Altered Ecology with Kari Varner
Altered Ecology with Kari Varner
Join us via Zoom Wednesday, Sept. 25th, 7 pm EDT
Kari Varner is a Binghamton, New York based artist who utilizes a variety of historical and experimental photographic processes in explorations of industry and human presence upon the landscape. Drawing from the environment as both subject and material, her images are often formed from substances enacting change in the land and water.
Kari forms relationships with landscapes by wandering and foraging for photographs and plants alike. Coming away with both in hand, the two are intimately tied. Invasive plants are conscripted into the process of making: cut and boiled for photographic developer, their petals picked and crushed to make anthotype emulsion. Though labeled as undesirable, destructive and worthy of eradication, the emergence of the photograph is entirely reliant upon these plants as material.
Supported by the Light Work organization, Kari is currently working to produce a catalog of plant species, both native and invasive, growing in the region of Upstate New York that can be used for film and paper development along with anthotypes and cyanotype toning.
Together we will explore the dialogue between photographs and materiality, along with the value we assign to altered environments.
This engaging conversation will be facillitated by Kaye Savage.
Kari Varner is a visual artist working in Binghamton, New York. Her explorations of the landscape often take the form of photographs, installations and ephemeral works. She received a BFA in Electronic Media Arts Design from the University of Denver and an MFA in Visual Art from Washington University in St. Louis. She currently holds the position of lecturer in photography at Binghamton University and has previously taught at the University of Denver in Colorado, Santa Reparata International School of Art and Florence Institute of Design International, affiliated with the University of Chester, in Florence, Italy.
Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions abroad, including the Palace and Museum Bourbon del Monte in Monte Santa Maria Tiberina, Italy; San Marco Basilica in Florence, Italy; and Kunst(zeug)haus Rapperswil-Jona Museum and Kammgarn West Schaffhausen in Switzerland. Previous exhibitions in the United States include the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis, Light Work, the Candela Gallery and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. She has been awarded residencies at Millay Arts, Kimmel Harding Nelson, Wofford College and Alfred University. She has received grants from Light Work and the Puffin Foundation.
