Barb Breen
Photography
        
















 

 



Barbara Breen
Biography

Barbara became interested in photography years ago when her father bought her a 35mm camera and encouraged her to take a photography course at Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio. The camera became her magical tool, capturing the essence of the world around her and allowing her an avenue of interpersonal expression.

Soon after, Barbara took a second course at CCC. There she did not learn much in regards to technical skills but she did learn to study other master photographers by reading about and viewing their work. She discovered the images of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans and knew this was the type of photography she would like to pursue in her own style. However, at that time there was not a degree program in Cleveland. Therefore, in 1980 she moved to Dayton, Ohio to enroll at Ohio Institute of Photography. She graduated in 1982 with a bio medical and fine arts photography degree. In addition, took workshops with Howard Bond in his zone system workshop, Bruce Barnbaum Photographic Arts Workshop with large format cameras, and a Ansel Adams workshop with John Sexton and Morely Baer.

Shows & Recognition:

Barbara has shown her photographic works nationally and internationally,  including states such as Kansas, Maryland, and Illinois; as well as India. She has been recognized and praised for her work throughout Ohio. Some of the exhibitions include the Cleveland Art Museum, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland Ohio, FAVA Gallery (Firelands Association Visual Arts) Oberlin, Ohio, Society for Contemporary Arts, Kansas City, Mo.
Gallery Representation at Art -101 art gallery, Medina, Ohio.
Those who view her work have responded with marvel at her ability to capture not just the visual flat surface or the mere appearance of sites and areas but to go beyond to the depth of our own personal experience and
emotion.

Her urban portraits were published in the photography book, “Images Of The Heart: A Bicentennial Celebration Of Cleveland and Its People.” Her landscape images are featured in another book called “Cleveland: Continuing the Renaissance;” as well as other publications for calendars and books.


 
Barbara Breen
Artist Statement


My passion for photography, natural landscapes, and constant learning motivates me to go to extraordinary places. The landscape of Ossabaw Island, Georgia is a new body of work I am now photographing, discovering the intimate beauty of this remote island’s natural, unspoiled environment. 

With every trip to the island, I discover anew the serene beauty of the environment of Ossabaw Island with its beaches and dunes,  moss-laced cypress trees that reflect off the black swamp waters, tranquil wide marshes. This remote island is a is one of the most intriguing areas in Georgia. Landscapes shift with the tides, endless pristine beaches are strewn with boneyards of sun bleached trees felled by the relentless tides, and twisting trees heavy with moss. Changes in light, in wind, and changes in atmosphere transform the scene hour by hour. When I return to the same location at different times throughout my stay I am always amazed to see something completely different.

My work interprets and reflects my response to the landscape in exquisitely detailed pure black and white photographs, captured with my 4x5 view format camera. In printing the images, I utilize traditional silver gelatine, now an increasingly rare process since the rise of digital photography.  I believe the true beauty of a photograph can only be captured, in it’s purest form, in a traditional darkroom. Handcrafting allows each creation to be its own unique piece of artwork.

Ossabaw Island is an unspoiled place set aside for natural and cultural study, and education, now and far into the future. My experiences on Ossabaw have reinforced my sense of dedication to use my art form of photography as an inspiration for others to work together to save nature’s places of spiritual sanctuary for future generations.