Eileen Neff, a multidisciplinary artist with a background in literature and painting, has been creating “photo-based images and installations” since 1981. She recounts her understanding of poetry long before grasping painting. Her academic path led her from being an English major at Temple University, where she immersed herself in painting studios, to the Philadelphia College of Art (the recently closed University of the Arts). While teaching at a private secondary school, a tuition-free photography class captured her unexpectedly. “I began photographing pieces of my paintings and, before long, had convinced a couple of students to build a black and white darkroom in my apartment,” she recalls. This transition directed her focus to natural elements and interiors, subjects she still rigorously explores. Though she no longer paints, Neff states, “I still think more like a painter than a photographer; my photographs are still very driven by how a poem means.” Neff currently exhibits her work in In Some Light Reading, a group show at the Mitchell Art Museum featuring work by five artists and poetic texts by four writers addressing the life-making qualities of light. The show runs through July 7th.
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