JCC Gallery Opening: Erin Patton-McFarren's "Um Passo a Frente"

Residing in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Erin creates cyanotypes as a means of marking time and place. Using non-toxic materials and the original 1842 recipe, her cyanotypes interact with sunlight and bodies of water, allowing shifting forms of light and movement to produce unique images on paper.

She was awarded the Eli Lilly Endowment Creativity Fellowship, which enabled her to spend a summer creating art along the coast of Brazil, including Ubatuba, Rio, and Copacabana. Her work has been featured in exhibitions such as Art IN the Abstract at the Indiana State Museum and The National: Best Contemporary Photography at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art (FWMoA). Her cyanotype Saint Mary’s River is included in FWMoA’s collection of contemporary photography.

"Um Passo à Frente" Artist Statement

My journey as an artist is one of movement, both physical and internal. Brazil, with its lush landscapes, rhythmic language, and natural minimalism, has shaped not only my work but my way of seeing the world. Each place I have explored; Itamambuca, Rio, São Paulo, São Luís do Paraitinga, has left its mark, offering new ways of working, observing, and being.

I create in conversation with my surroundings. Watching waves roll in before they break, studying the changing light, and allowing the wind to guide the process. I work with nature rather than against it, embracing the elements, water, sun, and earth to form images that echo the rolling hills, ocean tides, and shifting landscapes around me.

"Um Passo à Frente" will be exhibited at JCC Indianapolis until March 8.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher JCC Indianapolis