CV — Nomadic Photo Ark / Portrait of US

CURRICULUM VITAE

MONICA JANE FRISELL
Photographer / Artist

Monica Jane Frisell is a photographer living and working nomadically throughout the United States. Her love for photography started in high school where she often spent hours in the darkroom skipping class. Frisell is predominantly self taught, learning on the job as an assistant and working in a photo lab as a black and white printer and film processor. She received her BA from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, where she ran the public darkroom, adding to her skills in analog color processes and continuing to master black and white printing and processing.

Working in analog film and putting emphasis on large format film and wet darkroom practice, she pushes to combine documentary elements with fine art. Her first chance to exercise this union of craft came while volunteering in relief work in Nepal after the 2015 earthquake where she documented domestic workers with interviews and portraits. Taking this format, in 2017 Frisell moved into a 35 year old RV and hit the road to ask everyday Americans to speak on their relationship with their country while making large format portraits. This work culminated in a solo exhibition and self published magazine entitled Looking Forward: Portraits from an RV.

Fast forward to July 2021, when Frisell together with her work/life partner Adam Scher, began crisscrossing the United States creating Portrait of US, an evolving, contemporary, audiovisual portrait of ordinary individuals within the landscape of today’s America. Her work strives to find connections between people and cultures in a time when division is too often highlighted.

Solo Exhibitions:

‘Portrait of US’ Massillon Art Museum. Massillon, OH. 2024 (upcoming)
‘UnCommon Bond’ Curated by Dan Hess at The Art and History Museums of Mailand. Maitland, FL. 2023
‘Portrait of US: 2021 - 2022’. Sulfur Studios, Savannah, GA. 2023
‘Looking Forward; Portraits from an RV’ SUNY Monroe College, Rochester, NY, 2017
’Looking Forward; Portraits from an RV.’ (A Send-Oﬀ)’ BlackLab Gallery, Everett,WA, 2017
‘Out of the Shadows; Portraits of Domestic Workers’ Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. 2016
‘Out of the Shadows; Portraits of Domestic Workers’ Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Australia. 2015

Selected Awards, Fellowships and Lectures:

Portrait of US Accepted to Review Santa Fe portfolio review. 2023
Analog Sparks Award, Silver in Human/Portrait for Portrait of US. 2023
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Adam Scher, awarded the Residency and Fellowship with the town of Lyndonville in Vermont. Lyndonville, VT. 2023
Lucie Foundation, Portrait Project: Take Two - Finalist in black and white. 2023
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Adam Scher, awarded the Sulfur Studios ON::View Residency, Savannah, GA. March/April 2023
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Adam Scher, Artist in Residence, NC State, Raleigh, NC. 2023
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Adam Scher, awarded the Art and History Museums of Maitland Artist Residency and Fellowship. Maitland, FL. 2022-2023
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Adam Scher, awarded The Green Box Artist Residency and Fellowship, Green Mountain Falls, CO. September, 2022 - October 2022.
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Adam Scher, Rooms to Let group exhibition and residency with Slavic Village Development and Cleveland Printroom, Cleveland, OH. 2022
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Adam Scher, awarded the Sulfur Studios ON::View Residency, Savannah, GA. March 2022.
LensCulture Portrait Award - Second Place single image. 2022
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Adam Scher, Artist-in-Residence, Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY. 2021
Neutral Density Award, 1st place in Editorial Daily Life awarded to Portrait of US. 2021
Artist in Residence SUNY Monroe College, Rochester, NY. 2017
Honorable Mention in PDN Faces Competition Magazine, 2017
Recipient of the Student Activities Grant from The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, 2016 Visiting Artist and Lecturer at The Meridian School, Seattle, WA, 2016
Staﬀ-Artist Fellowship, The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, 2013-2014
Artist in Residence, partial scholarship, The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, 2012

Publications/Press:

Seven Days Article for Nomadic Photo Ark and Portrait of US in Lyndon, VT. 2023
Impact Magazine, with Arts Southeast, features interviews and articles. 2023
SUN Magazine, cover and featured Portrait of US photo essay. 2023
Portrait of US: Vol 1: Savannah, 2022. Self published Magazine. 2023
Featured on Arts on the Air, Savannah, 2022 and 2023
Featured article in Savannah Now paper, 2022 and 2023
Featured on “Large Format Photography” Podcast, 2022
Regular contributor to Esthetic Lens Magazine, 2021 - 2022
‘Dispatches from a Day Vol 2, Words from the TAT’ self published 2021
‘Creative Quarantine’, featured in Esthetic Lens Magazine, 2021
‘Dispatches from a Day’ Vol 1, self published 2020
‘Featured Artist’ PopRocks Podcast, Olympia, WA, 2016
Featured Cover Artist for the Cooper Point Journal, Olympia, WA, 2016
‘Out of the Shadows; Portraits of Domestic Workers’ Konica Minolta Press Australia,
2015 Regular contributor to magazines such as Fretboard Journal, Downbeat, JazzTimes and various online blogs. 2012-Present.

Education:
B.A. from Evergreen State College in Photography

ADAM M. SCHER
Sound Engineer / Interviewer / Artist

Adam Scher grew up in Seattle WA, the son of a radio journalist and a customer and Union representative with local theaters. No surprises, then, that an appreciation for things audio and visual began at an early age. Early experiences at KNHC, a high school run public radio station in Seattle, and his education at Lake Washington Institute of Technology, provided him with a technical knowledge of recording, and a keen understanding of both visual and audio storytelling tools. Also an avid cycler, he started biking long distances in his early 20s, and a trip from Seattle to San Diego in 2011 firmly cemented a passion for travel. In 2014, Scher biked three full months across Europe, from Belgium to Portugal, photographing the trip as he went along and writing daily observations into an online journal. In 2015, the same year in which he completed the Adventure Cycling Association leadership training course, Scher was involved in a cycling accident that forced him to stop traveling to undergo a full year of treatment and recovery. As soon as he was able to get back in the saddle, he was adamant to test his abilities as a solo traveler again, and completed a three month long trip through the US South.

Meeting his partner Monica Jane Frisell in early 2021 became the catalyst that now finds Scher drawing on these previous experiences and passions and living full-time as a nomadic documentarian working within audio and photographic mediums. Scher’s artistic inspirations come from being on the road, seeing new landscapes, discovering the history of different places, and meeting new people to interview. He is forever motivated to explore what has not been seen.

Scher’s edited recordings for Portrait of US add another layer of intimacy to Frisell’s photos of those the couple meet in their travels and are an integral part to the continuity and strength of the project.

Solo Exhibitions:

Selected Awards, Fellowships and Lectures:

Portrait of US Collaborative project with Monica Frisell, awarded the Residency and Fellowship with the town of Lyndonville in Vermont. Lyndonville, VT. 2023
Portrait of US Accepted to Review Santa Fe portfolio review. 2023 (upcoming)
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Monica Frisell, awarded the Sulfur Studios ON::View Residency, Savannah, GA. March/April 2023
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Monica Frisell, Artist in Residence, NC State, Raleigh, NC. 2023
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Monica Frisell, awarded the Art and History Museums of Maitland Artist Residency and Fellowship. Maitland, FL. 2022-2023
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Monica Frisell, Rooms to Let group exhibition and residency with Slavic Village Development and Cleveland Printroom, Cleveland, OH. 2022
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Monica Frisell, awarded The Green Box Artist Residency and Fellowship, Green Mountain Falls, CO. September, 2022 - October 2022.
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Monica Frisell, awarded the Sulfur Studios ON::View Residency, Savannah, GA. March 2022.
Portrait of US Collaborative project with Monica Frisell, Artist-in-Residence, Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY. 2021

Publications/Press and Awards:

Education:
AA in Graphic Design from Lake Washington Institute of Technology

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