Artist Statement

The photographs are pictures of my home, northern New Mexico. Living here has taught me compassion and respect for all people and cultures. Their icons and myths and vital symbols are all equal sources for reverence and awe.

Fundamentally, these are personal pictures, "snapshots" which, for me, elicit no words. Southwest images are rich and bountiful--so haunting that they seem to linger in my mind, silent but resonant. These photographs help to recall a mood, an impulse, a transitory texture, an uncanny stillness of space and voice.

I'm concerned about the implications, here as elsewhere in the world, of assimilation and homogeneity, but if my photographs often document what is being lost to time and growth, no political message is intended. Native American ruins are lost to weather or mindless vandalism. Spanish Colonial mud homes melt back into the land. Erosion, whatever its source, becomes part of the beauty--a kind of victory of the mind's eye over matter. Vitality, even if only recollected, prevails.

Some other thoughts about this place and how it affects my work..... Here there is real representation of the people. Here is a primacy of tradition and history. Here primitive is never a criticism, and almost anything can be useful or beautiful or sacred. Taos provides me with a simple and profound sense of place. It is my home. -- Willi Wood, Taos

Willi Wood Resume

Born: Lexington, KY

Education: University of Kentucky

Moved to Taos: 1980

Media: Black and white photography, hand-tinted silver prints, works on paper, beadwork and jewelry.

Selected Exhibitions and Awards

2006 Amazing Women of Taos, group show, Taos Country Club, Taos.

2002 Presence of Trees, three-person show, Parks Gallery, Taos

2001 Three Friends, Parks Gallery, Taos.

1999 Taos Invites Taos, toned photograph awarded Best of Show in juried exhibition, Taos.

1996 “Taos Mountain: A Month of Moods,” one woman show of silver prints, The Parks Gallery, Taos.

1994 “Flight to Amaranthia,” one woman show of colored pencil drawings, The Parks Gallery, Taos.

1993 Taos Spring Arts Celebration,” hand-tinted photograph awarded Best of Show in juried exhibition.

“Erotic Art Show,” juried exhibition, Rod Goebel Gallery, Taos.

“Retablos: Traditional & Innovative,” invitational exhibition, Taos Inn, Taos.

“Taos Sketch Group,” invitational, Collins-Pettit, Taos

“7 Women,” curated by Jim Wagner, Philip Bareiss Gallery, Taos.

1992 “Willi Wood: Southwest Visions,” one woman show, Headley-Whitney Museum, Lexington, Kentucky.

“Art to Wear,” juried exhibition, Stables Art Center, Taos.

1990 Taos Photography,” juried exhibition sponsored by Taos News.

“ Winter In Taos,” juried exhibition, Stables Art Center, Taos.

“11 Taos Photographers,” invitational, Casa Feliz, Taos.

“Family Values,” juried exhibition, Stables Art Center, Taos.

1989 “Works on Paper,” juried exhibition, Stables Art Center, Taos.

“ Taos Up Close,” invitational photography exhibition, Mission Gallery, Taos.

1986 “Invitational Photography Exhibition,” Mission Gallery, Taos.

1983-85 Open Space Gallery, Taos.

1983 “Taos Fall Arts Show,” juried exhibition, Stables Art Center, Taos

1982 “Two-dimensional Works,” juried exhibition, Taos Art Association.

Publications:

“The Moods of Taos Mountain” Taos Magazine, December 1996

“Visual Wordplay,” Taos Magazine, July 1994