Full Frame: Work by the PNCA Photo Department
Full Frame
Work by PNCA Photo Department
Sep 5 - 28, 2024
Full Frame is a show of work by faculty and staff in the PNCA Photography Department, showcasing their diverse range of creative practices. From digital capture to large format film and cameraless darkroom processes, together these artists push photography through a broad scope of expressive potential. Surprisingly and serendipitously, the work here is unified by use of organic forms - created by the artist's hand in the darkroom or studio, or embedded in the subject matter itself. As a Department, these practices embody much of what we hope to instill in our students: a curiosity and playfulness in the approach to photographic image making.
Participating Artists
• Teresa Christiansen • Kate Copeland •
• Sarah Meadows • Amelia Logan Smith •
• JD White • Rachel Wolf •
Teresa Christiansen (she/her) was born and raised in New York City and currently lives in Portland, OR where she is Head of the Photography Department at Pacific Northwest College of Art. Teresa received her MFA in photographic studies from ICP-Bard in 2008, and worked as an Assistant Photographer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for nine years. She has exhibited her work nationally, including New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Portland. Recently she has shown work at Aperture Gallery and Chashama in NYC, the Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle, Melanie Flood Projects in Portland, and the Portland Art Museum. She was a 2007 winner of PDN Photo Annual, a 2013 Regional Arts & Culture Council grant recipient and a summer 2014 Wassaic Artist Resident. Her work is in the collection of the Portland Art Museum.
Kate Copeland (she/her) is an artist, educator, and administrator at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. She has taught printmaking, alternative photographic processes, and two dimensional media for over twenty years at various colleges and non-profit organizations including PNCA, PCC, PSU, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, and Minnesota Center for Book Arts. Copeland has received two Fulbright Scholar Awards, the first in 2013 to teach alternative photo processes at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in Gujarat, India, and the second in 2022 to conduct research at Royal Academy of Art Antwerp and do an artist residency at Industriemuseum in Belgium. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, with an upcoming two-person show in October 2024 at Chazan Gallery in Providence, Rhode Island. Copeland holds an MFA from RISD and a BA from Macalester College.
Sarah Meadows (she/her) is an Oregon-based visual artist. She received her MFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2016, her BFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2008, and her BA from Evergreen State College in 2000. Her work has been shown nationally at Melanie Flood Projects (Portland), Filter Photo (Chicago), and ClampArt (NYC). She has been published by Publication Studio, IFIAAR, and One Day Projects and has been an artist in residence at Hewnoaks Artist Colony, the Wassaic Project, and Signal Fire Arts. Grants from the Oregon Arts Commission and the Regional Arts and Culture Council have supported her practice. She explores the non-human world in photographs, drawing from art history, advertising, and personal experience to shape her visual language. Finished pieces are comprised of medium and large-format film images combined with mixed media and archival material that explore the anxiety and pleasure of coexisting with nature in a modern world.
Amelia Logan Smith (she/they) is a trans* photographer, educator, and curator who was born and raised in a rural Kansas horizon. She returned there to teach Photography and New Media at the University of Kansas, School of Architecture and Design in 2021 but now lives and works in Portland, Oregon as Photography Department Technician at PNCA and Adjunct Professor at MHCC. Her bodies of work live primarily in book form, print, and community. Central to her practice is her dedication to portraiture combined with a poetic sequencing of the existence of life and death, grief, energy, intimacy, and queer experiences. Alec is also an editor and collaborator with friends at “From Here on Out,” an experimental publishing platform that organizes artist interviews, exhibitions, and publishing projects. She most recently has been collected in The Washington State University Queer Archives with other community members and artists sharing queer history and experience related to the Palouse region of Washington State.
JD White (he/him) is a visionary photographer who elevates everyday products through immersive environments of color and motion. Drawing inspiration from the vibrant tapestry of life in Portland, Oregon, where he shares his journey with his loving wife and two playful sons. He enjoys collaborating with open-minded creatives to transform audacious ideas into stunning visual realities.
Rachel Wolf (she/her) is a photographer who transcends traditional photography by exploring the very essence of the photographic process, a method she terms liminagraphy. This unique approach explores the threshold where light and alchemy come together to create tangible forms. Working in her darkroom, Wolf exposes photographic materials—such as paper and film—to various objects, light sources, and chemical agents, freeing her from the constraints of conventional photography. This process allows her to form a profound, immersive connection with the materials and embrace time as a crucial collaborator. Her work captures layered moments, challenging the notion of photography’s singular instant.
Wolf’s work has garnered recognition both nationally and internationally, with exhibitions spanning Germany, Hungary, Canada, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Seattle, and Portland. Her photographs are featured in both public and private collections. A graduate of Hampshire College (BA) and Pacific Northwest College of Art (MFA), Wolf can be found playing in her darkroom in Portland, OR.