MOLLY WOOD PHOTO
I learned photography from my grandfather during our walks together – cameras in hand - around his small-town Louisiana farm. My favorite subjects were the things that were interesting from the eye level of a child: plants, flowers, and trees. Subjects like the live oak tree outside of his schoolhouse that he used to climb as a boy and the bearded irises that were planted by his grandmother and bloomed every spring.
For me, the act of making photographs became entwined with studying botanicals that were rich with my own personal history. My earlier images were traditional black and white botanical works using old school, large format 4x5 film cameras and hand-printed gelatin silver prints. These photographs showed the life cycle of plants at a time when I was contemplating my own mortality after my child was born and my father died in the same year.
Recently, I have moved into digital color work and have begun to shift from personal subjects to those with more universal and historical resonance and significance.
CV
b. 1965, Montgomery, Alabama
Currently living in Des Moines Iowa
EDUCATION
1992 Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas - Master of Art, Art History
1987 Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas - Bachelor of Art, Photojournalism
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 The Poison Garden, Polk County Heritage Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
2022 The Poison Garden, Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, Iowa
2020 Fatal Flora, Central College, Pella, Iowa
2019 The Poison Garden - Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa
2019 Omnia Vanitas - Muscatine Art Museum, Muscatine, Iowa
2019 Omnia Vanitas - Olson-Larsen Galleries, West Des Moines, Iowa
2019 Fatal Flora - Iowa State Capitol, Des Moines, Iowa
2018 Fatal Flora – Des Moines Botanical Center, Des Moines, Iowa
2018 Fatal Flora - Memorial Union Gallery, ISU, Ames, Iowa
2017 Fatal Flora - Morrissey Gallery, St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa
2016 Fatal Flora - Viaduct Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
2003 Molly Wood Nature Morte - Southern Methodist University, Fondren Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2002 Molly Wood Photographs - Muscatine Art Museum, Muscatine, Iowa
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Partial Histories, Olson Larsen Galleries, West Des Moines, Iowa
2024 Botanical 40th Anniversary Exhibition, Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden – Dallas, Texas
2024 10th International, Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI (juror Karen Haas,
Boston Museum of Fine Arts)
2024 Flora, SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC (juror – artist Wendi Schneider)
2023 YJ Gallery, East Greenwich, Rhode Island
2023 The Big Picture, Denver Month of Photography Street Art – curated by Mark Sink
2023 Bird and Bloom – Olson Larsen Galleries, West Des Moines, Iowa
2021 Bloom, Midwest Center for Photography, Wichita, Kansas
Annual Group Show, Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, New York (juror Paula Tognarelli)
Botanical, A. Smith Gallery, Johnston City, Texas, (juror Wendi Schneider)
Annual Member's Show, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, Colorado, (juror, Aline Smithson)
2020 PhotoSpiva, Spiva Art Center, Joplin, MO (juror - April Watson - Curator of Photography, Nelson-Atkins Museum
2019 Briar Cliff Review Exhibition, Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, Iowa
2018 Photo Sensitive, Olson-Larsen Galleries, West Des Moines, Iowa
2018 Iowa Women's Art Exhibit, Iowa State Capitol, Des Moines, Iowa
2017 Annual Small Works Show, Olson-Larsen Galleries, West Des Moines, Iowa
2017 Current Work, Kansas City Society of Contemporary Photography, Kansas City, Missouri
(juror – Keith Davis – Senior Curator of Photography, Nelson-Atkins Museum)
2017 14th Annual Regional Juried Exhibition, Freeport Art Museum, Freeport, Illinois
2017 DUMA Biennial, Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa
2017 Iowa Exhibited XXXII, Polk County Heritage Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa (merit award)
2016 National Fellowship Competition, Developed Work, Midwest Center for Photography, Wichita, Kansas
2016 Le Garage Hermétique, Salisbury House, Des Moines, Iowa
OTHER
2024 Artist Residency – South Porch Residency, Summerville, SC
2024 Cover – Des Moines Business Journal Annual Book of Lists
2024 Docent – Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
2023 Project Grant – Iowa Arts Council
2023 Cover - Briar Cliff Review
2022 Cover - Iowa Review
2021 Resiliency Grant – Iowa Arts Council
2021 Chico Review – Charcoal Book Club - invitational
2019 Project Grant - Iowa Arts Council
2018 Iowa Arts Council Fellowship
2018 Cover and Feature Story - DSM Magazine
2016 Project Grant - Iowa Arts Council
2016 to 2020 Board Member - Des Moines Art Center Print Club
2015 to 2021 DMACC Adjunct Professor - History of Photography
2008 to present Dotdash Meredith Brand Licensing - Better Homes & Gardens Photo Shoot Producer
COLLECTIONS
J.P. Morgan Chase
Sioux City Art Center
Bankers Trust
Farm Bureau
Principal Financial
Sewell Cadillac
