Steve Nelson received his BFA from Western Michigan University
in 1982 where he concentrated in photography. I 1985, he receive
his MFA in Art Media Studies from Syracuse University.
Recent photography projects and exhibitions:
I continue to work on a series of black and white photographs
of Michigan landscapes taken with a handmade panoramic camera.
These images are taken from different perspectives of particular
vernacular site. The blended views are a result of overlapping
frames in the camera when I make the exposures at the various
sites. The photographs are printed from the composites negatives,
without darkroom or digital manipulation. I received a creative
artist project grant from the Michigan Council for the Arts and
Cultural Affairs to make a portfolio of 20 of these ‘Endless’
photographs. These photographs were exhibited at the Urban Institute
for Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the fall of
2002.
View Steve's Endless
Michigan Collection
Related to the Michigan landscape series is a group of images
taken on the British Isles. Like the Michigan series these images
explore the perception of change and the mutability of form in
the landscape, but their viewpoint is singular. There I am drawn
to architectural fragments and landforms that speak to the human
and natural forces of change that has occurred over centuries.
Captured in an atmosphere of dissolving light, the forms relate
the past and present simultaneously. This series was exhibited
in a two person show, “Aspect of Reality: Photography by
Howard Bond and Steven Nelson” at the Muskegon Museum of
Art, Muskegon Michigan, in January of 2004’.
View Steve's Dissolution
Collection
I have recently begun a series of large format color photographs
of abbey ruins in the British Isles. This project was begun with
funding through a faculty development grant from Hope College
in 2002’. I am interested in the persistent realism of color
images that contrast architectural form with temporal elements
of organic growth and atmosphere. This work has not yet been exhibited.
View Steve's Color Abbey
Collection
