Draft:Holly Gordon

Holly Gordon is a Bay Shore Long Island photographer, creating fine art and documentary photography. In recent years she has been primarily known for pioneering the "photo-liminalism" process of achieving painterly quality in photography that has not been known in the past.

Photography
Holly Gordon has exhibited extensively in the United States. Her work has been shown in Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY, Kellenberg Hall Gallery, Rockville Centre, NY, fotofoto gallery, Huntington, NY, Greenwich Audubon Center Gallery, Greenwich, CT, Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY, Long Island Museum, Stony Brook, NY, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY in an exhibition curated by Colin Goldberg. Her photographs have been published in Guide to Historic Artists' Homes & Studios by Valerie A. Balint, 28mm.Org: Offline. They have been featured in Galapagos.org annual report, Kodak Co. professional website, New York Times, New York City, The Long Islander, NY, Newsday, NY, Daily News, NY, Long Island Pulse, NY, TBR Newsmedia, NY, Shutterbug Magazine, NYC. Her photographs are in the collections of Stony Brook Hospital, NY, NYU Langone, NYC, Melville Corporate Plaza, NY, Molloy College, NY. Gordon is a recipient of multiple awards from such organizations as Long Island Museum, NY, National Wildlife Federation, VA.

Gordon started her photography practice in the 1960's, working with film in traditional wet darkroom. Acquiring a digital camera in 2001 signified a breakthrough in her artistic practice, which led to diversification and broadening of her stylistic range. After the death of her husband Gordon began extensive traveling, which resulted in creation of photographical series from Antarctica, Galapagos, China, Cambodia, Cuba, Vietnam. After her series of photographs from Antarctica printed on Kodak Metallic paper was noticed by Kodak company, Holly Gordon was made an official professional partner.

Among her main artistic influences are works of Georgia O'Keefe and paintings of impressionists.

Photo-liminalism
Holly Gordon is a master of the technical workings of a camera, as well as the capabilities of computer software. She pioneered a new form of photography, where digital editing is used to create photographs that resemble paintings. This went beyond customary usages of computer software in photographical practice and resulted in the development of the new art form. Gordon calls this process "photo-liminalism". She alters her initial images by adding and subtracting layers, adjusting and eliminating objects, editing colors. She became one of the first photographers employing the method prior to it becoming well-known among the artistic community and the public. Her groundbreaking artistic practice received recognition and led to collaborative partnerships with Topaz Software and Nik Software.

Collaboration with Ward Hooper
Holly Gordon and another Long Island based artist Ward Hooper got acquainted through Facebook when Gordon reached out to him after seeing his painting on the website and immediately recognizing the correlation between their mutual works. Their dialogue online later resulted in a collaborative project, which culminated in the publishing of Parallel Perspectives: The Brush/Lens Collaboration. While eventually planning regular outings, they mutually captured the landscapes of Long Island. At each spot Hooper created a sketch and Gordon a photograph. Most of their artworks were created on the north shore of Long Island that included the historic maritime village of Northport.

The culmination of this joint collaborative project provided the book with paintings and photographs, as well as preparatory sketches and shots of the locations. Their artistic partnership was compared to one of famous artist Arthur Dove and his wife, painter Helen Torr, whose cottage Gordon and Hooper visited during one of their outings. Gordon and Hooper's collaboration is reminiscent of the many famous pairs of artists who worked in Long Island, namely Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler, Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, Elaine and Willem de Kooning. In 2021 Parallel Perspectives: The Brush/Lens Collaboration became a finalist of Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Holly Gordon spoke about her book on crowdcast venue with the Book Revue, Huntington, LI, on podcasts with Oh Brother from Westport, CT and Between the Covers, Massapequa, NY and live talks at the West Babylon Library, NY, Bay Shore Library, NY, Islip Arts Gallery, NY, Art League of Long Island, NY.