I am a photographer of artists…

Dancers, painters, composers, movers, performers, filmmakers, writers. It is one of the greatest joys of my life and work to be given a backstage pass into the creative process.

When I was very little I would sit in the costume shop at the University of Montana Theater. My father worked there, he was a props-master. While he was busy working, I would watch the actors and dancers practice. I would watch the costume designer carefully sewing from huge bolts of fabric, transforming material into grand tutus and ball gowns and tailored suits. Seeing how things come to be is captivating.

Artists are my people.

Every time I am given the opportunity to photograph an artist in their studio I am filled with such inspiration, awe, and wonder.

When I am at an art gallery, or opening, or standing in a museum I have so many questions. I don’t just want to know what kind of paper or paint an artist chose, I want to know if they listened to music while they painted. Did they take a walk in the morning, or did they lock themselves away in their studio, focused, until they felt like their pieces were finished? What compels them, is their studio neat and tidy - or is it chaos - where somehow, they make their art rise from the cacophony of things around them like some kind of sorcerer.

So, it is so serendipitous that I have had the opportunity to photograph so many artists, in performance, in practice, in their homes, and in the studio. Many of the artists I have photographed have been at Surf Point, in York Maine. To learn more about Surf Point and the incredible work that goes on there, you can click here.

Veronica Perez, artist and sculptor, 2023, York, Maine.

artist and designer Jenny Rutherford at home in her back yard with Nellie, the buttercream golden retriever. — Artist and Designer Jenny Rutherford at home with Nellie, 2023. Gorham, Maine

artist and graphic designer Jenny Rutherford at home in her greenhouse. — Jenny Rutherford, artist and designer at home in her greenhouse, 2023. Gorham, Maine.

Imaginary Island Dance in Performance at SPACE 538, Portland, Maine 2023

a woman on stilts wearing a black leotard, striped pants and carrying two hula hoops walks by. — Performers from the MAMM Resurgam Festival, 2022, Portland, Maine.

Rachel Alexandrou of A Foraged Feast, 2022, York, Maine.

an image of a man dressed in pink blowing giant bubbles. the sky is blue, there is a large crowd of people all dressed in pink. there is. a woman in a black and white outfit looking , there are pink balloons — Performers at the Pink Picnic for Tempo art and Pamela Moulton’s installation series, Beneath the Forest, Beneath the Sea, Portland, Maine, 2022.