Elvira Piedra

b. 1969, American
Bio Statements More Portfolios

Southeast Asia

Elvira Piedra: Dawn, South Gate, Angkor, Cambodia, 2002

Elvira Piedra: Jews Harp Maker, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2002

Elvira Piedra: Waiting Under a Tree, Pagan, Burma, 2002

Elvira Piedra: The Tun Family, Naung Oo, Burma, 2002

Elvira Piedra: Eyes, Hand, Myinkabar Lacquerware, Burma 2002

Elvira Piedra: Cave of Ta Phin, Vietnam, 2002

Elvira Piedra: Water Hyacinth, Pagan, 2002

Elvira Piedra: Courtyard, Angkor Wat, Cambodia, 2002

Elvira Piedra: Five Apsara, Angkor Wat, 2002

Elvira Piedra: Procession, Divine Symbol of Happiness, Angkor Wat, 2002

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Elvira Piedra Bio

Chronology
1969	Born, California, USA

1985	A year in Paris, France as a foreign exchange student.

1989	Return to Paris for 1 1/2 years. Study bookbinding.

1996	Travel to Mexico to meet my father's family.

1996	Travel to London for my first commercial project, publicity portraits for the musical group Dead Can Dance

1997	Move to El Rito, New Mexico to work with Walter Chappell. He initiates and encourages me in using the 8x10 view camera and teaches me printmaking.

2002	Travel to Southeast Asia with the 8x10 camera, visiting Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Burma.

2004	Commission for a Labyrinth in Bolinas, California.

2005	Return to Southeast Asia with 4x5 camera for three months.

2007	Departure from New Mexico, move to Berkeley, California.

2008	Re-opening of photography studio in the Annex of Grace North Church in Berkeley. Exhibit new work with open studios.

2010	Move to Vermont.

2018	Acquire a new studio in Lancaster, New Hampshire, and begin exploring wet-plate collodion photography and albumen printmaking.

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Awards
2010	The Julia Margaret Cameron Award, First Prize Abstract/Still Life

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Solo Exhibitions
2014	To Earth, From Heaven, River Arts, Morrisville, Vermont

2013	In An Other Light, The Gallery at WREN, Bethlehem, New Hampshire

2012	In An Other Light, Quimby Gallery, Lyndon State College, Lyndonville, Vermont

2009	Photographs of A Floating World, The Annex, Grace North Church, Berkeley, California

2009	A Bridge to a New Series, Nan Phelps Photography, Kensington, California

2009	Photographs of the Tree Peony and other selected works, The Dream Institute of Northern California, Berkeley, California

2008	Photographs of A Floating World, NoneSuch Space, Oakland, California

2004	The Portrait of a Lady, Farley's Cafe, San Francisco, California

2003	Passage, Photo-Eye, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2001	The Story of My Love, Pure Land Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

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Group Exhibitions
2016	Texture, Line, Color, The Gallery at WREN, Bethlehem, New Hampshire

2015	Playing with Beauty, curated by Mark Sink, Redline, Denver, Colorado

2013	Figuratively Speaking, The Gallery at WREN, Bethlehem, New Hampshire

2013	Theme: Feminin, SEITIES Gallery, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

2013	Small Works, The Gallery at WREN, Bethlehem, New Hampshire

2010	PhotoPlace Open, juried by Keith Carter, Vermont Photography Workplace, Middlebury, VT

2010	Self-Searching: The Art of Self-Portraiture, Vermont Photography Workplace, Middlebury, VT

2010	Floral, Vermont Photography Workplace, Middlebury, Vermont

2007	The Contact Printers Guild, Gallery 422, Phoenix, Arizona

2007	The Contact Printers Guild, Viewpoint Photographic Center, Sacramento, California

2005	Photographs of Water with Paintings by Fong Fai and Reiko Muranaga, Ligne Roset, San Francisco, California

2002	Photo-Eye, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2002	Masterworks of Floral Photography, Gallery Sink, Denver, Colorado

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Bibliography

In An Other Light. Linda Elvira Piedra. View Camera, Corrales, 2013

theme: Feminin. Elvira Piedra. SEITIES, Calgary, 2013

Black & White or Color?. Linda Elvira Piedra. Grand Canyon Association, Flagstaff, 2006

Hayden's Ferry Review, no. 38. Linda Elvira Piedra. University of Arizona, Tempe, 2006

Depth and Perception. Michael More. Albuquerque Journal North, Albuquerque, 2003

Water, stone, land--alive and moving. Craig Smith. Santa Fe New Mexican, Santa Fe, 2003

Parting Shot. Linda Elvira Piedra. Chronogram, New Paltz, 2003

Photography as Personal Exploration. Steve Simmons. View Camera, Corrales, 2002

Piedra Sees into Hearts of Subjects. Michael More. Santa Fe New Mexican, Albuquerque, 2002

The Portraits of Linda Elvira Piedra. Linda Elvira Piedra. View Camera, Sacramento, 1998

The Photographer and the Diva. Linda Elvira Piedra. Mondo 2000, Berkeley, 1997

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Education
1987 - 1988	Universiy of California, Santa Cruz, Art History, Film
	Studied with Marie-José Renaudie, Hervé Lemansec, and Pascale Gaîté
1989 - 1990	Le Centre des Arts du Livre, Bookbinding
	Studied with Gabrielle Althen
1994 - 1997	City College of San Francisco, Photography, Film
	Studied with Dennis Duggan, Polly Steinmetz, and Michael Kostler
2018 - 2018	Penumbra Foundation/Introduction to Albumen Printing, Albumen printmaking
	Studied with Morgan Post
2018	Camp Tintype ~ All Around Wet-Plate, glass plate negatives
	Studied with John Coffer

Favorite Photography Books

Carleton Watkins: The Art of Perception, Carleton E. Watkins/Douglas R. Nickel

Under the Sun, Walter Chappell

In Wildness is the Preservation of the World, Eliot Porter, (photo-eye Cat# SE005H)

Favorite Technical Photography Books

The Print, Ansel Adams, (photo-eye Cat# NY042S)

Elvira Piedra Statement

Artist Statement
I discovered photography in my childhood through looking at old family portraits. These early impressions of black and white images are the most enduring influence on the work I have made. Photography was a mysterious means of communication for me, suggesting other possibilities of seeing and being. I would not really understand this potential however, until I actually began making photographs myself.

I photograph mostly what is familiar to me, the people and things of home. This is a way of honoring my life, and reaching deeper levels of understanding. Seeing is about both looking at the world outside and discovering the one within. From the beginning I saw that the camera itself was leading me somewhere new, an experience affirmed more deeply when I began using an 8x10 view camera. The camera opens a door inside me through which I can observe the world and often it is the camera itself that reveals the world to me. Photography is a means of making my inner life visible and it is through my work that I have moved out into the world. I have engaged with people and things, and nature through the wish to form an image. The images have developed out of a necessity to engage with my own creativity--to make a relationship between my own nature and the nature of Reality, and to take root there. By engaging my energies in this pursuit my life acquires gravity. I do not separate my aims for understanding from my photographic work. This work provides the means and materials for me to confront my life and find meaning. It connects me to my love, to the world of people and feeling.

It is in the process of printmaking and the physical print itself that my work is harmonized. I am often seeking the longest scale possible from the materials I have at hand. Printmaking is a process of reconciliation. It encourages the refinement of feeling. My images are primarily black and white, made with silver materials, although I have been exploring digital printmaking, seeing in it also a way to express the depths of the gray scale and its spiritual values. Black and white describe only the two absolutes of this photography, the places where details disappear. It is in the space between, of infinite shadow detail and the highest lights that forms emerge and our lives acquire substance.

Process Statement
The principal instrument of my work is a 8x10 Kodak D-2 view camera, though I enjoy using 4x5 for more intimate scenes and 35mm cameras while travelling. My large format lenses are uncoated.

My photographs are mostly in black and white, from negatives that I develop and print in a traditional wet darkroom, using pyro developer or D-76 for film processing. I prepare my paper developers from Ansco formulas. Each new series of work requires a new approach, so I experiment with as wide a variety of films and papers as I can still find to suit the subject. Printing is done by contact and completed with selenium and/or gold toning.

The finished prints are spotted and then dry mounted onto Museum Rising Board. My photographs are made with a sense of tradition which reflects the influences of my mentor Walter Chappell, as well as of the 19th century photographers from whom I have drawn inspiration.

Elvira Piedra Books
Available from photo-eye

Favorite Monographs:

In Wildness is the Preservation of the World, Eliot Porter, (photo-eye Cat# SE005)

Favorite Technical:

The Print, Ansel Adams, (photo-eye Cat# NY042)