My Focus
A Little Something About Me...
The Artist..Patricia Schnepf
My Focus is photography especially as a photographic art form.
My artistic background lends itself well to my current focus: Photography and Photographic Art. I have always loved art since picking up a charcoal pencil at seven years old and sketching my father in his favorite chair and visiting all the art museums and galleries in New York, my home town. I studied art in New York, and continued in the arts working as a fashion/costume designer, then theater production, film production/admin, and broadcasting, with the additives of painting and sketching.
Photography and Photographic Art is my main artistic focus. It is my passion. It is important for me to capture the dynamics and/or sensitivity of my subject, bringing the subjects closer while projecting a mood, or feeling which stimulates positive thinking and expands the imagination or, presents raw reality (though gently as possible).
Photography is a medium that enables me to capture a scene in real-time with a lasting visual memory along with its colors and special sensations and bring it back with me to evolve later. The artistic techniques used in creating the finished artwork, enhance and extends the subtleties, depth, and tone of that composition bringing the scene back to life again. When I select a scene, or subject, it is usually done with spontaneity but I am partial to nature, landscapes, flowers, still life and people -- they enliven my creative, and often-time, spiritual senses. Sometimes it is the colors or dimensions, or textures, personalities, or emotions, or the entire scene itself which draws my attention.
As I create my artwork from camera to print, I want those who see the finished image to experience it in a way that stimulates their senses and expands their imagination as it did mine.
I am always in a learning mode and experimenting with new techniques. For the most part, I am self taught. My technique varies according to the subject and composition and the mood/emotions it projects. Creating and presenting texture within, or from, the photograph is often an important focal point especially with my wildflowers and treed landscapes. Along with certain developed techniques, using various surfaces (canvas, metal, etc.) becomes an integral part of the composition: it adds to the literal texture, feel, depth, and mood of the image and extends its presentation. There are times I also enjoy creating new versions of an image and incorporate new techniques.
My artwork is exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally including a one-person show at the Chicago Cultural Center partially financed by a grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Illinois Arts Council; also exhibit on the internet including LightSpaceTime, Artmajeur, Pixels.com, Fine Art American. I was invited to exhibit at the Berlin Foto Biennale - 4th Biennial of Fine Art & Documentary Photography as a finalist in the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards as well as Spain, NYC4PA Juror's Selection exhibiting in New York City; CAGO; and Linus On-Line Gallery, Contemporary Art Gallery Online, just to name a few. I have won numerous awards - including and not limited to, First Place for "White Flower" at the Arts of the Terrace Juried Art Show; and one of my images was selected for Public Art and from 2014 to 2023 was on exhibit in the International District in Seattle Washington, and First Place for my artwork in Contemporary Gallery’s Online 2023 All Color Competition for "Gourds and Red Onions". My art appears in private collections worldwide and in print (including Photographers Forum). In conjunction with my fine art photography, my work is used in product design as well as commercial/event photography. Since COVID most of my exhibitions are online.
My Gallery “Modern Impressionism” has a variety of images - it is the theme of “Modern Impressionism” techniques that establishes the Gallery’s title.
Washington is currently my home and where I have my tiny, private, in-home studio. Since moving to Washington (from Chicago, Illinois), I started to enjoy hiking. It is an experience that is soul-expansive especially for an easterner: seeing trees all around and the open horizon (which is difficult in a large city with their skyscrapers – skies and trees are competing with the tall buildings), and the fantastic sky/cloud formations. As much as I am enjoying the great outdoors, I miss the hustle, bustle, and dynamics of a large populated city.
On a more personal level, I have a son who is also in the arts -- he is a terrific graphic artist/animator and tech writer.
I am updating my personal blog and it will be active again in the near future. In the meantime, my artwork is available for purchase via Fine Art America through Pixels and Imagekind.
Patricia Schnepf
Shoreline, Washington
pschnepf.fineartphotography@gmail.com