Biography of Skip Schiel

Photographer and Photography Teacher

Teeksa Photography-Skip Schiel

Resume

Artist statement

schiel@ccae.org

9 Sacramento St.
Cambridge MA 02138-1843 USA
617-441-7756


teeksaphoto.org (website)

skipschiel.wordpress.com (blog)

Occupation

Photographer, self employed—Teeksa Photography, 1980—present

Teacher of photography, Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 1990—present, Quaker Palestine Youth Program, 2005—present

Education

Many photographic collaborations with other artists, including an inter-racial photographers' collective in Boston, 1980—present

Workshops in photography, filmmaking, computer techniques, and video at various arts centers, Boston, 1978—2000

Informal studies and educational collaborations with Minor White, MIT, 1965—1968

Graduate studies in mathematics, Tufts University, 1965; undergraduate degrees in mathematics and psychology, University of Washington, 1962-65; undergraduate studies in engineering, Iowa State University, 1959-62

Photographic experience

Numerous journeys to Indian reservations, faith communities, and cities, and other countries including Palestine, Israel, South Africa, Bosnia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, often to explore ceremonies, use of land, history, and spiritual perspectives, 1983—present

Exhibits at the Chicago Cultural Center, Boston Public Library, Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, national and regional Quaker conferences, colleges and universities such as MIT, Harvard, University of Rochester, and Truman College in Chicago

In publications such as Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Progressive Magazine, Boston Herald, National Catholic Reporter, Sojourners, Creation Spirituality, The Witness (winning two awards), Environment Magazine and books

In collections of Smithsonian Institution, Peabody Museum of Harvard University, and Pusey Museum of Theater History at Harvard

Independent photographer for conferences, political organizations, schools

Photographic projects previously completed

Nepal, 1980, Bread and Puppet Theater, 1985, Boston Harbor, 1988, South Africa (first version), 1992, American Indians, 1993, Water, 1996, The Elm Tree, 1996, and several pilgrimages, including Auschwitz to Hiroshima, 1997, and One Sky, about historic slavery and contemporary racism, combining images from a pilgrimage retracing the journey of the African-Atlantic slave trade, the deep South, and South Africa (including Itineraries with Laura Soul Brown, at the Boston Public Library, 2002), 1998-2003

Current projects

Eyewitness Gaza, a video project based on my Gaza photographs, with Tom Jackson, underway, summer 2011 the expected completion date

A multiyear project making and showing slide shows and print exhibits about Palestine & Israel : Tracing the Jordan River, (in process), Eyewtiness Gaza, The Matrix of Control (in process), Gaza is Home to One & One Half Million Human Beings, How Do They Live?, The Living Waters of Palestine & Israel, Gaza Steadfast, Eyewitness Gaza, Gaza Scorched & Stretched, The Hydropolitics of Israel & Palestine, Quakers in Palestine & Israel, In the Steps of the Magi, about a pilgrimage from Jericho to Bethlehem in December 2004; Start Young: Youth Activism in Israel & Palestine , a digital slide show about youth-oriented organizations and individuals struggling for peace, justice and security; Occupation: Ordinary Life , a digital slide show based on experiences living thru occupation in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in September 2004-January 2005; Facts on the Ground , a digital slide show about Palestine and Israel, with images made during November 2003; and Paired Photographs from the Levant , a print show, 2003—present

Teaching Experience

Cambridge Center for Adult Education, digital photography, photojournalism, environmental photography, experimental photography, website design, drawing and photographing the human being (co-taught with Stan Edelson), black and white photography, basic and intermediate photography, and a history of photography, as well asthe page layout computer program, Quark XPress, 1990-present
Landscape Institute of Harvard University, photography of the garden and landscape, basic digital photography, 1993-2008
Friends General Conference Gatherings (Quakers), Amherst MA, 1994, Harrisonburg VA, 1997, Johnstown PA, 2008, "Light in Photography," "The Question of Palestine & Israel," "What is Arts Ministry?" (i.e., arts used to heal, reconcile, and invoke), Blacksburg VA, "Photography as Prayer," 2005 c, The Question of Palestine/Israel, 2008 and New England Yearly Meeting sessions, Brunswick ME, 1994, "What is Arts Ministry?", Smithfield RI, 2006 & 7, "The Question of Palestine & Israel"
Radcliffe Seminars, 1993 Cambridge MA, landscape photography
Watertown High School and Hosmer Middle School, 1983-88, Watertown Massachusetts, photography and writing, as artist-in-residence
Boston Film-Video Foundation, 1980-82, production and business of media
Boston College, 1969-78, film production and history, organized film series

Grants and honors

Puffin Foundation , grant for Living Waters project, March 2007, keynote address at New England Yearly Meeting (Quakers), "And You Will Be Carried Where You Do Not Wish to Go," 2005, Polly Bond Award of Excellence , 2000, for the cover photo (and layout by staff) used by The Witness magazine; Cambridge Peace Commission , one of their annual Peace & Justice awards, 2000; Eastman Kodak , 1999, product support; Magnum photo collective and agency finalist, 1993; a series of grants from various Quaker funds , 1991--present; Artist Foundation (Massachusetts) grant finalist, 1981; Institute of Contemporary Art , Boston, 1978, film retrospective

More details at teeksaphoto.org

(September 2010)