Barwood VCU GRAD PHTO Research: Monday 10/18/10

Tema Stauffer

I like the Dog Show series for its access into a secret, private society. It allows us entry into a world behind closed doors. It reminds me a lot of the movie, Best In Show.

Bio:

Tema Stauffer was born in 1973 and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She currently lives in Brooklyn and teaches at The School of the International Center of Photography and William Paterson University. Her work is represented by Daniel Cooney Fine Art Gallery in New York City.

Tema graduated from Oberlin College in 1995 and received a Master's Degree in Photography from The University of Illinois at Chicago in 1998. She received CAAP grants for projects in 1999 and 2000 and also contributed a series of photographs shot on ride-alongs with police officers to the CITY2000, an archive of photographs examining the city of Chicago in the year 2000.

In 2001, Tema moved to Minneapolis. She collaborated on projects with a minimalist music ensemble called Smattering, including a fusion of digital photography, drawing, and sound at the Cowles Conservatory of The Walker Art Center in July 2002. A large body of her work was shown in an exhibition with The Minnesota Center for Photography at The Katherine E. Nash Gallery at The University of Minnesota, and in a solo exhibition at The Rochester Art Center in 2004.

She has participated in seven group shows at Jen Bekman Gallery and her solo show, “American Stills”, opened in October 2004. Fifteen images from this body of work were selected by The Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College in Chicago for the Midwest Photographers Project. Her work has also been exhibited at Fotofest 2010 Biennial in Houston, The Chicago Cultural Center, The Terra Museum of American Art, The Musee Departmental d' Art Contemporain de Rouchechourt, The Hyde Park Art Center, The Detroit Contemporary, The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, The 3rd Ward Brooklyn, Tyler School of Art, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Adrian College Gallery, Central Lakes College Gallery, The Joymore Gallery, The Butcher Shop Gallery, The Gallery 400, The Icebox Gallery, Heaven Gallery, David Allen Gallery, Jon Oulman Gallery, The Lyceum Theatre Gallery, Dean Jenson Gallery, Moti Hasson Gallery, Randall Scott Gallery and Sasha Wolf Gallery.

Tema has shot for The Chicago Reader, The City Pages, The Rake Magazine, Lavender Magazine, The Village Voice, and W Magazine. She has contributed to online publications including Ausgang, A Field Guide to the North American Family and Humble Arts Foundation’s Group Show. Tema was a finalist for the McKnight Photography Fellowship in 2005 and was nominated for the KLM Paul Huf Award in 2008. She is also currently a curator for Culturehall, an online resource for contemporary art.

Solo Exhibitions:

Tyler School of Art, Elkins Hall Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, Selected Works, 2008
Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY, American Stills, 2004
AvroKO/PUBLIC Gallery, New York, New York, Photo installation in project space, 2004
Minnesota Center for Photography at The Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Un. of MN, Minneapolis, MN, Heart Land, 2004
Minnesota Center for Photography at Jon Oulman Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, Dog Show, 2004
The Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN, American Stills, Emerging Artist Series, 2004
Central Lakes College Gallery, Brainerd, MN, Seven Scenes, 2004

Group Exhibitions:

Randall Scott Gallery, Washington D.C., 8: Eight Photographers, 2008
Dean Jenson Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, Big, Big Bangs/ Small, Small Bucks, 2008
Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY
* The Girl’s Room: By The Drier Project, 2006
* Meditations in an Emergency, 2006
* Best Midwestern: Photography from the Heartland, 2004
* The Pin-up Show, 2004
* Home (for the Holidays), 2004
* 8.5 x 11: Perspectives on the Everyday, 2003
* Inaugural Exhibition, 2003
The School of the International Center of Photography, New York, NY
Faculty Exhibition: About This, 2007, Faculty Exhibition, 2006
G2 Gallery of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, You’re in my space, 2007
Moti Hasson Gallery, New York, NY, HIV Law Project Benefit Exhibition, 2007 and 2008
Lyceum Theatre Gallery, San Diego, CA, The Art of Photography Show, 2007
Gallery at 3rd Ward, Brooklyn, NY, Strange Instrument, 2006
David Allen Gallery, New York, NY, Nymphoto: Filtered, 2004
Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL, A Great Midwestern, 2004
The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Exhibition of American Art: People In Motion, 2004
Icebox Gallery Minneapolis, MN, SKIN 2003, 2003
Warren St. Loft, New York, NY, Nymphoto: Women’s Collective Art Show, 2002
Cowles Conservatory, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Collaboration of digital photographic imagery, drawing and sound with visual artist, David Hamlow, and minimalist music ensemble, Smattering, 2003
Midwest Warehouse, Minneapolis, MN, Warehouse: A Decade of work/Work, 2002
Chicago-Ashland Space, Chicago, IL, Curious Terrors, 2002
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, You Are Here: Chicago in the year 2000, (City 2000), 2000
Joymore Gallery, Chicago, IL, Heavy Petting, 2000
The Butcher Shop Gallery, Chicago, IL, On the Prowl, 2000
Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL, Homegrown: annual exhibition of faculty and student artwork, 1999, 2000, 2005-2007
Musee Departemental d’ Art Contemporain de Rouchechoart, France, Propositions II, 1998
Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, IL, 1998: New Artists in Chicago: exhibition of 39 selected Chicago-area graduate students, 1998
Gallery 400, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, MFA exhibition of 23 color photographs, 1998

Grants, Awards, Collections:

Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, Midwest Photographers Project, fifteen images selected for project in 2005
McKnight Photography Fellowship, MN, Finalist, 2005
Minnesota Museum of American Art, Myron James Czarniecki III Photography Collection
The Comer Archive of Chicago in the Year 2000, Chicago, IL
Documentary photographer for photographic archive of Chicago in the year 2000 – photographed scenes from ride-alongs with Chicago police officers, 2000
The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Honorable Mention, “Exhibition of American Art: People in Motion”, 2004
Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago, IL, CAAP grants for Dog Show Photography Project, 1999 and 2000
The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, The Robert Stiegler Award – annual scholarship given to a graduate student in photography, 1998
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, Second Prize Winner of the national 1997 Visions of Excellence Photography Contest
Battle Creek Art Museum, Battle Creek, MI, People’s Choice Award, “Focus ‘94”, 1994

Education:

University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL Master of Fine Arts in Photography, 1998
Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH Bachelor of Arts, May 1995
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Color photography, film and advanced independent study in photography, winter semester, 1994