Biography
Photographer Nan Brown spent her early years in steel mill towns perched on the San Francisco Bay where her father was a mill worker. Her Martha Graham-trained mother taught dance to children. Growing up, Nan participated in the community hall dance recitals. Summer weeks were spent at the family mining claim in the northern Sierra, an area where Nan would later make her home.
In the 1970’s Nan studied photography at the San Francisco Art Institute. She taught herself Ansel Adams’ Zone System, and was especially influenced by his philosophy of craft. While largely self-instructed, she has studied with Mark Citret, John Sexton, and Peter Goin, as well as Ansel Adams. After moving to northeast California in 1975, Nan pursued a 15-year career in studio photography beginning in Susanville at historic Eastman’s Studio. In 1988 she began teaching photography at Feather River College. Following a ten-year, health-related hiatus, Nan’s photography enthusiasm is now solely her personal work and she has recently exhibited in San Francisco, Portland, and Fort Collins, Colorado. In June 2010, images from Nan’s series, Intimations, were published in Black and White Magazine where they received an Excellence Award.
Nan says, “I have wanted to photograph the everyday, the discarded, the taken-for-granted. Those things, photographed in a non-dramatic manner, can prompt an inner event belonging to each viewer alone. I didn’t begin this as a style intentionally; it is simply the way I see. I believe in beauty. It’s what makes art irresistible. Classic black and white technique is my means to that end. Sometimes the result is the irony of the commonplace made beautiful.”
Nan lives with her husband in both the northern Sierra and the San Francisco Bay Area. She has three adult children.
Resumé
Awards
2010, Black and White Magazine Excellence Award, B&W Portfolio Contest
2010, Winner, Portfolio ShowCase: Volume 4, Center for Fine Art Photography; Juror, Katherine Ware
2008, Finalist, Photolucida’s Critical Mass
1996, Two Special Awards of Excellence, Working Images Gallery, Sacramento
1987, Plumas County Arts Commission Grant, Feather River Canyon Project
Solo Exhibitions
Main Street Artist Gallery, Trailers Collected, Quincy, California, 2010
The Darkroom Gallery, Intimations, Sacramento, California, 1997
Plumas County Museum, Quincy, California 1991
Epilog Gallery, Quincy, California, 1987
Morning Thunder, Quincy, California, 1980
Group Exhibitions
Center for Fine Art Photography, Black and White, Fort Collins, Colorado, 2010
Rayko Photo Center, (Por)trait Revealed, San Francisco, California, 2010
Portfolio ShowCase Volume 4, Online Exhibit, Center for Fine Art Photography, 2010
Marketplace Gallery, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, California, 2010
Main Street Artist Gallery, Quincy, California, 2010
Side Gallery, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, California, 2009
Newspace Center for Photography, Portland, Oregon, 2009; Two-Person Exhibit
Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, 2009
23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, Oregon, 2008
Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, Sacramento, California, 2007; Two-Person Exhibit
Studio Gallery, Quincy, California, 2007
Working Images Gallery, Sacramento, California, 1996
Feather River College, Quincy, California, 1993
Plumas County Museum, Quincy, California, 1989
Publications
2010, Black and White Magazine, June Issue, Excellence Award
2010, Book, Portfolio Showcase: Volume 4, Center for Fine Art Photography
2009, Catalogue Cover Image, Newspace Center for Photography
2008, Shelter Exhibition Catalogue Front and Back Covers, 23 Sandy Gallery
Collections
Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, Florida
Education
University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, Fine Arts Major, Golden Key Honor Society
Feather River College, Quincy, California, Phi Theta Kappa
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California
Digital Workshops, 2008, Rayco Photo Center, San Francisco, California
Expressive Black and White Print Workshop, 2007, Instructor: John Sexton
Gualala and the North Coast Workshop, 1996, Instructor: Mark Citret
Architectural Photography Workshop, 1992, Instructor: Mark Citret
Introduction to the View Camera Workshop, 1992, Instructor: Mark Citret
Fundamental Portraiture Workshop, Brooks Institute, 1987
Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop, 1979, Instructors: Ansel Adams, Todd Walker, Morley Baer, Alan Ross, Al Weber, Ann Noggle, Barbara Crane
Intro to Photography, 1972, Instructor: Judy Dater
Educator
Adjunct Photography Instructor, Feather River College, Quincy, California 1988-present
Member, In Dialogue with Ansel Adams Panel Discussion, Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, 2009
Elderhostel Instructor, High Sierra Photography, Quincy, California, 1996-1998
Artists in the Schools, 35mm Camera Use, Plumas County Arts Commission, 1994-1996
Press
1991, Feather River Bulletin, Arts and Entertainment
1983, Peach Press, The Subtle World of Nan Brown
1979, Green Mountain Gazette, An Artist Expands Her Vision