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
2020 Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, Iowa (August 2020)
2020 Central College, Pella, Iowa (March 2020)
2019 The Poison Garden - Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa
2019 Omnia Vanitas - Muscatine Art Museum, Muscatine, Iowa (coming in summer)
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
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
Bankers Trust
Farm Bureau
This image was included in the Dubuque Museum of Art's Biennial and the Freeport Art Museum's Regional Juried Exhibition.
The Fatal Flora series evolved from my interest in Renaissance women who made their place in society by using their knowledge of the properties of botanicals. That expertise could range from culinary, to medicinal, to deadly. Often the same plants used to nurture and feed loved ones were used in another way to heal the sick. Different parts of those same plants could also be prepared in other ways to be poisonous.
Women who had botanical knowledge were sometimes perceived as a threat to medical and clerical professions and were accused of practicing witchcraft. Botanical knowledge became dangerous knowledge and was the start of a long and complex history of power struggles and gender conflicts.
In these photographs, I use only natural light and style them to resemble Dutch still life paintings. I seek out plants that were present in women's Medieval and Renaissance medicinal gardens or were referred to in historical texts. When possible, I cultivate and grow these plants at home so that I can watch the changes they go through during their life cycles. When specific varieties cannot be found, I substitute varieties that are in the same family. For example, Papaver Somniferum (or opium poppies) are hard to come by in the United States so I have explored other poppy varieties.
Plants that contain the potential to be toxic are extremely complex in their structures. Their appearance and their potency changes drastically depending upon the timing of the growth cycles - from bud to bloom to seed pod. These photographs are printed as large-scale images, much larger than life, so that the viewer can closely examine every detail of these complex plants.
I use botanicals as metaphors for my own life experiences. Situations and relationships that can be beautiful, seductive, nurturing, life-sustaining and healthy when experienced in one way can also become toxic and poisonous when circumstances are changed or out of balance.
STATEMENT
This image was included in the Kansas City Society of Contemporary Photographers' 2017 Current Works exhibit, jurored by Keith Davis, Senior Curator of Photography for the Nelson-Atkins Museum.
