Biography
Photographer Nan Brown (1952-2013) 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. She began teaching photography at Feather River College in 1988 and exhibited extensively until 1998. Following a ten-year, health-related hiatus, Nan exhibited in San Francisco, Boston, Portland, and Santa Barbara. Her work is in the permanent collections of Museum Fine Arts, Houston and the Southwest Museum of Photography. It has been published in Center for Fine Art Photography’s Portfolio ShowCase: Volume 4; Fraction Magazine: Issue 23; Black and White Magazine where it received an Excellence Award; and this year, in The Photo Review 2012 Competition Issue, juried by Robert Mann. Recently her work was accepted into the Special Collections at Stanford University's Art and Architecture Library.
Nan is survived by her husband, Bill Egloff, and her three adult children.
Resumé
Honors and Awards
2012 Winner of Exposure, Photographic Resource Center 17th Annual Exhibition. Juror: Alison Nordstom
2011 Winning Entry, The Photo Review 2011 Competition Issue, Philadelphia. Juror: Robert Mann
2011 Winner of World Photography Gala Awards 2nd Annual Portraits and People Competition
2011 Finalist, Julia Margaret Cameron Award, World Photography Gala Award, Juror: Carol McKusker
2011 Auction Donation by Invitation, 2011 Print Auction, Houston Center for Photography
2010 Juried Participant, Review Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico
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 and Two-Person Exhibitions
Oakopolis, Trailers Collected, Oakland, California, 2011
Main Street Artist Gallery, Trailers Collected, Quincy, California, 2010
Newspace Center for Photography, Nan Brown and Stephen Chalmers, Portland, Oregon, 2009
Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, Nan Brown and Richard Gilles, Sacramento, California, 2007
The Darkroom Gallery, Intimations, Sacramento, California, 1997
Plumas County Museum, Photographs by Nan Brown, Quincy, California, 1991
Epilog Gallery, Feather River Canyon Project, Quincy, California, 1987
Morning Thunder, Quincy, California, 1980
Group Exhibitions
Photographic Resource Center Gallery, Exhibition 2012, Boston, Massachusetts, 2012. Juror: Alison Nordstrom
Wall Space Gallery, New Directions 2011, Moments of Being, Santa Barbara, California
and Seattle, Washington, 2011, Juror: David Bram
Center for Fine Art Photography, Black and White, Fort Collins, Colorado, 2010, Juror: Andrea Modica
Rayko Photo Center, (Por)trait Revealed, San Francisco, California, 2010, Juror: Ann Jastrab
Center for Fine Art Photography Portfolio ShowCase Volume 4, Online Exhibit, Boulder Colorado, 2010, Juror: Katherine Ware
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
Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific, In Dialogue with Ansel Adams, Stockton, California, 2009
23 Sandy Gallery, Shelter, Portland, Oregon, 2008
Studio Gallery, Feather River College Faculty Show, Quincy, California, 2007
Working Images Gallery, Sacramento’s Best, Sacramento, California, 1996
Feather River College, Faculty Exhibit, Quincy, California, 1993
Plumas County Museum, 150 Years of Photography, Quincy, California, 1989
Publications
2012, The Photo Review Competition Issue, The Photo Review Quarterly
2012, Portraits and People 2011 - 2nd Edition. World Photography Gala Awards
2011, Encore, Oregon Humanities Magazine, Fall/Winter Issue. Immobile Dreams by Rebecca Hartman
2011, Water’s Edge Juried Book Competition, Publisher: Open to Interpretation
2011, Black and White Magazine Issue 85, September, Spotlight Feature
2011, Fraction Magazine, Issue 23, Online
2010, Shots Magazine, Autumn Issue No. 109
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
Stanford University's Art and Architecture Library, Special Collections
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Southeast Museum of Photography
Southwest Museum of Photography
Private Collections: Washington, California, Washington D.C.
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
In Dialogue with Ansel Adams, panel discussion, Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, 2009
Photography Instructor, Feather River College, Quincy, California 1988-1998
Elderhostel Instructor, High Sierra Photography, Quincy, California, 1996-1998
Artists in the Schools, 35mm Camera Use, Plumas County Arts Commission, 1994-1996