Artist Statement
As an artist working in the genre of staged photography, I construct, light, and photograph miniature, staged vignettes in my studio to address the questions and contradictions of life, both large and small. Like other photographers who have staged their scenes, I am attracted to the open possibilities the “blank canvas” offers, using the camera to construct and express my narratives.
Despite the fact that I never depict actual humans in my photographs, the human psyche is undeniably at the center of my work. Our search for meaning and the contradictions of human existence constantly occupy my mind.
Grace Weston creates narrative photography in her studio with miniature staged vignettes that address psychological themes. Among her many honors, Weston was awarded both First Place Overall Portfolio as well as Gold Winner in the Fine Art Portfolio category in the 2021 Tokyo International Foto Awards. She has earned fellowships from both the Oregon Arts Commission and Artist Trust (Washington State), nominations for Portland Art Museum’s Contemporary Northwest Art Awards (Oregon), and numerous grants during her career spanning more than 25 years. She showed in YekatirinabegIn 2012, she had her first European solo exhibition at Paci Contemporary in Brescia, Italy. She has exhibited widely in the US, as well as Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and Japan. In 2009, she was a finalist in PhotoEspana’s Descubrimientos (Discoveries) exhibition in Madrid, and named one of the “Nine to Watch” in the Whatcom Museum Photography Biennial (Washington) in 2008.
Weston's work has been acquired by the Portland Art Museum (OR), the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (Fort Worth, TX), the University of the Arts (Philadelphia PA), Seattle Public Utilities Portable Artworks Collection (WA), King County Public Art Collection (WA), Photographic Center Northwest (WA), Portland Community College (OR), King County 4Culture (WA), the City of Seattle Portable Works (WA), as well as numerous private collections in the US, Europe and Japan.
Print magazines in the United States, Italy, Spain, China, and the Netherlands have featured her work, as well as international online magazines and art blogs. Peanut Press published a monograph of her work entitled The Neighbors Will Talk” in 2020. She is included in the book Microworlds (Laurence King Publishing, UK, 2011), and has been commissioned for editorial photography by O the Oprah Magazine and Discover Magazine. Her signature photography has been published on the covers of CDs, books, and print magazines, including Portland Monthly, Seattle Metropolitan, Pittsburgh Magazine, and Seattle’s weekly paper, The Stranger.
Originally from New Jersey, Grace has lived most of her years on the West Coast, from the beaches of Southern California to the dramatic Puget Sound. She currently resides in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and biggest cheerleader, architect Michael Payne, and their two cats, who remain completely unimpressed by any of this.
Originally from New Jersey, Grace has lived most of her years on the West Coast, from the beaches of Southern California to the dramatic Puget Sound. She currently resides in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and biggest cheerleader, architect Michael Payne, and their two cats, who remain completely unimpressed by any of this.
How to use our image viewer
Click on any of the thumbnail images to launch the viewer. You can then navigate forward and backward within the portfolio by clicking the left or right side of the enlarged image. Click the add to collection checkbox to automatically add an image to your collection. Image tags or search engine keywords appear below the collections' checkbox and each word or phrase is a link to potentially more image matches.
