Princeton Architectural Press, Tippet Rise Art Center
Architectural Digest, Discover Tippet Rise Art Center
Center for Fine Art Photography Advertising Poster, Fort Collins, CO
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
Paths, Boardwalk Gallery Book, Greely, CO
Arcadia Press, Then and Now: The Photographic History of Powell, Wyoming
JURIED PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITS
Curves, New York Center for Photographic Art (NYC4PA), NYC
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
Ode to the Ocean, Collexart Gallery, Portland, ME
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, PhotoPlace Gallery, VT
Trees, New York Center for Photographic Art (NYC4PA), NYC
Color, SE Center of Photography, Greenville, SC
Motion, 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
Other professional work includes events, home/architecture, weddings, and portraits
All work is for sale.