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Kathryn Kolb was born in Indiana and grew up in the rural countryside near Charlottesville, Virginia. In 1983 she received a BA in History from Emory University in Atlanta, concentrating on ancient Europe and the Near East. After taking several photography classes at The Southeastern Center for the Arts, Kolb began work as a free-lance photographer, based in Atlanta since 1985. Beginning in journalism and editorial work, she shifted focus to fine art images of natural forms and landscapes in the mid-nineties. Though Kolb has no formal training as an artist, visual arts run strong in both parents' families, and her paternal grandfather, Harold H. Kolb, was a noted watercolor painter working in Boston and the New England area. (see: hkwatercolors.com)
Kolb's editorial work is characterized by an artistic style with strong graphic elements. Her photographs have been widely published and have appeared in Smithsonian, Veranda, Rolling Stone, Nature Conservancy, Orion magazine and many others. Special photographic projects Kolb accomplished include: a series of environmental portraits of regional artists for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution; portraits of formerly homeless men and women who regained successful lives through Atlanta's Samaritan House, and self-published calendars of Atlanta and Athens musicians, including artists REM and Indigo Girls. In 1996, Kolb photographed a medical mission to rural communities in the Dominican Republic. In 1999-2001, Kolb produced calendars for Georgia Forestwatch, featuring unprotected areas in Georgia's national forests. Her work was included in the Sierra Club's Clearcut: The Tragedy of Industrial Forestry, and she illustrated several articles for Smithsonian magazine including a feature on kudzu in October 2000. Her Tree Series photographs were featured in the Oct/Nov 2001 Veranda magazine, and The Wilderness Society commissioned Kolb to photograph roadless and wilderness areas of the southeastern Appalachians for the publication, Why Wilderness? What the Last Remaining Wildlands of the Southern Appalachians Mean to the People of the Southeast, published in 2004.
Kolb‘s fine art series include black & white and color photographs of landscapes, trees and other plants from diverse natural environments, often from the Southeastern US. Her most recent work, mostly in color, explores abstract constructions that seem more akin to painting than photography. As photographer, Kolb stays true to the simplest form of her medium - all works are straightforward, un-manipulated images, and she uses no digital cameras or printing techniques. Kolb takes all photographs on film with a Hasselblad medium format camera and prints with traditional enlargers, and includes a "full frame" border on each print. All prints are produced on archivally processed papers.
Kolb‘s fine art photographs can be found in numerous private and institutional collections including those of the Georgia Museum in Athens, GA, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, King & Spalding (Atlanta), Barg Coffin Lewis & Trapp LLP (San Francisco), Georgia Conservancy, Emory's Goizueta Business School, Georgia Tech, and the City of Atlanta.
In 1999, through Soho-Myriad Gallery (Atlanta), Kolb was commissioned to create non-traditional landmark portraits of the University of Virginia campus for a permanent installation at the University's Boar's Head Inn in Charlottesville. Images from Kolb‘s Tree Series were recently installed in the public spaces of the Children's Clinic at Emory University. In 2005 Kolb‘s work was featured in a solo exhibit at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History (Atlanta). In August 2005 Kolb and her work were featured as cover story in the Arts Section of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. In 2007 she was featured on TBS'
award-winning television series Storyline, and Kolb was one of five photographers selected to display work on Atlanta's MARTA buses for the public art project "Art in Motion," sponsored by the City of Atlanta in 2008. Kolb‘s book Kathryn Kolb Photographs was released in November 2008.
Kathryn Kolb's interest in the environment goes beyond her visual aesthetic. Growing up in rural Virginia and with maternal family roots in the western North Carolina mountains, she developed a strong appreciation of the value of natural landscapes. Since the early nineties Kolb has worked to preserve and restore native forest environments and care for urban trees and greenspace. She helped to produce new tree ordinances for DeKalb County and the City of Atlanta, served on the board of Georgia Forestwatch, and helped the City of Atlanta acquire a greenspace in her neighborhood. She was also the principal founder of Keeping It Wild (originally a program of The Wilderness Society and now an independent non-profit) dedicated to bringing diverse conservation community partners together in order to connect urban residents to natural lands and promote the protection and restoration of natural and wildlands in Atlanta, Georgia and the Southeast.
In 2009-2010, Kolb designed and launched a photography center and print studio in Serenbe Community in Palmetto, GA, where she currently serves as founding director. Most recently, Kathryn Kolb Photographs won best of category "Nature Photography" in the JBX Media International Book Awards 2010.
Kathryn Kolb‘s fine art photographs are currently available through Thomas Deans Fine Art, Atlanta; Haen Gallery, Asheville, NC; Artstudio 101, Scottsdale, AZ.
Kathryn Kolb Resume – 1986–present:
Fine Art Exhibitions
Georgia Museum of Art, Photographs from the Permanent Collection, Athens, GA, 2011
State Botanical Gardens of Georgia, Athens, GA, 2011
The Gallery at Serenbe, Palmetto, GA 2011
Trees Atlanta, Judges Show (with David Knox), 2010
Dogwood Gallery, Nature Undisturbed, Tyrone, GA, 2010
Haen Gallery, Asheville, NC, solo, 2009
City of Atlanta Art in Motion, displayed on MARTA buses, 2007
Rialto Theatre, (with Marilyn Suriani), 2007
Thomas Deans Fine Art, 2008, 2006; solo, 2005
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atrium Gallery, solo, 2006
City Hall East Gallery, 2006
Thomasville Cultural Center, Thomasville, GA, 2006
Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta, solo, 2005
Schedler Fine Art, Birmingham, AL, 2005
Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts, Valdosta, GA, solo*, 2005
Krause Gallery, Atlanta 2004
Galerie MC, Atlanta, 2004
Melissa & Jerome Walker, Decatur, GA, solo, 2003
Swan Coach House, Atlanta 2003
Roswell Fine Arts Center, 2003
City Issue Gallery, 2001,02
Soho-Myriad Gallery, Atlanta, 2000, 2001, 2002, 1998
City Hall East Gallery, Atlanta, 1999
Gwinnett Fine Arts Center, Atlanta, 1998
The Food Business, Decatur, GA 1997
Atlanta Photography Gallery, Atlanta 1993, 97
Camille Love Gallery, Atlanta, 1996
League of Finnish American Societies
Helsinki, Finland 1995
Trinity Gallery, Atlanta, 1993
The Emory Gallery, Atlanta 1992
Atlanta University Gallery, Atlanta 1987
Gallery Two Nine One, Atlanta 1986
Collections
Georgia Museum, Athens, GA
Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia
Barg Coffin Lewis & Trapp LLP, San Fransisco
King and Spalding, Atlanta
Sutherlin Asbill & Brennan, LLP, Atlanta
Laura Turner & Rutherford Seydel
John and Dianne Smoltz
Gerald and Lyn Grinstein
Georgia Conservancy, Atlanta
City of Atlanta
Fulton County Arts Council
M. Rose, Netherlands
Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Atlanta
Calloway Gardens, GA
Goizueta Business School, Emory University
University of Virginia, Boar's Head Inn
Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta
Childrens' Clinic, Emory University Hospital
Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Atlanta
Parker, Johnson, Cook & Dunlevie, Atlanta
Southern Company
Georgia TECH, Atlanta
Mark Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco
Hyatt Regency, Muscat, Oman
Mandarin Hotel, NY
Omni CNN Center, Atlanta
Editorial and other clients, 1986-present
Magazines/Newspapers
Smithsonian
Veranda
Orion
Nature Conservancy
Outside
Request
People
Rolling Stone
American Theater
The Village Voice
Chronicle of Higher Education
Atlanta Magazine
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
The Chicago Sun-Times
Environmental
The Wilderness Society, Washington, DC
Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, Asheville, NC
Pacific Rivers Council, Eugene, OR
Southern Environmental Law Center, Charlottesville, VA
The Nature Conservancy, Washington, DC
Georgia Conservancy, Atlanta, GA
Georgia Forestwatch, Ellijay, GA
The Sierra Club, Atlanta, GA
Trust for Public Land, Atlanta, GA
Institutions (Atlanta area)
Shepherd Center
Tanner Medical Center
Ridgeview Institute
INPO
The Carter Center
Emory University
Georgia TECH
Georgia State University
Agnes Scott College
Arts/Entertainment/Misc
Zyrtec (TV commercial), Los Angeles
Routledge Press, London/NY NY
CAM entertainment, Atlanta
Times 3, graphic design, Atlanta
Horizon Theater Company, Atlanta
Center for Puppetry Arts, Atlanta
Publications
Kathryn Kolb Photographs, K2 Press, Atlanta, 2008 (winner International Book Awards 2010)
Why Wilderness? What the Last Remaining Wildlands of the Southeastern Appalachians Mean to the People of the Southeast, The Wilderness Society, Washington, DC, 2004
Georgia's Last Wild Places calendars, Georgia Forestwatch, Ellijay, GA , 2001, 2000,1999 (winner, Print Excellence Awards 2000, 2001)
1996 Trees Calendar; Times 3 graphic design, Atlanta, 1996
Clearcut, The Tragedy of Industrial Forestry, The Sierra Club/Earth Island Press, San Francisco, 1993
I Love You Enough to Let You Go; Printed Matter, Inc. Atlanta, 1990
Ten Artists Ten Years, Madison-Morgan Cultural Center, Madison, GA 1986
Can You See Me? Images of Atlanta's Homeless; Marmac Publishing Co. Atlanta 1986
Awards:
Winner, Nature Photography Category, International Book Awards, 2010
Sharing the Planet Award, Atlanta Jobs Corps, 2009
Print Excellence Award, for Georgia‘s Last Wild Places calendars, Printing Industry Association of Georgia, 2000, 2001
Award of Appreciation for Outstanding Achievement, Sierra Club, 1999
Outstanding Commitment to Protecting Georgia‘s Forests, Georgia Forestwatch, 1998
Links:
kathrynkolb.com
thomasdeansfineart.com
thehaengallery
serenbephotographycenter.com
hkwatercolors.com
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