Grant Description

In the next year, I propose to learn the tradition of photography, from its historical inception to its modern day value. My primary goal is to document my learning process. I will gather information through formally practicing the art and experimentally researching its uses. I plan to study pinhole photography in Italy this summer, take an additional course on film photography in the fall, and conduct independent research on digital photography next spring. However, learning a new art form is a sweeping statement and requires limits such as in time, space, and content. Although I trade-off perspective by limiting my scope, I view these limits as necessary secondary goals that filter and make sense of information. Without these filters, I may learn nothing meaningful at all from the abundant pool of information I foresee accumulating. In a sense, my learning process mimics the camera. I will deliberately set specific limits, like exposure time and aperture, and choose the focus through certain lenses to record information.

Grant Description

In my fourth year as a Miller Arts Scholar, I hope to further my studies in photography through two workshops in landscape photography and bookmaking at Anderson Ranch in Aspen, Colorado from Aug 8th to Aug 19th 2016. A $4,240 Fourth Year Award would allow me to build on my Third Year Award, which introduced me to the art of photography.