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November 5, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"A Space Odyssey 2001,"
an Exhibit of
Digital Photography by Artist Anne Ross
NORTHAMPTON, Mass.-Photo artist Anne
Ross was first bitten by the shutterbug while a student at Smith
College in the 1950s when she enrolled in Professor Clarence
Kennedy's inaugural course, "The Art of Photography,"
using the Polaroid Land Camera. "Since Smith didn't have
a darkroom back then we had to use a camera that contained its
own," says Ross.
She's been carrying some type of camera with her ever since and
has compiled an impressive portfolio of work that continually
evolves.
Early in her career she shot landscapes in Carmel, Calif., using
experimental Polaroid film. These images were sent to Polaroid
for evaluation of their latest film product. Later she focused
on landscapes and nature themes during her travels around the
country with her husband. She's photographed intriguing scenes
of Americana and the ways Americans impose their culture on their
environment; for instance, a restaurant called "Coney Island"
shaped like a big hot dog and bun built in the middle of the
Rockies.
One of Ross' friends likes to joke she's gone from "instant
to instant" because she began with the Polaroid (takes one
minute to get your result), moved on to black-and- white photography,
then to color, and now to digital imaging.
Already well known and respected for her color photography, Ross
became inspired by the endless creative possibilities inherent
in digital imaging: a computer process that allows the artist
to manipulate a picture in any number of ways. "It felt
like such a natural transition for me," says Anne.
Ross creates her images on a computer screen using her own photographs
that are first scanned and revisualized with a software program.
Once she completes them, she outputs them on a digital inkjet
printer using archival inks (guaranteed not to fade for 100 years)
and sprayed onto archival matte paper.
Ross' work has been widely exhibited along the East Coast in
galleries, museums, universities and corporations. Since 1986
it has been featured in a number of publications, such as "The
Smithsonian Guide to Historic America" and "The New
York Times Garden Book," and is represented in many prominent
public and corporate collections, including the American Embassy
in Beijing, China.
Her show at the Smith College Alumnae House Gallery will be on
display through April 5, 2002, and will feature some of her newest
digital images that explore the inner world of dream landscapes
and surreal places.
The exhibit-which is free, open to
the public and wheelchair accessible-can be viewed from 8:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Alumnae House is
located at 33 Elm St., Northampton.
To view Ross' work online, visit www.smith.edu/alumnae/gallery.
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