Ardine Nelson
Columbus, OH
ardinenelson@me.com
Education
1972 MFA University of Iowa
1971 MA Northern Illinois University
1970 BS Northern Illinois University
Solo Exhibitions
2015 Workspace Gallery
2010 Backstage Gallery
2010 Center Gallery
2009 Weston Art Gallery
2009 Galerie Kunsthaus Raskolnikow
2009 Port Columbus International Airport
2004 SRO Photo Gallery
1996 Cultural Arts Center
Group Exhibitions
2016 Parkersburg Art Center
2015 Ohio Arts Council's Riffe Gallery
2014 Parkersbury Art Center|
2014 Waterloo Arts
2013 Riffe Gallery
2013 Fort Hayes Shot Tower Gallery
2013 A.I.R. Gallery
2012 Fort Hayes Shot Tower Gallery
Selected Collections
Museum Fine Arts Houston
Guggenheim Foundation Collection
Museen der Stadt Dresden
Polaroid Collection
International Polaroid Collection
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
LA County Museum of Art
Columbus Museum of Art
Museu de Arte Moderna
Burpee Art Museum
Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography
Artist Statement
What comes first, "the chicken or the egg." Of course, its really about evolution and subtle change with each generation in all of nature as well as iterations of man's use of the natural world. What changes might we notice immediately and which are more subtle occurring over many generations?
My photographic themes include concerns of landscape, man's effect on the landscape and regeneration. Recent bodies of work include Schrebergartens and gardeners in Eastern Germany and the ongoing series Ceilings. When Charles Bluestone first discussed this project with me, I of course thought of how I might approach the egg. The idea of the shell being the protective enclosure for life and wondering what subtle echo of life it may have contained came to mind. As a photographer working broadly with a variety of materials and possibilities for creating an image my ideas immediately began to form.
As Bluestone hoped, by challenging all of us with this project, I found myself wanting to work within the media as I have for many years, yet having to experiment with various light sensitive emulsions and techniques to discover what would combine to achieve what I saw in my mind. Unless the emulsion completed washed off during processing, there were no "do overs." I went through seven eggs with various experiments. Ultimately, my final eggshell interior was coated with a light sensitive emulsion, and the two halves placed inside pinhole cameras to record a still life of plants. The final exposures were about 90 minutes each. As my approach to thinking of the shell as what remained after life burst forth evolved, I gravitated to placing it inside a nest for display, appearing as one might stumble across it out in the world.