Artist Bio

Tillman Crane is a large format photographer specializing in platinum prints. Artist, teacher and photojournalist, Crane has been professionally involved with photography for over 30 years. Known for his beautiful, luminescent prints of the quiet corners in life that most of us simply pass by, his images pull us in for a closer look. Whether the subject is man-made or God-made, each contains a quality of light and detail that provides both a sense of the “real” and that of spirit.

In the Beginning

Beginning his career as a photojournalist with The Maryville Daily Times in Maryville, Tennessee, he later worked for the State of Tennessee as a photographer before joining the Resident faculty of the Maine Photographic Workshops in 1987. He earned his M.F.A. from the University of Delaware in 1990. In 1996 he became Director of the Photography program at the Waterford School, in Sandy, Utah where he taught full and part time until 2008. While in Utah he organized and directed the weeklong Mammoth Camera Workshop in 1999 and 2000. Returning to Maine with his family in 2001 after the release of his first monograph, Tillman Crane/STRUCTURE, he has been making new images, publishing new books and teaching workshops throughout the U.S. and U.K.

Teaching & Workshops

Much loved for his easy going but fully committed teaching style, Crane’s workshops are engaging, informative experiences which push and challenge participants beyond the confines of old patterns. He teaches a number of his own workshops as well as classes for the Maine Media Workshops (Rockport, ME) and Peters Valley Craft Center (Layton, NJ). Tillman offers the craft of photography through the Platinum Printing, View Camera, Soft Focus Photography workshops. The Zen of photography can be experienced through his unique Extraordinary Images in Ordinary Places workshop. For destination photography don’t miss his Scotland, Maine, Great Smoky Mountains and North Dakota workshops.

Portfolios

Tillman’s portfolios include the Cathedrals of the Industrial Revolution (Train stations of the northeast corridor); Spirit of Structure (the Chestnut Hill Pump Stations, Boston); Baron Woolen Mill (UT); Last Days of Thomaston Prison (ME) and Echoes of History (a 70 image show comparing alternative processes). He was commissioned by the Portland Museum of Art (ME) to create the McLellan House, Portland, ME portfolio. In addition he has published four books: Tillman Crane/STRUCTURE (2001), Touchstones (2005), Odin Stone (2008) and A Walk Along The Jordan (2009).

Résumé

Academic

1990

M.F.A, University of Delaware, Newark DE

1978

B.A., Maryville College, Maryville TN, June 1978

Professional Experience

2001-present

Fine Art Photographer, Workshop teacher

2001-2008

Adjunct Faculty, Photography, Waterford School, Sandy UT

1996-2001

Director, Photography Program, Waterford School, Sandy UT

1999-2000

Director, Waterford Mammoth Camera Workshop, Sandy UT

1987-1997

Workshop Faculty, The Maine Photographic Workshops, Rockport ME

1987-89, 1990-95

Resident Faculty, The Maine Photographic Workshops, Rockport ME

1987

State of TN, Dept. of Photographic Services; Freelance newspaper photographer

1978-1986

Chief Photographer, Maryville Daily Times, Maryville TN

Books

November 2009

A Walk Along The Jordan

November 2008

Odin Stone

April 2005

Touchstones

April 2001

Tillman Crane/STRUCTURE

Collections

Brigham Young University Museum, Provo UT

Carnegie Center for Visual Arts, Decatur AL

Farnsworth Museum of Art, Rockland ME

Fidelity Investments, Salt Lake City UT

Gibbs Museum of Art, Charleston SC

Portland Museum of Art, Portland ME

Snell & Wilmer Law Offices, Phoenix AZ

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2009

A Walk Along The Jordan, Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City UT

Images From Three Books, Jonathan Frost Gallery, Rockland ME

2008

Odin Stone, Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City UT, Addison Woolley Gallery, Portland ME

2005

Touchstones, Lincoln Street Center for the Arts, Rockland ME

2004

Radiant Light, Round Center for the Arts, Damariscotta ME

Form & Structure, Carnegie Center for the Visual Arts, Decatur AL

2002

Open House, Portland Museum of Art, Portland ME

Thomaston Prison, The Last Days, Lincoln Street Center for the Arts with the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland ME

2001

Tillman Crane/STRUCTURE, Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland ME; Jameson Gallery, Portland ME; Maryville College Fine Art Museum, Maryville TN; Payson Fine Art Museum, University of Southern Maine, South Portland ME; Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City UT

2000-1998

Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City UT, New Work

1995

Echoes of History, Maine Coast Artists, Rockport ME

1994

Spirit of Structure, Vision Gallery, San Francisco

Select Group Exhibitions

2009

On & Off the Midway, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport ME

Portland Museum of Art Juried Biennial, Portland ME

2008

Addison Woolley Gallery, Portland ME

O, Wind, If Winter Comes, Jonathan Frost Gallery, Rockland ME

2007

Portland Museum of Art Juried Biennial, Portland ME

2006

Scotland, Jameson Galley, Portland ME

2005

Center for Contemporary Arts Juried Biennial, Rockport ME

What Needs To Be Retrieved: The Marriage of Tools, Art & History, Davis Town Museum, Liberty ME

2002

50 Photographers, Center for Maine Contemporary Arts, Rockport ME

Publications - Articles

Silvershotz:The Journal of Fine Art Photography

• Volume 3 Edition 6, 2006: An Introduction to Platinum Printing Part I
• Volume 3 Edition 7, 2006: Platinum Printing, the negative, paper & Emulsion Part II
• Volume 3 Edition 8, 2006: Platinum/Palladium Printing Part III

View Camera Magazine, Contributing Editor 1992-1998, Articles include:

• March/ April 2005: Touchstones
• May/June 2003: A Scottish Travelogue
• Jan/Feb 1998: Ilford Warm Tone Paper
• May/June 1996: Print Flashing
• Mar/Apr 1996: Delta 100 and 400
• Nov/Dec 1995: Negative Reduction
• July/Aug 1995: Negative Intensification
• May/June 1995: The Zone System and Multigrade Papers
• Mar/Apr 1995: Making your own Paper Developers
• Jan/Feb 1995: Bleaching a Photograph
• Nov/Dec 1994: Toning for Permanence
• Sept/Oct 1994: Archival Processing
• July/Aug 1994: Painting with Light
• May/June 1994: Controlling Contrast in the Print
• Mar/Apr 1994: Density and Contrast
• Jan/Feb 1994: Making the Proper Proof Print
• Nov/Dec 1993: Warm Tone Paper and Developers Part II
• Sept/Oct 1993: Warm Tone Paper and Developers Part I
• Sept/Oct 1992: Making Enlarged Negatives
• Jan/Feb 1992: Photographing Interior Spaces in Black and White

Ilford Photo Instructor Newsletters published by ILFORD Imaging USA Inc

• Fall 2004: The Art and Craft of Photography
• Spring 1998: A Summer with Students
• Fall 1994: Printing with Good Test Strips
• Spring 1994: Making Good Contact Sheets
• Fall 1992: Making Enlarged Negatives with ILFORD Ortho Film

Photo Technique

• Volume 23, Number 5, Sept/Oct 2002, “Hovenweep National Monument”, pp. 44-47