Known for Photography | ||
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Education Rochester Institute of Technology | ||
Jane alden stevens speaks about tears of stone world war i remembered
Jane Alden Stevens is a photographic artist and educator from Cincinnati, Ohio. She won Individual Artist grants from the Ohio Arts Council in 1990 and 2002. Solo exhibitions of her work have been mounted at the ARC Gallery in Chicago, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca, NY, and the Pittsburgh Filmmakers Gallery. She has exhibited extensively abroad, including in Finland, Ukraine, Belgium, Germany, and Brazil. Stevens’ photographs are included in the permanent collections of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, NY, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Museu da Imagem e do Som in São Paulo, Brazil. She is Professor Emerita of Fine Arts at the University of Cincinnati.
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Early life and education
Following her graduation magna cum laude from St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., with a BA in 19th-century European Studies. She traveled and lived in Germany for a number of years teaching English as a second language and working as a tour guide.
After returning to the United States she attended an MFA program for photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, New York. After she graduated in 1982 she was offered a position in the Fine Arts Department at the University of Cincinnati, she began teaching courses in photography, film and professional business practices for fine artists.
Work
“Photography is a language that allows me to communicate with others in ways not available to me by any other means, I am able to translate my thoughts, feelings, and opinions into photographs that express things to the viewer that I simply can’t say in any other way.”
Seeking Perfection
Seeking Perfection: Traditional Apple Growing in Japan portfolio documents a specialized form of apple cultivation in the Aomori Prefecture in Japan. Stevens mostly used the Pinoramic 120, the Hasselblad and the Noblex Pro 6/150U cameras to capture what she was looking for in terms of depth-of-field, scope of the scene, and how close she wanted to get for certain shots.
Tears of Stone: World War I Remembered
This documented the war's lasting impact in large black-and-white images that included destruction still visible in barraged, upended, pockmarked fields; abandoned towns that were never rebuilt; mementos left by families who still make pilgrimages to World War I cemeteries and sculptures that record unhealed grief.
The project was supported by $23,000 from UC, the English Speaking Union and Ohio Arts Council. Stevens made five two-week trips to 189 sites and a selection of her photos was published in Tears of Stone: World War I Remembered.
Career
Stevens was a full-time Fine Arts faculty member at The University of Cincinnati at the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning from 1984 to 2003. Currently a Professor Emerita of Fine Arts, University of Cincinnati, OH
Selected permanent collections
Context
The following are websites that the artist has found fascinating and/or inspirational: