michaelkolster@gmail.com
http://www.michaelkolster.com
2013 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow
Exhibition Record
Solo
2022/3 Home and Other Realms, University of New England Art Gallery, Portland, Maine
2020 Paris Parks, Metanoia Gallery, Paris, France
2019 Take Me to the River, Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia
2018 Paris Parks, Artspace Herndon, Herndon, VirginiaHawaiian Plastiglomerates, Lehman Gallery, Brooks School, N. Andover, MA
2017 Take Me to the River, Combes Gallery, The American University of Paris, France
2015 Take Me to the River, Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA
2014 Proving Ground, PhoPa Gallery, Portland, Maine
2013 Rivers Lost and Found, SRO Gallery, Texas Tech School of Art, Lubbock, TX
itiswhatitis, Space Gallery, Portland, Maine
2012 Still Life: Photographs on Glass, Schroeder Romero Shredder, Chelsea, NYC
A River Lost and Found, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
James River Photographs, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA
Down by the River, Tony Hungerford Gallery, College of So. Maryland, La Plata
Two Rivers, 621 Gallery, Tallahassee, FL
2009 New Orleans, Muskie School, University of Southern Maine, Portland
2008 Dwell, n., Icon Contemporary Art, Brunswick, ME
2007 Flux, Area Gallery, USM, Portland, ME (catalog) photographs from New Orleans
2006 comeandsee, The Map Room, Portland, ME (catalog)
2005 The Daily Post Grids, Space Gallery, Portland, ME
Multiples, Icon Contemporary Art, Brunswick, ME
2003 Mojave, Kingston Gallery, Boston, MA
1999 Selections, FVA, San Francisco, CA
1994 Houses, Bank of Oakland, Oakland, CA
1992 From Here to Now, Boston University Bookstore, Boston, MA
Two-Person
2015 The Redemption of the Schuylkill, University of Pennsylvania,Philadelphia
2003 Coastal, Maine Center for Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
Botanica, Round Room Gallery, Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA,
2002 Maine Coast: Photos and Paintings, Saco Museum, Saco, ME
Botanica, Landau Gallery, Belmont, MA
Juried Group
2023 CMCA Biennial, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport
2015 Wet Plate Collodion, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Director’s AwardSurviving the Storm, Katrina 10 Years Later, Montgomery College, Silver Spr.
2014 Landscape Today and Tomorrow, LLB Galleries, SUNY Geneseo
A Sense of Place, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta, GA
Scope: The Southern Landscape, Visual Art Exchange, Raleigh, NC
75 Years of Photography at City College, SF Camera Work, San Francisco, CA
2012 National Exposure Revisited, ARC Gallery, Chicago. IL
Art in the Open, Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2011 Art on Paper National Juried Exhibition, MFA, Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD
ETAL, California Museum of Photography, Riverside
The Suburban Challenge, Salem Art Association, Salem, OR
Hand+Eye - Curators Choice Gallery, TTL Gallery, Durham NC (catalog)
2010 Altered: National Juried Photography Exhibition, U of West Florida, Pensacola
2009 New England Photography Biennial, Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA
National Photography ’09, The Main Street Gallery, Groton, NY
American Visions Photography, Museum of Anthropology CSU, Chico, CA
2002 Biennial, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
Plugged In, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
1997 Photo Review Juried Annual, Philadelphia, PA, juried by Emmet Gowin
1994 Magic Silver, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky
Photo 94, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Juried Annual, Center for the Visual Arts, Oakland, CA
MetroPhoto Annual, San Francisco, CA
1992 Graduate Students of New England, Kingston Gallery, Boston, MA
Invitational Group
2022 The Morphing Medium, Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland
Photography Faculty II, Cove Street Arts, Portland, ME
2021 Complex Uncertainties, Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA
The Fleming Reimagined, Fleming Museum of Art, UVM, Burlington, VT
2020 Landmarks, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
MMPA Celebrates 10 Years & 100 Maine Photo Collectors, Maine Museum of
Photographic Arts, Portland, ME
2019 All the Marvelous Surfaces: Photography Since Karl Blossfeldt, deCordova SculpturePark and Museum, Lincoln, MA
Everyday Maine II, University of New England Gallery, Portland, Maine
2018 Everyday Maine I, The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of MaineArt in the Open: Selections 2010-2018, City Hall, Philadelphia, PA
2016 Branching Out, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Portland, Maine
2015 Biennial, Portland Museum of Art, Maine
Selections from the Bruce Brown Collection, U Maine Museum, of Art, Bangor
Highways and Byways, Portland Public Library, Maine, Sponsored by CMCA
Sliver and Salt, PhoPa Gallery, Portland, ME
2014 Making a New Whole: The Art of Collage, U of New England Gallery, Portland, ME
2013 View Find, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA
2012 Concerning Line, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA
2011 Photographing Maine: Ten Years Later, Center for Maine Contemporary Art
2009 Ordinary Life, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
2008 Art Show and Sale, 30 Romasco Studio, Portland, ME
2003 Taking Pictures, Icon Contemporary Art, Brunswick, ME
2002 Art Faculty, Bowdoin College, Icon Contemporary Art, Brunswick, ME
1995 Three Americans, Z Space, Paris, France
Grants and Awards
2021 Faculty Research Award (Subvention), Bowdoin College
2020 Faculty Research Award, Bowdoin College
Faculty Research Award (Subvention), Bowdoin College
2019 Fletcher Family Research Award, Bowdoin College
2018 Artist Teaching Resident, Brooks School, No. Andover, MA2018 Faculty Research Award (Subvention), Bowdoin College
2016 Faculty Research Award, Bowdoin College
2015 Project Grant Award, Maine Arts Commission
Faculty Research Award (Subvention), Bowdoin College
Faculty Research Award, Bowdoin College
2014 Finalist (with collaborator Matthew Klingle), Lange-Taylor Prize, CDS, Durham, NC
2013 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow
Leave Supplement Award, Bowdoin College
Alan M. Christenfeld Award, Bowdoin College
Faculty Research Award, Bowdoin College
2012 Residency Fellow, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Amherst, VA
2011 Bowdoin Faculty Fellowship, Bowdoin College
2008 Sydney B. Karofsky Prize for Junior Faculty, Bowdoin College
2006 Fletcher Family Research Grant, Bowdoin College
2005 Fletcher Family Research Grant, Bowdoin College
2004 Fletcher Family Research Grant, Bowdoin College
2002 Fletcher Family Research Grant, Bowdoin College
Rusack Coastal Studies Project Initiative Fund, Bowdoin College
2002 Faculty Research and Travel Grant, Bowdoin College
2001 Rusack Coastal Studies Project Initiative Fund, Bowdoin College
1992 Polaroid Artist Support Grant, Polaroid Corporation
1991 Polaroid Artist Support Grant, Polaroid Corporation
Collections
The American University of Paris
Brown University Bell Gallery, Providence, RI
Capital One Financial Corporation
Center for Creative Photography, Tucson. AZ
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
Eastman Museum of Photography and Film, Rochester, NY
Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, Burlington
High Museum, Atlanta, GA
The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA
Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland, ME
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
The Polaroid Corporation
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Princeton University Museum of Art, Princeton, NJ
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia
University of New England, Portland, Maine
Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
2022 Paris Park Photographs, Bilingual English/French, 120-page book of 54 tritones
with Afterword by Michelle Kuo,
George Thompson Publishing, Inc.
2019 L. A. River, 152-page book of Los Angeles River ambrotypes
with essays by Frank Gohlke and D. J. Waldie
George Thompson Publishing, Inc., Staunton, Virginia
2016 Take Me to the River, 240-page book of four river portfolios and three essays
George Thompson Publishing, Inc.Nominated for the Aperture Foundation's annual First Photo Book award.
Publications
2020 Museum from Home Series, Portland Museum of Art, April
2019 Spotlight: Contributor Michael Kolster, Memorious Issue 28
2017 Take Me to the River, BokehBokeh, Berkeley, CA, Fall 2017That Historical Coincidence,“Eyes on the South,” Oxford American
Don’t Take Pictures, Photo of the Day, June 15, Kat Kiernan
The Daily Post- http://dailypost.bowdoin.edu, since 2002, over 5500 entries
2016 Take Me to the River, Social Documentary Network, January 2016 Spotlight
2015 River Glass, Boom: A Journal of California,Summer, Vol. 5, No. 2,
You Can’t Get There From Here, Biennial Catalogue, Portland Museum of Art
Changing Places, The Backstory, Audio Recording, Biennial, Portland Museum of Art
The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, 3rd Edition, Christopher James
Topsham: From the River to the Highlands, by Robert C. Williams
Maine Photographs: A History (1840-2015), by Bischof, Danly, and Shettleworth
LA River Ambrotypes, F-Stop Magazine, Issue #71, Summer
2014 From the River: Michael Kolster’s Handmade Photographs, KCET Artbound,
CarrenJao, Nov. 24
2012 Loupe Vol 2, Issue 3, Journal of the Photographic Resource Center, Boston
Memorious Issue 18, A Journal of New Verse and Fiction
2010 Consilience – The Journal of Sustainable Development, Columbia University, NYC
Last Days of the Coliseum, Connecticut Public Television, Richard Hanley, producer
2007 New Orleans Photographs 2005-2006, catalogue
2006 Four Projects: The Map Room as an Image-Making Device, catalogue
1997 Photo Review Annual, Philadelphia, PA
1991 From Here to Now, commissioned book, Allendale Columbia School, Rochester, NY
Reviews
2017 Take Me to the River Book Review, Emma Brown, ZEKE Magazine, Fall Issue
Take Me to the River Book Review, A. Quintenz-Fiedler, Photographer’s Forum
Take Me to the River Book Review, Blake Andrews, PhotoEye, Santa Fe, March 23
2015 THE PMA BIENNIAL, The Portland Phoenix, November 4
Maine Event: Excellent Art on View in Portland Biennial, The Boston Globe
Portland Museum of Art’s Biennial, Portland (ME) Press-Herald, Oct. 18
Art Review: The PMA Biennial,The Bollard, Nov 5
Past and Present Perspectives, The Portland Phoenix, April 1
2014 Take Me to the River: Wet Plate Photography by Michael Kolster, 35to220.com, June
Photos Mirror Images Taken Centuries Ago, Rob Pavey, Augusta (GA) Chronicle
2012 Shock of the New, Amazing Use of the Old, Phil Isaacson, Portland Press Herald
Androscoggin Project Gains Attention, Kathryn Skelton, Sun Journal, Lewiston, ME
Michael Kolster: Making a Glass Wall, Kevin Logghe, Fotosavant.com, July
Resemblance, Mark Harley, Richmond Arts Review, 14 September
Michael Kolster Explores the James River, FanoftheFan.com, 19 September
New Photography by Michael Kolster, Rebecca Barnabi, Examiner.com, September
Michael Kolster: Still Life, Photographs on Glass, NY Art Beat, July
A River Lost and Found, 207 News Magazine segment, WCSH6 TV, Portland, ME
2011 The Androscoggin Then and Now, article and video, Kathryn Skelton, Sun Journal
2008 Dwell, n. at Icon, David Raymond, Art New England, June/July
He Points, Shoots, Makes a Point, Maine Sunday Telegram
2006 Don’t Forget New Orleans, Times Record, Brunswick, ME, October
comeandsee, Maine Sunday Telegram, August
Eye Cartography, Portland Phoenix, July
2004 Multiples at Icon, Chris Thompson, Art New England, June/July
Kolster’s Decisiveness, Philip Isaacson, Maine Sunday Telegram
Visiting Artist Lectures/Residencies
2023 Residency Fellow, Ucross Foundation, Clearmont, WY
2022 Spring Speaker Series, L. L. Bean, Freport, ME
2020 “Horizon Markers: Plastiglomerates in Paradise,” 2020 Hawaii International Conference
on Arts & Humanities, Honolulu
2019 Artist Lecture, “Take Me to the River,” Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA
2018 Artist-in-Residence, The Brooks School, North Andover, MA“Photographic Process - Clarence White” lecture to docents, Portland Museum of Art
“Clarence White’s World,” gallery talk, Portland Museum of Art, ME
Audio Guide Discussant as part of Clarence White exhibition, Portland Museum of Art
2017 Artist-in-Residence, The American University of Paris
“Photographers on Photography,” gallery talk, Portland Museum of Art, ME
The Griffin Museum, Winchester, MA
2016 Skowhegan History House Museum & Research Center, Skowhegan, Maine
Yarmouth Historical Society, Yarmouth, Maine
2015 Panel discussion, Slought Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
“Photography in Focus,” Mellon Workshop, Bowdoin College Museum of Art
2014 Artist Lecture, Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia
Artist Lecture, Georgia Regents University, Augusta
2013 Gale Memorial Lecture, University of New Mexico School of Art, Albuquerque
2012 Art in the Open Philadelphia, Juried Participating Artist
Visiting Artist, University of Richmond, VA
“The Androscoggin River: Lost and Found,” Hallowell Gallery, Hallowell, ME
“The Androscoggin River: Lost and Found,” Western Maine Audubon, Jay, ME
2011 “The Androscoggin River: Lost and Found,” Civic Forum Series, Bates College, Lewiston
Artist Lecture, University of Richmond, VA
2009 Framing Time and Place Conference, University of Plymouth, UK
"New Orleans: Rebuilding an American City," Muskie School for Public Service, USM
“Approaching the Big Picture Problem – New Orleans Rebuild and The Daily Post,”
Allendale Columbia School, Rochester, NY
2007 Learning Associate, Bates College, Lewiston, ME
Rockwell Visiting Artist, The Taft School, Watertown, CT
Artist-in-Residence, University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME
2000 Visiting International Artist, Brasil Em Foco, São Paulo, Brazil
Education
1992 M.F.A., Photography, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
1989 Certificate, Documentary Photography full-time program
International Center of Photography, NYC
1985 B.A., American Studies, Williams College, Williamstown, MA,
concentration in Math/Computer Science
Professional Experience
2018- Professor of Art, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2009-18 Associate Professor of Art, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2001-09 Assistant Professor of Art, Bowdoin College
2000-01 Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, Bowdoin College
1994-2000 Instructor of Photography, Academy of Art College, San Francisco, CA
1995-98 Instructor of Photography, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
1995 Instructor of Photography, University of California Extension, San Francisco, CA