Meggan Gould
My generic life: A scene-mode autobiography #2 (2019)
Meggan Gould is a photographer living and working in the mountains outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she is an Associate Professor of Art at the University of New Mexico. She received her MFA from the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth, and her BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her photographs have been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally.
“My studio practice is a study in playful resistance, an attempt to infuse flexibility — and joy — into the often rigid structures surrounding vision. Deeply interested in the ways in which corporations shape our use of photographic technologies, I collect the iconography of photographic technology. I pore over cameras and camera manuals, spanning the last century of photographic making, for the instructional pictograms used on cameras, ostensibly intended to be universally legible: Woman’s head (portrait), Mountains (distance), Flower (macro). Onto glass sheets, with pigment ink, I trace the forms and embellish autobiographical narratives, rendering the final pieces as cyanotypes. I allow myself to indulge in the flight of fancy: what if the anonymous woman on the camera dial was me? Man + woman + skirted child is usually used to represent ‘small group of people,’ for appropriate focal distance, but this unit was boringly representative of my own little family for a time. In this narrative, we move to the mountains, add a kid, plant a garden. Here I go for many, many redundant daily runs. Can I tell a story of my life through only these reductive sound bites of suggested visual referents? My life, reduced to generic scene mode.” - Meggan Gould
SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2020 Te Colors Really Pop, FotoForum Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2017 Bureau of Visual Instruction, Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland, ME
Light Tight, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM (Two-person with Andy Mattern)
Te Tangential Photograph, Flatland Gallery, Houston, TX (Two-person with Adam Donnelly)
Bureau of Visual Instruction, Pearl Conard Gallery, Ohio State University, Mansfeld, OH
Bureau of Visual Instruction, McMaster Gallery, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
2016 Traces of Vision, Tony Hungerford Memorial Art Gallery, College of Southern Maryland, La Plata, MD
2015 Viewfnders, Griffin Museum of Photography, Digital Silver Imaging, Winchester, MA
Bureau of Visual Instruction, University of Texas, Arlington, TX
2014 Bureau of Visual Instruction, Jerome Liebling Gallery, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Traces of Vision, Open Gallery, Cafritz Foundation Arts Center, Takoma Park, MD
2012 Blind Spots, SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME (Two-person with S. Billie Mandle)
2010 Recto/Verso, SRO Photo Gallery, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
Recto/Verso, Tucker & Bruce Brown Galleries, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 Te Undisclosed Image, Norick-Hulsey Gallery, Oklahoma City, OK
Te Qualities of Light, Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
2019 'Ich bin ganz von Glas'. Industriemuseum Chemnitz, Chemnitz, Germany
Underlying Structures, University Gallery, Texas A&M, Commerce, TX
Compound Visions, Axle Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
2018 Photo Trouvé: Te Truth About the Flat Object in Photography, Pingyao International Photography
Exhibition, Pingyao, China
Betwixt and Between: Photography, Time and Place, Jamestown Arts Center, Jamestown, RI
2016 Te Surface of Tings, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX
Out of Many, One: New Work by Studio Faculty, University of New Mexico Department of Art,
University of New Mexico Museum of Art, Albuquerque, NM
Remnants: Photographs from the Disfarmer Studio, University of New Mexico Museum of Art, Albuquerque, NM
Witchy Shit: Material, Performance, and the Photograph as Nature, Farmstand Gallery, Bolinas, CA
Yuma Symposium Presenters Exhibition, Yuma Art Center, Yuma, AZ
2015 Picture Space, SCA Contemporary Art, Albuquerque, NM
Axle Indoors, Peters Project, Santa Fe, NM
2014 Expecting Reality, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
Squared, Clyde Snook Gallery, Adams State University, Alamosa, CO
Creativity and Work, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Sun Valley, ID
2013 Autophotography, Axle Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
Dirigo: Maine Women Pioneers III, University of New England Gallery, Portland, ME
Photography Untitled, Gallery 19, Chicago, IL
Parallax, Gormley Gallery, Notre Dame University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
Hous Projects, Photo LA, Los Angeles, CA
2012 About Photography, M.Žilinskas Art Gallery, National M.K.Čiurlionis Art Museum, Kaunas, Lithuania
Society for Photographic Education Southwest Juried Exhibition, Center for Fine Art Photography, CO
Second Nature: Abstract Photography Ten and Now, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Te Curve: Center Award Winners, 2012, Santa Fe, NM
Refections & Refractions, University of Toledo CVA Gallery, Toledo, OH
PhotoLucida Critical Mass, Traveling exhibition: PhotoCenter NW, Seattle, WA; Newspace Center for
Photography, Portland, OR; Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
New Directions: Crossing Territories, wall space Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA and Seattle, WA
2011 New England Photography Biennial, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA
Vingt-six Ans, Vingt-six Promos, Galerie Arlatino, Arles, France
24th Annual Works on Paper, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA. Purchase Prize
2010 Interior Life, Marian Graves Mugar Art Gallery, New London, NH
Photographing Maine: Ten Years Later, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2018 – present University of New Mexico, Associate Professor of Photography
2012 – 2018 University of New Mexico, Assistant Professor of Photography
2006 – 2012 Bowdoin College, Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography
EDUCATION
2005 MFA Photography University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth
1998 BA International Studies University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM
Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
Industriemuseum, Chemnitz, Germany
McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA
Rhizome Artbase Net and Media Collection, New Museum, New York, USA
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2020 University of New Mexico College of Fine Arts Scholarly & Creative Research Grant
2019 Honored Educator, SITE Scholars Program, SITE Santa Fe
Honored Educator, Society of Photographic Education Southwest Chapter
7th International Marianne Brandt Award, Nominee, Chemnitz, Germany
Working Artist Photography Award, 2019, Working Artist Org, WA
2018 University of New Mexico College of Fine Arts Seed Grant, Albuquerque, NM
2016 Nominee, New Teacher of the Year Award, University of New Mexico
2015 University of New Mexico College of Fine Arts Scholarly & Creative Research Grant
2014 Nominee, 2014 Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers
University of New Mexico Faculty Research Award Committee Grant
University of New Mexico College of Fine Arts Scholarly & Creative Research Grant
2013 Finalist, Photolucida Critical Mass
University of New Mexico Faculty Research Award Committee Grant
2012 Finalist, Clarence John Laughlin Award, New Orleans Photo Alliance
Curator’s Choice Award, 2nd place, CENTER Santa Fe
2011 Honorable Mention, Hey Hot Shot!, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY
Top 50 Finalist, Photolucida Critical Mass
2010 Fletcher Faculty Research Award, Bowdoin College
VISITING ARTIST LECTURESHIPS & CONFERENCE PAPERS
2019 Don’t Drink the Ink & Other Standard Advice, Society of Photographic Education West/Southwest Conference, Santa Clara, CA
2018 It’s Just Paper — 4-day workshop, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Hidalgo and the Festival International de la Imagen, Pachuca, Mexico
A Failure to See, Image Maker Dialogic presentation, Society of Photographic Education National Conference, Philadelphia, PA
2017 A Failure to See, City College of New York, New York, NY
A Failure to See, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
2016 Te Surface of Tings Panel Discussion, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX
Meggan Gould: Studio Practice, University of Houston, Houston, TX
A Failure to See, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
Traces of Vision, College of Southern Maryland, La Plata, MD
A Failure to See, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
A Failure to See, Arizona Western College, Yuma, AZ
A Failure to See, Yuma Art Symposium, Yuma, AZ
2015 Tose Boxes of Slides, Sitting in my Studio, Southeastern College Art Conference, Pittsburgh, PA
A Failure to See, University of Texas, Arlington, TX
2013 Te Remains of Photography, Southeastern College Art Conference, Greensboro, NC
2012 Blind Spots, SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME
2010 Site-Seeing, Society for Photographic Education Northeast Conference, Providence, RI
Recto/Verso, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
BIBLIOGRAPHY & REVIEWS
Keeper of the Hearth: Picturing Roland Barthes Unseen Photograph, England, Odette (ed). Schilt Publishing, 2020
“Seventeen Ways of Looking at the Mona Lisa,” Bolohan, Scott (ed). Critical Read (online), May 2018
“Pushing the possibilities of photography at Jamestown Arts Center,” Castro, Alexander. Newport Mercury, July 5, 2018
“Tree Artists Who Find Art in the Finger Smudges on Device Screens,” Kottke, Jason. kottke.org (online) May 12, 2017
Prada, Marta. Espacio arquitectónico e imagen fotográfca: metalepsis visuales,” Studies in Visual Arts and Communication: an international journal, Vol 2, No 1, online, 2015
Tought & Action: Te NEA Higher Education Journal, Volume 30, pps 68-69 Fall 2014
Jacobson, Louis. “Meggan Gould at the Cafritz Foundation Arts Center,” Washington City Paper, November 14, 2014
Schiller, Jakob. “Tese iPad Screens Reveal Something About the Human Condition,” Wired Magazine Raw File, July 14, 2014
Flam, Danielle. “Shapes from Idaho.” Sun Valley Magazine, May 26, 2014
“Sage” Papersafe Issue #4 Jobo USA, March 2014
Konau, Britta. “Canvas: Meggan Gould” Maine Home & Design, March 2014
Unconventional Photography, Diffusion Magazine Special Edition, Fall 2013
Jones, Gregory. In the In-Between: Journal of Digital Imagining Artists (online) 2013
Autophotography: Self portraits by New Mexico Photographers, Axle Contemporary, 2013
Konau, Britta. “A strong, solid fnish to Maine Women Pioneers III,” Te Portland Phoenix, July 10, 2013
Velazquez, Patricia. “Psicología de escritorio,” Correo Semanal, Lima, Peru, June 4, 2013
Kany, Daniel. “UNE’s Final Installment of ‘Maine Women Pioneers III’ is the Strongest,” Portland Press Herald, June 1, 2013
Routhier, Jessica Skwire. Expanding the Creative Frontier. Maine Women Pioneers III Catalogue, Portland, ME 2013
Romano, Heidi. Collect.give: Te Book, Romano, 2012
Chan, Casey. “Looking Closely at Camera Viewfnders is Pretty Gross” Gizmodo (online), November 15, 2012
Zhang, Michael. “Photographs of Viewfnders Found in Old Analog Cameras.” Petapixel (online), November 15, 2012
Gorence, Amanda. “Photographer Captures the Unique and Abstract Qualities of Viewfnders” FeatureShoot (online), November 14, 2012
Dukeheart, Coburn. “I Screen, You Screen, We All Screen: What Does Your Desktop Say About You?” National Public Radio Picture Show, October 22, 2012
Solomon, Bobby.“Workspaces, an exploration into the places we make by Meggan Gould,” Te Fox is Black (online), September 25, 2012
Kany, Daniel. “Evolution of Photographic Arts on Brilliant Display at SPACE,” Maine Sunday Telegram, April 22, 2012
Tuite, Diana. Blind Spots. Exhibition catalogue, April 2012
Feeney, Mark. “Associations Make Biennial Twice as Good,” Te Boston Globe, October 20, 2011
Smith, Evan. “Exposure: 7 Emerging Photographers,” Art New England, November/December 2011
Kavaliauskas, Mindaugas. Recycled, Kaunas, Lithuania, 2010
Konau, Britta. “art current: Meggan Gould.” Te Free Press, July 15, 2010
Addison, Laura. “Meggan Gould.” Contact Sheet #157, Summer 2010
Earle, Sarah M, “Inner Worlds,” Concord Monitor, January 28, 2010
Lisboa, Adriana. Azul Corvo, Editora Rocco, Rio de Janeiro, 2010
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