CATHY SPENCE
“My interest in photography grew out of my fascination with the art of portraiture and the history of the medium itself. From the early daguerreotypes to the work of the mid-twentieth century, portraits created by anonymous photographers and well-known portraitists such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll and E.J. Bellocq remain a constant source of inspiration. I am attracted to the elegance of the images and the patina that the passage of time has wrought on the surfaces of the prints themselves, but mainly, I am attracted to the fearlessness in which these artists pursued their work. These photographers created their own rules at a time when photography, by many, was not seriously considered an art form. Imagination and vision were not hampered by a set aesthetic code. In my images, elements of nostalgia from faded postcards, esoteric antiquities and folklore merge with the imaginary world of children.” —Cathy Spence
Cathy Spence was born in Beaumont, Texas in 1967. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Lamar University in 1997 and has been an assistant to Keith Carter since that time. Spence uses many methods in her photography including hand-coloring, staining, and toning as well as tearing and folding. Her photography has been exhibited in many group exhibitions in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and New York. Spence’s photography is part of the permanent collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Ransom Center at the University of Texas and the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography. She lives in Beaumont.
PHOTO Cathy and Wes Spence by Bill Wittliff, 1998 from the Tragaluz series