Mel Curtis

"I view my work as an act of discovery. My interests are mainly about exploring the manmade landscape with all its beauty and mystery."

Mel Curtis regards his work largely as poetic documents and emotional bookmarks, and his prints as artifacts and evidence of his travels and explorations of the manmade landscape. Always looking, always discovering, always trying to create a sense of place, his work reflects a romantic view of the world.

Curtis' 40-year career bridges the eras of traditional film and digital. Much of his work consists of silver gelatin prints handmade in a wet darkroom, while most of his contemporary work consists of archival ink-jet prints. Along the way, traditional film captures have been scanned and produced as ink-jet prints. Only the finest archival materials are used to create beautiful, long-lasting prints.

Mel Curtis studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati, where he was first exposed to photography. After a few years working in Washington, D.C., he began to explore the medium full time. He received an M.F.A. degree in photography from Ohio University. For most of his career, he has balanced his time between the worlds of art, commerce, and academia.

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Selected Exhibitions & Awards
Head to Toe: The Art of the Human Figure, University House, Seattle, WA, 2013
Seattle in Winter, Sisko Gallery, Seattle, WA, 2013
Profound and Profane, Sisko Gallery, Seattle, WA, 2010
Rome, Aljoya, Seattle, WA, 2010
Sacred and Secular, Sisko Gallery, Seattle, WA, 2007
Collections
The Seattle Art Museum, , Seattle, WA,
Microsoft Corporation, , Redmond, WA,
Hyatt Hotels, , Chicago, IL,
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, , Washington, DC,