Artist Statement
A Field Guide to Snow and Ice is my interpretation of the idea of winter. I see winter everywhere, in every environment, in every season and categorize it by pattern, shape, and line rather than merely by substance. This guide includes images of snowfalls and wildflowers, frozen waterfalls and stalagmites, snowdrifts and piles of gypsum sand, as well as other icy forms in order to explore and reinterpret natural structures and the way they can reference multiple ideas on both micro and macro levels. Elements are abstracted from the vast landscape to illustrate the winter of my imagination. The ambiguity of scale and substance helps the subjects transcend their source. With less, there becomes more.
Paula McCartney makes photographs and artists’ books that explore the idea of constructed landscapes. McCartney earned an M.F.A. in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute and has received grants from the Aaron Siskind Foundation, the McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Her work has been exhibited across the US and is included in numerous public collections including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art. Her first monograph titled, Bird Watching, was published by Princeton Architectural Press. Images from A Field Guide to Snow and Ice have been recently featured in Smoke and Mirrors, Conveyor Magazine, Issue 3; Hayden’s Ferry Review, issue 51 In The Dark; and MysterySpot2, Mystery Spot Books. McCartney is represented on the east coast by Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
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