Hover (2.8) | Digital Scan/Mixed Media Photography | 40" x 40" | 2010

Artist Statement: Hover is a series of deep portraits exploring both the physical and spiritual presence of a person in solitude, and the threshold between the observer and the observed. These images are originally constructed by layering transparent photographic images with materials such as: dirt, petals, thorns, eggshell, hair, thread, and glass—giving both a conceptual and physical presence. The pieces are then scanned, reworked and printed to life scale, creating for the viewer another uneasy sense of “hover.” With the selective clarity of deep ice, these images are the membrane that absorbs the coming together of fact, imagination, and memory.

Born in Oak Park, IL, Peggy Shaw received her Master of Fine Arts in photography from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is an Associate Professor in Photography/Video at Parkland College, Champaign, IL. Her photography has been shown nationally including solo exhibitions in Chicago and New York, and has won numerous awards in photography and video. Shaw lives in Mahomet, IL with her family in the timber frame home they built by hand.