EDUCATION

M.F.A. Photography, Columbia College Chicago, 1999
B.F.A. Visual Communication, Northern Illinois University, 1992
Coursework in drawing, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1989-90

 

AWARDS AND GRANTS

2023    Illinois Arts Council Grant, Media Arts
2022    Columbia College Chicago Faculty Grant
2020    Culture and Animals Foundation Grant
2020    Phoenix Zones Initiative project grant
2020    Thirty Times a Minute, LensCulture Favorite Book by Eastman Museum Curator-in-Charge, Lisa Hostetler
2017    Columbia College Chicago Faculty Grant
2015    Prix Pictet Award Nominee
2015    Columbia College Chicago Faculty Grant
2014    Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) Artist Project Grant
2013    Columbia College Chicago Faculty Grant
2011    Animals Are Outside Today, PDN Notable Book by Holly Hughes
2011    3Arts Chicago Visual Artist Award Nominee
2010    Community Arts Assistance Program (CAAP) Grant, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
2010    Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers Nominee
2009    Ne Plus Ultra, Jen Bekman Gallery, NYC
2008    Blurb: Photography.Book.Now honorable mention
2008    Driehaus Foundation Individual Artist Award Nominee
2007    Urban Nature, No.1 Photography Exhibit, Historic Water Tower Gallery, NewCity Chicago
2006    CAAP Grant, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
1998    Stuart Baum Project Completion Grant
1997    Albert P. Weisman Scholarship

 

TEACHING  |  LECTURES  |  EXPERIENCE

2022- present      School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Photography Department Lecturer

1999- present      Columbia College Chicago, Photography Department Adjunct Professor

Guest Lecture, Rochester Institute of Art, Contemporary Issues: Expanded Photography, 2021
Panel Discussion, Oolite Arts, Miami, FL, September 2021
Lecture, TCU Sustainability, Fort Worth, Texas, 2021
Speaker, McMaster Museum of Art, Animals Across Discipline, Time & Space, Hamilton, Ontario, 2020
Public Lecture, Museum of Art Fort Collins / Colorado State University, 2018
Panelist, Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts Conference, Toronto, Ontario, 2018
Speaker, Performing Animals Welfare Society Captive Wildlife Conference, Los Angeles, 2018
Lecture, Columbia College Chicago, Faculty Showcase, Displace: Public Video Projections + Spectatorship,  2018
Speaker, FOZE International Conference and Film Festival, Portland OR, 2018
Artist lecture, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL, 2017
Class guest lecture, University of Illinois, Urbana, 2017
Panel Discussion and Screening, Facets Cinema, Nonhuman Rights Project, Chicago, 2017
Visiting Artist and public lecture, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, 2016
Panel discussion, Center for Humans and Nature, David Weinberg Gallery, Chicago, 2015
Public lecture, Portland State University, Portland, OR, 2015
Class guest lecture, School of the Art Institute, Chicago, 2015
Artist in residence, Cooley Memorial Gallery, Reed College, Portland, OR, 2015
Panel discussion, Printer's Row Lit Fest, Chicago, 2012
Public lecture, Milwaukee Art Museum, April 2011
Featured speaker, Society for Photographic Education (SPE) Conference, Kalamazoo, MI, 2010
Visiting artist, Marwen Foundation, Chicago, 2009
Freelance Graphic Design, Liska & Associates, VSA Partners, Source, Inc., Chicago, 1995-2006
Graphic Designer, McMillan Associates, 1992-1995

 

COLLECTIONS

Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
Milwaukee Art Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Portland Art Museum
Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL
Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Chicago, IL
Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago, IL
Beijing Natural Culture Center, Beijing, China
Ruttenberg Collection, Chicago, IL
Fidelity Collection, Boston, MA
Cleveland Clinic Art Collection
Tweet Big Chicks, Chicago
Girls’ Club Collection, Fort Lauderdale, FL
2003-Present, Midwest Photographers Project, Museum of Contemporary Photography

 

EXHIBITIONS

2024   Lightforms Art Center, Hudson, NY, MARROW / GRAIN  (October)
2023   21c Chicago, Holding Rhythm 
2021   Roman Susan, Chicago, IL, Surveilling Snow Lily
2021   Riverside Art Center, Riverside, IL, Invisible Visible
2020   McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL, Thirty Times a Minute
2015   Blue Sky Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Animals Are Outside Today and Thirty Times a Minute
2014   The Screening Room, Miami, FL, Thirty Times a Minute
2014   Dina Mitrani Gallery, Miami, FL, Towards the Sky Again
2012   Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods, Riverwoods, IL, Animals Are Outside Today
2012   Union League Club of Chicago, Animals Are Outside Today
2011   Radius, Santa Fe, NM, Animals Are Outside Today
2011   Dina Mitrani Gallery, Miami, Animals Are Outside Today
2011   Jen Bekman Gallery, NY, Animals Are Outside Today
2009  van Straaten Gallery, Denver, CO, Urban Nature
2009  City Gallery, Historic Water Tower, Chicago, IL, Animals Are Outside Today
2009  Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, Urban Nature
2007   Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago, IL, Urban Nature

 

PUBLIC VIDEO INSTALLATIONS

2020: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
2019: Worcester, MA and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2018: Reykjavik, Iceland; Los Angeles, CA; Portland, OR; Fort Collins and Denver, CO; Joshua Tree, CA
2017: Toronto, Ontario; Rochester, Syracuse, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Washington, D.C.; Cleveland, OH
2016: Detroit, MI; Santa Fe and Cerillos, NM; Berlin, Germany; Vienna and Melk, Austria; Paris, France; New York
2015: 17 locations in Portland, OR; Grand Teton National Park, WY; Victor, ID
2014: 25 locations throughout Chicago neighborhoods

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
30 Artists 30 Years, Freeark Gallery, Riverside, IL 
Holding Rhythm, video installation, 21c Cincinnati

2022
Adopted Landscapes, Collective 62, Miami, FL

2021
Embodied Forest, Ecoartspace, curated by Lilian Fraiji and Patricia Watts
The Ten Trusts, Compassion Arts Festival, Worcester, MA
Natural Transcendence, Oolite Arts, Miami, FL
At Home, Reuben Saunders Gallery, Wichita, KS

2020
What Does Democracy Look Like?, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
Animals Across Discipline, Time and Space, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, Ontario
Photography & ..., collaborations at Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago

2018
One Thing Leads to Another, Ralph Arnold Gallery at Loyola University, and RomanSusan, Chicago
EXPO Chicago, with McCormick Gallery, Chicago

2017
The Photography Show at AIPAD, Special Exhibition, New York, Path Infinitum, 2017
Targeted: Garret Hansen, Omar Imam, and Colleen Plumb, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago
The Devil's Garden, with Marisa Anderson, Sam Coomes, and Vanessa Renwick, Portland Art Museum
Eclipse, Blue Sky Oregon Center for Photographic Arts
Infinite Games, Open House Contemporary with Rhona Hoffman Gallery, curated by John Preus

2016
It is Only Necessary, screening, 2nd Floor Rear, Chicago
aCinema, Milwaukee, WI, screening: It is Only Necessary
Portland Art Museum, Thirty Times a Minute as part of "Next Level Fucked Up" by Vanessa Renwick
Christie's Photographs, First Open, New York

2015
City Creatures, Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago
Thirty Times a Minute, Silent Funny, Chicago, Johalla Projects
Thirty Times a Minute, Activate, Johalla Projects and Chicago Loop Alliance, Monroe alley, Chicago
SPELLS, collaboration with author Peter Rock, Blue Sky Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts
Lovsång, Joan of Arc residency film screening, The Hideout, Chicago

2013
HOME, Dilettante Studio with John Preus, EXPO Chicago, video installation
Pant, Gallery 339, Philadelphia
Ten, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York
Stitched and Glued, Handmade Books, Riverside Arts Center, RIverside, IL, curated by Paul D'Amato

2012
Artists for Obama, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, IL
On Making Things Matter, SHoP (Southside Hub of Production), Hyde Park, Chicago
Wildlife in the Post-Natural Age, Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY
Toward a Union of Public Artists, SHoP, Hyde Park, Chicago

2011
ReFraming the Feminine, Girls' Club Collection, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Pinyao International Photography Festival, Pinyao, China

2010
Exposures II, Dina Mitrani Gallery, Miami
Art Loop Open, Block 37, Chicago, IL
Art in Bloom, Milwaukee Art Museum
Disposable, Dina Mitrani Gallery, Miami, FL
Art Chicago, Photo-Eye Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2009
Mixtape, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY
Mus-Mus @Paris, juried by Stephen Shore, Gil Blank and Denise Wolff
The Un-Natural Nature of Food, Fraction, Melanie McWhorter, curator
Anthology, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona, FL
Photo-Op, 14th Annual Exhibit, PCNW, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA
15th Juried Exhibition, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
Art Chicago, Riverhouse/van Straaten Gallery, Denver, CO

2008
Hey Hot Shot, Volume I, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY
Beyond the Backyard, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Karsten Lund, curator, Chicago, IL
19th Evanston Biennial, Evanston, IL
Photography Now, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN

2007
Bridge Art Fair, Standard Usage Project, Miami, FL
Field Guide to the North American Family, Humble Arts Foundation, NY
Power of Plants, Museum of the Earth, Ithaca, NY
Power of Plants, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL

2006
InSight: Recent Additions to the Permanent Collection, MoCP, Chicago
New Chicago Photography, Version Fest, Iron Studios Chicago
Fresh StART, Santa Monica Art Studios, Arena 1 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Contemporary Condition, Hokin Center, Chicago, curated by Paul D’Amato
Click Art, Woman Made Gallery, curated by Whitney Bradshaw, Chicago

2005
PROOF, SPE conference exhibition, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Power of Plants, US Botanic Garden, Washington, D.C.
BIRDS 2005 International, Beijing Natural Cultural Center, China
The Chicago Project, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago

2004
Frozen in Light, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago
Chicago Land/Space/Place, Greg Foster-Rice, curator, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago

2003
Movement, The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago
Art to Fear, ARC Gallery, Chicago

2001
You Are Here, Chicago in the Year 2000, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago

2000
Our Town, CITY 2000, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago
A Year in the Life, City Gallery Historic Water Tower, Chicago
CITY 2000, inaugural exhibit, Gallery 312, Chicago

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PUBLICATIONS:

Thirty Times a Minute (Radius Books, 2020), photographs by Colleen Plumb, contributing texts by Marc Bekoff, Julia Cooke, Catherine Doyle, Hope Ferdowsian, M.D., Linda Hogan, Les O'Brien, Joyce Poole & Peter Granli, Steven M. Wise, Mandy-Suzanne Wong

Night Swimmers (Soho Press, 2019), by Peter Rock, cover image

SPELLS (Counterpoint, 2017), by Peter Rock, a collaboration of text and photographs

City Creatures (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Edited by Gavin Van Horn and Dave Aftandilian

Exploring Color Photography, 5th ed., (Routlage, 2013), by Robert Hirsch

Animals Are Outside Today (Radius Books, 2011), monograph by Colleen Plumb, essay by Lisa Hostetler

Light and Lens: Photography in the Digital Age, (Focal Press, 2007), by Robert Hirsch

Field Guide to the North American Family (Knopf, 2007), by Garth Risk Hallberg

CITY 2000 (University of Illinois Press, 2006), Edited by Rich Cahan, Teri Boyd, and Gary Comer