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 daughter was born and my father died in the same year.
Recently, I have moved into 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
2022 Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, Iowa
2020 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
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 (juror – Dan Addington, Addington Gallery, Chicago, 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
2015 Lady's Work, Chapman House, Des Moines, Iowa
OTHER
2019 Project Grant - Iowa Arts Council
2018 Iowa Arts Council Fellowship
2016 Project Grant - Iowa Arts Council
2016 to present Board Member - Des Moines Art Center Print Club
2015 to present DMACC Adjunct Professor - History of Photography
2008 to present 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
