Artist Statement
I have been a photographer for more than 20 years. My most recent body of work combines photographs and oil paint in order to extend the meaning of a single-frame
or multiple-frame image. Many of my earlier photographic projects took the form
of large composites, created from up to 80 individual photographs, which were frequently based on traditional quilt designs. I have also used traditional patterns in mixed media quilt constructions that employ
non-traditional materials such as turkey skins, lead, and commercial white bread. Quilts
continue to influence the structure of my mixed media work, and horses play an important role as subject matter – engaging
the physical presence and beauty of the equine form and the intensity of the horse-human bond.
Solo Exhibitions
2008 Open Studios
Art Tour, Cultural Council of Santa
Cruz County. October 2008
2007 Open Studios
Art Tour, Cultural Council of Santa
Cruz County. October 2007
2007 SPLAT Art Tour,
Santa Cruz. June 2007
2006 Open Studios
Art Tour, Cultural Council of Santa
Cruz County. October 2006
Infinity Pools, RLG
Gallery, Mountain View, CA. 2002
Horizons NYC, RLG
Gallery, Mountain View, CA. 2001
Involutions and Quilt
Constructions, Catskill Art Society,
Hurleyville, NY. 1994
Involutions, a mixed-media
installation, 494 Gallery, New
York, NY. 1993
Sculpture Garden,
80 Washington Square East Gallery,
New York, NY. 1992
Fishwives and Other
Spectacles, 494 Gallery, New York,
NY. 1992
Ball Rod and Virgin,
mixed-media installation, 494 Gallery,
New York, NY. 1991
Selected Group Exhibitions
Mill Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA;
Collision: an Intersection of the
Arts, May 2008
Gregory Kate Gallery, San Jose,
CA; Love. February 2008
Stage Gallery, Merrick, NY;
Photography 2000. October 2000
Jamaica Center for the Arts,
New York, NY; Constructing the
Contemporary Quilt. March 1999
Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI;
Gridworks. February 1999
A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY;
Generations, 25th Anniversary
show. 1997
Four Walls, Williamsburg, NY; Bedbugs at Four Walls. 1997
Foramen Magnum Gallery, New
York, NY; Art is Where the
Home Was. September 1996
Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx,
NY; 1996 AIM Program.
1996
International Gallery, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, DC;
150th Anniversary show. 1996
A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY;
Biennial Exhibition, curated by
Charlotta
Kotik. 1996
Threadwaxing Space, New York,
NY; Scratch benefit, curated
by Mel Chin.
1996
Exit Art, New York, NY; The Apartment Store: Artist-made
Chess and Checkers Sets. 1995
Ronald Feldman, New York, NY; Other Spaces. 1995
Ripley Center Gallery, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington,
DC, Women of the Smithsonian. 1995
Sauce Gallery, Williamsburg,
New York. 1994
450 Gallery, New York, NY,
Page Four, show of artists books.
1994
450 Gallery, New York, NY,
Pages, show of artists books. 1994
Semi-Annual Video Festival,
New York University; Drinking the
Signal. 1993
Semi-Annual Video Festival,
New York University; Head
Running on Black Tape. 1993
494 Gallery, New York, NY;
Letting Go. 1992
Dooley Le Cappelaine Gallery,
New York, NY; Ecstasy. 1992
Dooley Le Cappelaine Gallery,
New York, NY; Wonderful Life.
1992
494 Gallery, New York, NY;
Secrets. 1991
Web and print publications
Salt Water
Credentials. Original paintings illustrating poems by Kevin Opstedal. September 2007
Baja, original
paintings and photography; poems by Kevin Opstedal. July 2006
Horizons, one of
4 featured artists on Big Bridge, volume 10, February 2005 http://www.bigbridge.org/issue10temp/
Minus Tide,
by Kevin Opstedal. Cover, front, and end page photographs. Published by Smog Eyes Press, January 2005.
Horizons
2000 – 2004, artist book of 8 color photographs.
Published by Blue Press, May 2004
Heavy Water, a book
of 13 photographs by Pamela Dewey and 13 poems by Kevin Opstedal. Surf Donkey, May 2003
Jack Magazine (archived
at http://www.jackmagazine.com/issue6/featurekopstedal.html)
Feb. 2003
Spirit Capture,
Smithsonian Press. Sidebar essay and editorial photographs. 1998
Native Americas, Cornell
University Press. Cover and five
editorial photographs, Fall 1997 issue
Terre Nova, MIT Press. Cover photograph, Vol 4, Winter 1996/7
Terre Nova, MIT Press. Photography published
in Vol. 2, Spring
1996
Blender, CD-rom magazine. Original interactive for "Bad
Museum". 1995
Education and
Residencies
Virginia Center for Creative Arts Residency, Feb.
1999
Bronx Museum of the Arts, Artists in the Marketplace
program,
Spring 1996
New York University, MFA Photography and Studio
Art
International Center of Photography, General Studies
Certificate
University of Virginia, BA Political Science
