Beth Moon

American Photographer | Born: 1956

San Francisco Bay Area artist, Beth Moon, has gained international recognition for her large-scale, richly toned platinum prints. Since 1999, Moon�s work has appeared in more than sixty solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Italy, England, France, Israel, Brazil, Dubai, Singapore, and Canada. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, and the Fox Talbot Museum in Wiltshire, England. In 2013, Between Earth and Sky, the first monograph of her work, was published by Charta Art Books of Milan. In 2014, Abbeville Press published, Ancient Trees: Portraits of Time, with a third book to follow that same year from Galerie Vevais, La Lange Verte. Moon studied fine art at the University of Wisconsin before moving to England where she experimented with alternative photographic processes and learned to make platinum prints.

Source: www.vervegallery.com

Beth Moon was born in Neenah, Wisconsin and studied fine art at the University of Wisconsin. Classes in painting, life drawing, sculpture, and design would set the groundwork for her work in photography, which was to come years later. Moving to England, a country with a love for all things arboreal, gave her a fresh look at a land that boasts the largest concentration of ancient trees. Inspired by these trees she decided to make a series of their portraits. Unhappy with the photographic tonality and stability of ink-jet printing, she started to experiment with alternative printing processes, learning platinum/palladium printing, an ideal process for her vision. She concentrated on mastering this printing technique, doing all of her own printing.

�By using the longest lasting photographic process, I hope to speak about survival, not only of man and nature�s but to photography�s survival as well. For each print I mix ground platinum and palladium metals, making a tincture that is hand-coated onto heavy watercolor paper and exposed to light. There are many steps involved in creating the final print and these are as important to me as the capturing of the image," said Moon. A platinum print can last for centuries, drawing on the common theme of time and survival, pairing photographic subject and process.

Source: www.josephsaxton.com

Galleries:

Verve Gallery of Photography

Corden Potts Gallery

PH Neutro Fotografia Fine-Art

Website:

bethmoon.com

Selected Work:

Selected Video:

Selected Book:

Beth Moon: Between Earth and Sky

Author: Steven Brown, Brooks Jensen, Beth Moon

Publisher: Charta

Year: 2013 - Pages: 96

Numinous and magical, the black-and-white photographs of Beth Moon celebrate nature and our relationship to it as a primary elemental experience. Moon is one of a handful of American photographers using nineteenth-century printing processes, which greatly amplify the spirit of enchantment that permeates her work. Between Earth and Sky presents five major series of works produced since 1999: Portraits of Time, which portrays ancient and legendary trees from around the world; Thy Kingdom Come, which explores animistic and totemic beliefs connecting humankind and the animal kingdom; Odin's Cove, the story of a pair of mated ravens living in the wild; The Savage Garden, which looks at the compelling, sinister beauty of carnivorous plants; and Augurs and Soothsayers, a series of portrait-style photographs of exotic chickens. This volume is Moon's first monograph. Raised in Wisconsin, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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