HELLO.
I’m an artist, historian of photography, entrepreneur, and teacher—roughly in that order. I live in St. Petersburg, Florida and have been carving out my own handmade life for about six years now.
My primary business is photoxo (pronounced “photo-ex-oh“, like a kiss and a hug for your pictures), where I help people safely digitize and archive their precious family photo memories.
My artwork is here, as well as on my atelier site, Picurious. Picurious started as a curatorial project where I rescue, clean up, and reprint images from vintage slides as limited edition fine art prints, but it is evolving into a publisher of prints by other artists as well.
I teach History of Photography and Real World (a professional practices course for soon-to-graduate visual artists) at the University of South Florida in Tampa. I also teach motivated people who want to learn to care for their photos via my online workshops at photoxo Academy.
Even though I’ve been formally out of school for a decade, I’m a life-long student. My philosophy is that everything is research. I couldn’t stop any more than I could stop breathing. My research interests could broadly be categorized as the historiography of photography—what stories have been told and what has been left out of the broader field? How do we expand the history of photography to include more diverse images and histories? Currently all new scholarship is posted on Patreon. I’d love for you to join me there.
Part of my research and desire to uncover more stories that our photographs reveal has led to the creation of my podcast, Ambient Light, a forum to talk about the art and magic of our photographs.
If you want to know more about me and other projects, keep reading.
EDUCATION
My Master of Arts in Art History was awarded by University of South Florida in 2010 where I specialized in the history of photography. In my thesis, entitled “Empty Streets in the Capital of Modernity: Formation of lieux de mémoire in Parisian street photography from Daguerre to Atget,” I propose interpretations of and reasons for photographs showing vacant Parisian streets, even after technological advancement allowed for representation of the city’s vibrant life. I relate this aesthetic choice by photographers to the desires of their intended audience, and contrast that audience with the modernists and surrealists who were so enchanted by these impossible street views.
I was awarded an Outstanding Thesis and Dissertation Award for 2009–10 for my research. I was also awarded a curatorial internship in the Photography Department at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. for my expertise in this subject matter. Selected from a national pool of M.A. and Ph.D. students after a rigorous and competitive three-stage application process, I assisted in the research and organization for an exhibition on the 19th-century French photographer entitled Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris.
While at USF, I also received the Provost’s Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Teaching Assistant for 2009–10. I also served as the Director of Operations of the Centre Gallery, curating numerous exhibitions by USF students and alumni in 2009–10.
RESEARCH-CREATION
PUBLICATION
A portion of my thesis was reworked and published in the journal Future Anterior in 2013. The article is titled “Imag(in)ing Paris for Posterity.”
My current research interests surround vernacular photography, specifically the proliferation of slide (transparency) film as a recorder of family memories. In the near future, I plan to research in the archives of the Eastman Museum to further this project.
VISUAL ART
My visual art practice engages photography in other forms: fiber work, collage, and mixed media.
CURATING
I have developed an ongoing curatorial project called Picurious inspired by photographs (specifically slides) that have been separated from their families. Found photographs offer opportunities for new contexts and interpretations. Fine art prints are available for sale, consignment, and exhibition.
Click any of the four images below to visit Picurious’ Instagram to see more.
My most recent exhibition was for the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club, during the 2017 Florida Trust for Historic Preservation’s Annual Conference. Read about “The Changing Face of Shuffleboard” here.
At the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, I curated or co-curated seven exhibitions between 2011 and 2015.
CURATOR
African American Life and Family
In 1900, sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois created an exhibition of photographs entitled “The American Negro” for that year’s World’s Fair in Paris. He selected images that showed a refined, educated, and prosperous population of African Americans, thereby confirming and projecting to a wider world the image of this reality of African American achievement and aspiration. The photographs in this exhibition, African American Life and Family, brings that story into the mid 20th century. Dating from the 1880s to the 1960s, many of the works of art are private portraits that would have been proudly displayed in the home, celebrating this rich visual history in the domestic realm of family life. Snapshots, postcards, portraits, and other typically private photographs became “galleries” of and for black Americans, individually and collectively.
Read more in my email newsletter post Black Americans in Paris
Press
“A Day in the (past) life — African American Life and Family”
“‘African American Life and Family’ set to open at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg”
Building the Panama Canal—Photographs by Ernest Hallen
This exhibition of photographs by Ernest “Red” Hallen (1875–1947) commemorates the Panama Canal’s Centennial and focuses on the dramatic changes to the area during its construction. Hallen was born in Georgia and was 32 when he began his life’s work in Panama. In 1907, Hallen was appointed the official photographer by the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC), the American administration body overseeing the Canal. He produced more than 16,000 images during his 30-year career. The ICC wanted a systematic documentation of the work in Panama, however Hallen’s images are more than mere documents. Until his retirement in 1937, Hallen’s views were the primary means by which Americans and the world experienced the great engineering feat.
Press
“Panama Canal photos at MFA, St. Petersburg document amazing accomplishment”
“Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg commemorates the centennial of the Panama Canal”
“St. Petersburg exhibit shows feat of building Panama Canal”
“Photos tell story of Panama Canal”
Pleasure Grounds and Restoring Spaces: Photos of Our National Parks
At once a seemingly untouched virgin land and a territory of limitless opportunity for development, the American landscape has always fueled the imagination of artists. As rapid industrialization began to threaten some of America’s most striking wilderness areas, President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) and naturalist John Muir (1838–1914) led the urgent call to protect the land on a national scale. Photography was not only an aid to the cause of conservation but also a way to popularize the newly formed tourist sites, aligning nature with American values.
Read more in the blog post: Natural Beauty, National Asset
Press
“National Parks Photo Exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg”
“Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg spotlights the beauty of our national parks”
Picturing a New Society: Photographs from the Soviet Union 1920s to 1980s
This exhibition explores contradictions between idealistic images and life in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Photography was a key tool to promote party goals both internally and abroad, but did not always reflect reality. The photographs in Picturing a New Society describe virtues for a society that often existed only within pictures.
Press
CO-CURATOR
Forever in a Moment: Nineteenth Century Photographs of Egypt
This noteworthy exhibition presents photographs of Egypt created during the nineteenth century, a period of great archaeological exploration and worldwide fascination with the rediscovered ancient culture.
Press
Sitter and Subject in Nineteenth-Century Photography
In conjunction with the 23rd Daguerreian Society Annual Symposium to be held in St. Petersburg October 27-30, 2011, this exhibition features some 60 nineteenth-century daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes. It addresses several facets of the public’s insatiable appetite for portraits of loved ones and strangers alike.
Press
“Sitter and Subject in Nineteenth-Century Photography”
This exhibition explores how nineteenth and twentieth-century photographers responded to cities and towns, presented and preserved their history, and influenced their perception by the public. Photographing the City was developed by USF graduate students in a fall seminar taught by visiting Kennedy scholar Katherine Bussard, Associate Curator of Photography at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Press
“A Study of the City: Photo show at Museum of Fine Arts is urban celebration”
TEACHING
I currently teach History of Photography and Real World (professional practices for soon-to-graduate visual artists) at the University of South Florida, Tampa campus. On this site, you’ll find some teaching resources and musings on the Teaching page, and even more musings if you are a Patron on the Research-Creation page.
I’m currently developing an online-only History of Photography course that will be appropriate for University-level learners.
PHOTOXO
PHOTOXO is a business but I see it as part of my Research-Creation practice because in collaboration with my clients, I create a personal archive and space for them to engage with their family photos in a new way, and hopefully for decades to come. Through PHOTOXO I help my clients preserve their photos to help them achieve the peace of mind that their photo memories and family stories will be safe, backed up, and able to be enjoyed by future family members. The core value behind my work with PHOTOXO is that family photos are no less important than the photographs in art history books.
PHOTOXO has two ancillary sites—academy.photoxo.net which is where I offer online instruction to help you manage your family photo collection, and photoxo.gallery, private and secure online photo storage for my personal archiving clients.