Sheron Rupp
"Rupp's color photos of working-class families in New England and
the
South achieve a tricky balance of affection and clear-eyed
documentation.
Intensely descriptive, brimming with incident, gesture, and detail,
Rupp's
pictures might be Evans's sharecroppers as seen by Tiny Barney-classic
concerned
photography updated with a modern concern for class signifiers and a wry
appreciation
for the rich jumble of family life."
- Vince Aletti, Village Voice, December 1,
1992
For over the past 15 years I have wandered around photographing people
and
where they live in America. I have always photographed in color to
heighten the description of the places I am drawn to. My photo journeys
have led me to southeastern Ohio ('83-'85), the Ozarks in northwestern
Arkansas ('87), the Northeast Kingdom of rural Vermont and the
Appalachian
regions of Tennessee and Kentucky ('90).
More recently I have travelled to southern Ontario, Canada ('95) and
Great Falls, Montana
('96-'98) to observe and photograph more of the quotidian
aspects of people's lives. I have always been interested in
photographing
people living in small, rural towns, including the nondescript
neighborhood in America. This work is a deep, committed search to find
and photograph those people whose lives to me are a form of human
pathos,
exile, and poetic vision.
My most recent body of work is "In Montana With Beth. . ."
These photographs are a step into territory which includes my own
family.
Beth is my niece who is the mother of two children. On my three
trips to Montana to photograph Beth, her family and friends, I've wanted
to describe what was around me, that which had to do with the ordinary
and the mundane.
To
me, the quotidian can offer an extraordinary revelation about what is
around us in the real world. The human drama of the obvious is what
continues to fascinate me.
My photographs are chomogenic "C" prints, printed on 20" x 24",
24" x 30" and larger sizes of Fuji paper. The cameras I've used are 6
x 9 and 6 x 7 range-finders.
Contact: Sheron Rupp, Photographer
Haydenville, Ma. 01039
Phone:413-268-9035
e-mail: sheron@sheronrupp.net
Education: B.A. in sociology/psychology, Denison
University, Granville, Ohio, 1965.
M.F.A. in photography, University of Massachusetts, Amherst,
1982.
Selected Exhibitions: Museum of Modern
Art, NYC; O.K. Harris Gallery, NYC; The Columbus Museum of Art,
Columbus,
Ohio; The PhotoCenter Gallery, Tisch School of the Arts, New York
University; Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Ma.; Photographic Resource
Center, Boston; Smith College Museum of Art; The Director's Guild of
America, Los Angeles, Ca.; Burden Gallery (Aperture), NYC; San Francisco
Camerawork; Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, Oregon; Santa Fe Center for
Photography; New Mexico State University, University Art Gallery; Weber
State University, Ogden, Utah; Portland School of Art, Portland, Maine,
and others.
Awards: National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists
Fellowship (1994 and 1987)
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Award (1990)
Massachusetts Artists Fellow in Photography (1984 and 1986)
Collections: Museum of Modern Art, NYC; Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University; Rose Art Museum,
Brandeis University, Waltham, Ma.; Mead Art Museum, Amherst College;
Smith
College Museum of Art; Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, Ma.;
Carpenter
Center for Visual Arts, Harvard University; Springfield Technical
Community College Foundation, Inc., Springfield, Ma.
Publications: DoubleTake Magazine
(forthcoming Winter '98) Esquire Magazine;
American Illustrated Magazine; Aperture Magazine,
"OurTown,"; Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort by
Peter Galassi; Helicon Nine: The Journal of Women's Arts &
Letters, Kansas City, Missouri, and others.
Guest Artist/Lecturer
Teaching Positions: Amherst College;
Hampshire College, Amherst , Ma.; Springfield College, Ma.; Holyoke
Community College, Holyoke, Ma.; University of Massachusetts, Amherst;
Northfield-Mount Hermon School, Northfield, Ma.; The Museum School,
Boston; New York University, Photo Department; Bard College,
Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.; Hartford School of Art, Connecticut;
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston; Boston College, Newton, Ma., and
others.
Detailed resume and other information upon request. Contact artist at
413-586-0603 (Phone & Fax)