About the Artist...

Katharine Villard (b. 1938) is a self-taught artist who began working in collage, then chose photography as her favorite art form. The development of digital technology and its accompanying sofware editing programs made it possible to expand her artistic vision through collage techniques, filter effects, retouching and manipulating the images.

Currently a member of the Artisans group in Cedar City, Utah, Villard is a former member of the Artistic Roots Gallery in Plymouth, New Hampshire. In 2007 she won first place in the annual photography contest sponsored by Abercrombie & Kent, the international travel company. She participated in the summer invitational art show and sale at the Braithwaite Gallery, Southern Utah University, in 2009. Her image "Winter Trees, Zion" was accepted for exhibition at the juried art show "Visions of Zion" held at the Art Museum, in St. George, Utah, 2009-2010.

Villard has traveled to New Zealand, Iceland, Madagascar, Turkey and Tanzania. Now living in Utah, Villard enjoys taking a camera to explore the national parks, desert, and camping on the Green and Colorado rivers. She uses a Canon EOS D5 digital SLR, two Canon Rebel cameras XTi and XSi, and the compact Canon G10.. An Epson R2800 is used for printing the images.

About the Images...

A scene appears in front of the camera. Captured on a tiny compact flash card, an image comes to life on the computer screen - with flaws, improper lighting and foreign objects. These elements and overall composition are addressed by the artist. An original photograph may be changed by picture editing software until a more perfect image is created. Thus the image is first opened by the lens, then sent to the digital “darkroom” back into light. The artist chooses which elements to keep or change, and finally prints the completed picture.