Gualala Arts Promoting public interest and participation in the arts since 1961
Humboldt County is not only one of the most active earthquake locations on Earth, but also where land and sea are, at many points, at the same level. According to many scientists, this will be the first part of the California coast to be overwhelmed by a rising sea caused by accelerating climate change. Already tsunami warning signs are omnipresent along the roads in Eureka, Trinidad and Orick because of the all too frequent earthquake activity in this region. There are colliding tectonic plates right off shore, parallel to Humboldt County, creating havoc.
Sooner rather than later the power plants in Arcata will have to be moved. The Orick pasture favored by herds of elk will be one of the first areas here to slip under the rising sea. This will also be the fate of the extraordinarily beautiful Trinidad and Arcata beaches. Shore level cattle farms in Arcata down to Eureka will be devastated. Arcata’s carefully conceived waste water ponds that filter community water supplies will be inundated. A way of life lost…
My intention with this photographic project is to show the present beauty which will ultimately be lost when the seas rise up. As an artist living in the 21st century, I feel I must listen to what scientists say is happening to our world and play my part as a chronicler. This is my third environmentally oriented project in the last three years. My 2023 Duress series focused on Mono Lake, the Great Salt Lake and the Salton Sea – three terminal lakes which are shrinking and becoming increasingly toxic. My 2022 Urban Anomalies project addressed San Francisco’s misplaced priorities when it comes to protecting wetlands for migratory birds vs glorifying it’s ship building past. Both of these projects were also developed as books.
The tools I used for Inundation/At Sea Level are a Nikon D810 camera, the software programs: Lightroom, PhotoShop and Nik SilverEfex Pro 2, an Epson P800 printer (I do my own printing), and warm toned and environmentally friendly Hahnemuhle bamboo matte rag paper.
My projects can be viewed at www.JaneIvory.com
About Jane Ivory
My fascination with the process of photography began when I was around 6 or 7. I’d sneak down the basement stairs into my father’s darkroom and watch, as long as unnoticed, faces miraculously appear on the paper in the tray my father was rocking back and forth. A wall of black and white portraits were a prominent feature in my father’s study when I was growing up. As a college student, I pursued my years – long interest in painting eventually getting my Masters in Fine Arts with an emphasis on Painting from UC Berkeley. To earn a living, I then worked at the San Francisco Museum of Art directing art classes taught through the Education Department. After 4 years at the museum, I became a gallerist working as a sales director at two San Francisco galleries before owning my own gallery as co-owner of Ivory/Kimpton Gallery. The first gallery I worked in exhibited Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Jerry Uelsmann and Lewis Baltz amongst others – this exposure affected me more than I realized at the time. In my own work, I circled back to photography giving up painting. Initially I focused on deteriorating urban structures, landscapes, shorelines and fragments of nature. In the last several years, I’ve honed in on places where man’s destructive actions against Earth leaves their mark so I can capture images of the place before it’s inevitably transformed.
Selected Exhibitions
2024 Scheduled Solo Exhibition, Gualala Arts Center, Dolphin Gallery, Gualala, CA
2024 Scheduled Solo Exhibition, Bank of America main building lobby, San Francisco, CA
2023 International Juried Exhibition, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA, Shana Lopes, assistant curator of photography, SFMOMA, juror
2023 Landscape Exhibition, A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, juried by Kevin Tully
2023 Solo Exhibition, Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
2023 The Abandoned Landscape group show, SEC for Photography, juried by Constance Lewis, Greenville, South Carolina
2023 2121 ArtSpace inaugural group exhibit curated by Charles Cunningham, San Francisco, CA
2022 Left Coast Annual Exhibition, Sanchez Art Center, juried by Jeff Nathanson, Director of Museum of Sonoma County, Santa Rosa, Ca.
2022 Focus: Shadow and Light Exhibit, Black Box Gallery in Portland, Oregon, curated by Todd Johnson, Director.
2022 The Life of Water online exhibit, PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont, juried by Ann Jastrab, director of the Center for Photographic Arts.
2021 “Crocker Kingsley National Art Competition” group show juried by Carrie Lederer, Blue Line Arts, Roseville, Ca
2021 “Artists Vision 2021” Marin Society of Artists online group show juried by Kim Eagle-Smith of Eagle-Smith Gallery, Mill Valley, CA
2021 “Exposed” Marin Society of Artists online group show juried by Linda Connor and Michael Creedon.
2021 27th Juried Exhibition juried by Arnika Dawkins at Griffin Museum, Winchester, Mass.
2021 “Local Inspiration” group show juried by Natasha Boas at the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, Ca.
2021 Solo exhibit at Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, Ca.
2020 NYC4PA 1st Prize Winner in exhibition juried by Paula Tognarelli, Jadite Gallery, New York City
2020 “Windows & Doors” – group show juried by Clea Felien at Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA
2020 “Water” group show juried by Doug Beasley at A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
2020 “Reflections” – online group show juried by Shelley Barry of Slate Gallery through Arc Gallery, San Francisco
2020 “Expressions” – online group show juried by Andrea Schwartz of A. Schwartz Gallery through Marin Society of Artists
2020 San Francisco Bay International Photography Silver Award; image featured in Bokeh Bokeh Photo online exhibit at ACCI Gallery
2020 Member Exhibit online, Viewpoint Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2020 “Sanctuary” group show juried by Rene de Guzman, GearBox Gallery, Oakland, CA
2020 “Landscape” group show juried by Ann Jastrab, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
2020 “Vistas” group show juried by S. Gayle Stevens, A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
2020 “Between Darkness and Daylight” 3 person virtual exhibit organized by me featuring Mark Citret’s, William Farley’s and my reactions to life during the pandemic, Harvey Milk Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
2020 “The Shape of Things” group show juried by Rhoda Dubin, Praxis Gallery, St Paul, Minn.
2019 Group Show at Image Flow, Mill Valley, CA
2019 “Mother Earth: Elements and Archetypes” Six Person show curated by Isabelle Sorrell at Fused Space, San Francisco, CA
2019 “Home” – group show juried by Lisa Woodward and Mia Dalglish at The SE Center of Photography, Greenville, SC
2018 Group Show at Image Flow, Mill Valley, CA
2018 Alternative Processes group show at Image Flow, Mill Valley, CA
2018 Center for Photographic Art – Members’ Juried Exhibition Online Gallery Inclusion, Carmel, CA
Public Collections
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, in Paul Sack collection promised to museum
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, limited edition book, “Urban Anomalies”
Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA, limited edition book, “Urban Anomalies”
Center for Art and Environment, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV, limited edition book, “Duress”
Awards
2022 Mini portfolio winner, Language of the Land, special issue, Shadow & Light Magazine
2021 Honorable Mention, “Exposed” online exhibit through Marin Society of Artists
2020 NYC4PA 1st Prize Winner, juror Paula Tognarelli, Jadite Gallery, New York City
2020 Silver Award, Bokeh Bokeh Photo online exhibit at ACCI Gallery
Publications and Presentations
2023 “Duress”, 64 image Monograph with introduction by Sandra Phillips, Photography Curator,Emeritus at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Published by Norfolk Press, Limited Edition of 100. Each boxed book and included archival pigment print signed and numbered.
2023 BookTalk presentation on “Urban Anomalies” through SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
2022 “Urban Anomalies,” 45 image Monograph, Published by Norfolk Press. Open edition.
2022 “Urban Anomalies,” 18 image Monograph with introduction by Michael Palmer, poet. Limited edition, each signed and numbered.
2021 Shadow & Light Magazine, Black and White Special Issue, 4 page Mini Portfolio
2020 Shadow & Light Magazine, May/June issue, Jane Ivory “Indians & Coyotes” (Showcase Portfolio Article with 8 images)