The Jonathan Abrams MD Art Gallery

Dana Patterson Roth: "Still. Life."

Through Jan. 27, 2012
Artist Reception: 4-6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012

Dana Patterson Roth has spent a life of adventure in New Mexico, where she has raised children, ridden horses, raced sailboats, hiked, camped, and helped her husband build their homes. She has studied photography and painting at UNM and other venues. She has been a photographer for over 30 years, initially specializing in B&W portraiture and event photography, but in recent years she has focused solely on fine art photography.

Artist's statement

For me, photography has always been an adventure – both an adventure out into the world and an adventure into myself. My fascination with the visual world of light, shape, color, texture and mood propels me to try to convey to others the beauty within a fleeting moment, a passing shadow or a trembling leaf.

As an outdoors person, I have spent many years mesmerized by the beauty of grasses as they sway in the breezes, moving like dancers to an unpredictable beat. As I sought to capture the motion, I became increasingly aware of their sculptural beauty, not unlike the sculptural beauty of a dancer’s body, either at rest or posed. This work is the result of these two ideas coming together: the grasses in nature, dancing to their muse of the wind and the light, and the grasses in the studio, paused to exhibit the subtle beauty of their structure and details. Is one vision better than the other? Or is each merely a part of the greater whole? That is a question for the viewer to decide.