User:Sbross/Suzette Bross

Suzette Bross (born February 5,1968) is an American photographer best known for her explorations of time, technology, and community. Bross’ photographs have won the photographer numerous exhibitions, publications, and awards. They have also been incorporated into the collections of museums in the US and abroad. Bross' work is amongst the permanent collections of institutions including The Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art. Bross’ interest in art did not stop at creating, she is actively involved in arts education in the public school system as founder and executive director of the 501(c)(3) CPS Lives.

Early Life & Education
Suzette Bross was born in Chicago, Illinois, she is the oldest child of John A. Bross and Louise Smith Bross. Bross attended Groton School, in Groton, Massachusetts. She went on to receive her Bachelor of Science in Television and Film from Northwestern University in 1990 and a MFA from the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1999.

Influences
Bross credits her Institute of Design teachers Tom Arndt and Joy Wolke and the photographers Barbara Crane and Kenneth Josephson, with whom she took courses with at SAIC, with helping her set her artistic direction. However even at an early age Bross had been taught to esteem the art of photography by her grandfather, Edward Byron Smith.

Early work
After her graduation from Northwestern, Bross worked in New York for the Manhattan File Magazine. as an events photographer of A-list celebrities, the fashion world and social icons for three years. Following her time in New York and completion of her MFA, Bross taught at Columbia College Chicago as an adjunct professor for five years.

Commute
In 2003 Bross' project Commute, The first of the series came to fruition on her drives to Milwaukee where she lectured at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. She captured the images on one of the first iPhones of her surroundings becoming a blur as she drove to her destinations. The second iteration Commute Trucks continued the exploration of modern landscape and visions of surroundings. Trucks was created from the modern landscape in Europe as its backdrop, Photographing trucks in a way that creates the shapes and forms of the vehicles melting away, becoming ribbons of color that blend with, and become the newly perceived landscape. The final part of the series, Commute Watertowers, Bross focus on the symbolic nature of watertowers with in the midwest to re-contextualized this iconic symbol using motion and low rez digital images.

Walks
Bross’ series “Walks” was realized through the repetitive nature of everyday life. Through her daily walks to the store and with her children, she noticed the near-infinite amount of patterns and oddities in her previously mundane walks. This observation turned into a meditation of the cracks in the sidewalk, the curve of the manhole covers, or even the greenness of the seeds in the dirt. Her recordings for this piece show primarily her feet from a top-down perspective as she walks through her daily life. Bross has exhibited this work at Geary Contemporary in New York and the group exhibition, titled “Alien Nation”, at Lehman College Art Gallery in The Bronx. Walks is apart of the Midwest Photographers Collection at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

Community
Bross’s community has always been a big part of her life. In a way to give back she works with non-profit organizations photographing the individuals they serve. She has collaborated with StreetWise magazine which helps Chicago homeless women and men achieve personal stability and strength through social services and aiding with employment. “Tent City” captured homeless people living under Chicago’s viaducts.

In 2018, Bross founded the non-profit CPS Lives, a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization that funds residencies in Chicago Public Schools to create art, engage students and emphasize the importance of public school education. It pairs Chicago artists with a Chicago Public School during the academic year to collaborate on a project, sharing the unique and individual story of each Chicago Public School. Such as Bross’s portraits of School Principals. The portraits which capture the uniqueness of each of their educational environments have been exhibited in several group shows.

Awards

 * 2020 15th Julia Margaret Cameron Award (Honorable Mention)
 * 2020 14th Pollux Awards (Honorable Mention)
 * 2019 Urban 2019 Photo Awards (Finalist)
 * 2016 Julia-Margaret Cameron Award (Finalist)
 * 2015 BOLT Residency, Chicago Artists Coalition
 * 2015 The Facets Award
 * 2015 Ragdale Residency

Publications

 * Barbara Ciurej & Lindsay Lochman (April 24, 2021) “On Collaboration: CPS Lives”. Lenscratch
 * Blaustein, Jonathan (March 12, 2021) “This week in Photography: Projects from Photonola, Part 1”. aPhotoEditor
 * dotArt (2020). “Staying Home Together”
 * King, Fraizer (2020). “Collectors Eye”. Schilt Publishing ISBN 9789053309353
 * River Styx #102 (2020). River Styx Magazine.
 * Souder, Lori (January 19, 2020). “Here Today, Africa Tomorrow: Rwanda”. Classic Chicago Magazine
 * Schneider, Katlin (August 28, 2019). “Artist Spotlight”. Seaberg Framing
 * dotArt (2019).“Urban Unveils the City and it’s Secrets”
 * One Twelve Publishing (2019). “Diffusion X” ISBN 978-0-578-83612-6
 * Zetouni, Sigalit (June 28, 2019). “Spirit Regained”. Chicago Life Magazine
 * Souder, Lori (November 26, 2017). “Here Today, Africa Tomorrow”. Classic Chicago Magazine
 * Alien Nations (2017). “Exhibition Catalog”. Lehman College Art Gallery
 * Bross, Judy (October 1, 2017). “The Multifaceted Charles Coleman”. Classic Chicago Magazine
 * (2017). “Tent City Out in the Cold”. Streetwise Magazine
 * (2016). “Living in Tent City”. Streetwise Magazine
 * Abe, Kyohei (2016). “Exhibitions In Review”. Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography
 * Zetouni, Sigalit (August 20, 2016). “Glass Variations”. Chicago Life Magazine
 * Cilella, Jessica (August 8, 2016). “West Chicago, creating public art inventory, artist registry”. Daily Herald
 * Konrad, Kelly (May 3, 2016). “Art in the Every Day”. Sheridan Road Magazine
 * Van Alyea, Ginny (April 27, 2016). “Photographer Suzette Bross: On the Fly”. Chicago Gallery News
 * Johnson, Paddy (November 28, 2014). “You are Being Watched: Cutting Edge Art Explores Our Surveillance Culture”. Artnet News
 * Nalewicki, Jennifer (November 10, 2014). “Photographer Suzette Bross Brings 'Foot Selfies' to NYC”. Interior Design
 * Blaustein, Jonathan (December 5, 2012). “Interview with New Mexico Museum of Art Photography Curator Katherine Ware”. aPhotoEditor
 * Artner, Alan (June 15, 2007). “Probing Psychology of Abandoned Spaces”. Chicago Tribune
 * Artner, Alan (April 4, 2003). “Baur makes magic from steel and concrete”. Chicago Tribune

Notable Exhibitions

 * “CURRENTS: An Exhibition” (1992) Group Exhibition. NY Soho Biennial, New York, NY
 * “Pregnant” (2001) Solo Exhibition. Orbit Digital, New York, NY
 * “Strong Touch: Images of Complementary Medicine” (2002) Solo Exhibition. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL
 * “Commute” (2002) Solo Exhibition. University Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL
 * “Commute” (2003) Solo Exhibition. Schneider Gallery, Chicago, IL
 * “Pregnant” (2006) Solo Exhibition. Groton School, Groton, MA
 * “Through the Looking Glass” (2007) Group Exhibition. Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA
 * “Obama Show” (2009) Group Exhibition. Will Jacks Studio, Cleveland, MS
 * “iScapes /Girls” (2011) Solo Exhibition. Schneider Gallery, Chicago, IL
 * “Collector’s Eye Exhibition” (2012) Group Exhibition. Fotofest, Houston, TX
 * “In Focus: Recent Acquisitions in Photography” (2012) Group Exhibition. New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
 * “DIY: Photographers & Books” (2012) Group Exhibition. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
 * “Walks” (2014) Solo Exhibition. Jack Geary Contemporary, New York, NY
 * “Berlin Foto Biennale” (2016) Group exhibition. Berlin, Germany
 * “For the Glass, Bolt Residency” (2016) Solo Exhibition. Chicago Artists' Coalition, Chicago, IL
 * “Google Gallery” (2017) Group Exhibition. Google Chicago, Chicago, IL
 * “Alien Nation” (2017) Group Exhibition. Lehman College Art Gallery, New York, NY
 * “A Look Within” (2019) Solo Exhibition. The Art Center Highland Park, Illinois
 * “Auckland Festival of Photography” (2020) Group Exhibition. Auckland, New Zealand.