| Member Profile:
MARGARETTA MITCHELL
by Dana Downie
1. Please
give us a thumbnail sketch of your life/career.
I have been interested in the visual arts since I can remember.
I started painting after my great grandmother gave me her ancient
wooden paint box filled with old paint tubes, brushes and a classic
wooden palette. She encouraged me to paint, and I was deeply affected
by her death. She gave me an awareness of the power of artistic
expression to transcend time.
My studies in art history and studio art at Smith
College gave me a solid intellectual foundation. There I was introduced
to the excitement of original research and making art, especially
printmaking for handmade books.
Over the years I have developed a multi-faceted business that was
conducive to my family schedule. (I have three daughters.) My work
has always centered on people and my connection with them. Assignments
include portraits, weddings, gardens and interiors. I also sell
usage of my images; research and write books, articles and introductions;
teach workshops and consult with many private students. And, of
course, I continue to photograph fine art collections that often
become projects that I publish and exhibit.
2. How
did you become interested in photography?
As a child, I started taking pictures of friends with my Brownie
reflex camera. During college, I attended “The Family of Man”
exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Pictures were just
not hung on the wall. The designed spaces led the viewer through
the story. The exhibition opened my eyes to the power of photography
and that began to affect my image making in my art classes. I wanted
to be involved in the new, exciting world of photography, which
was still not a part of the commercialized art world. I didn’t
take photo classes in school, so I am completely self -taught in
photography.
3. What
has been your most interesting or favorite assignment/ situation/or
person?
While I was working at Polaroid Corporation as a special assistant
to President Edwin Land, he showed me a photo book photographed
by Nell Dorr and arranged for me to meet her. Our meeting began
a life-long friendship that can only be described as magical. She
inspired me so much that I dedicated my first book to her. Entitled
“Gift of Place” it was a poetic, romantic vision of
childhood.
4. What
is important to you?
My family, my home and friendships are crucial to my well being--as
is love, laughter and learning. Art, for me, is a sacred pursuit
of truth and beauty. I try to create something of value to me and
for future generations.
Books and editions of prints are two permanent ways
I have chosen to record and communicate ideas.
I put aside my own work throughout my career to write
books and articles on older photographers, establishing their importance
in the history of photography. I also have had associations with
photographers whose work was already well known. Some of them became
friends, such as Dorothea Lange, who inspired my 1973 book, To a
Cabin.
My next book, Recollections: Ten Women of Photography,
published in 1979, chronicles the lives of ten women most of whom
had been left out of the history of photography. It was an amazing
experience for me to travel to X museums AROUND THE COUNTRY that
exhibited the photographs and lecture on these great women photographers.
In 2000, I completed Ruth Bernhard, Between Art and
Life, a bio-memoir of her life and work. As you can see, I have
been fortunate to have many wonderful friendships with great photographers
who inspired me.
Since the 1980’s I have produced fine art editions
of photogravures and “Iris” prints. My first portfolio
is Dance for Life: The California Dance Legacy of Isadora Duncan,
which includes original research, historical photographs and twelve
photogravures. Another of my published portfolios is Flowers, which
contains five color photogravures. In 1996, my book, English Gardens,
was produced using an “Iris” printer.
5. How
have you taught yourself to adapt to change?
Reinventing yourself is critical to survival and to creativity.
Sometimes you have no choice, because life does it
to you. On October 20, 1991 our house was severely damaged in the
Berkeley-Oakland firestorm. It took two and a half years of attention
and labor to save and restore the house, the contents and my work.
To learn so much about construction and conservation became a fascinating
and completely absorbing experience. Disaster struck again when
my husband, Frederick died suddenly in 1996 and I lost both of my
parents by the end of 1998.
In this crazy freelance world we have to be flexible.
When business drops off, it is a time to follow a dream that cannot
fit into days filled with commercial work. While we have to apply
creativity in the search for more clients, we must also excite our
aesthetic eye again. The old adage is true, if you have the time-you
don’t have the money. If you have the money, you don’t
have the time.
6. Any
major regrets?
That I cannot have nine lives!
7. What
are the most important things you have learned?
In my last 12 years, I have learned that loss is part of life. Instead
of denying my experiences, I have learned to embrace all of them.
It is crucial to maintain a healthy balance between my life and
my work. I tend to merge them dangerously close.
My family, friends, garden and my yoga practice all
help to provide equilibrium. I believe that in all facets of living
and working, it is important to be transparent, honest and have
integrity.
8. What
is your favorite food?
Fresh raspberries in summer, soup in fall, smoked turkey in winter,
artichokes in spring and chocolate anytime.
9. Please
explain why you joined ASMP?
I was persuaded to join ASMP in 1978 because I needed to learn about
the business aspects of photography. I had absolutely no training
in business practices.
I value the opportunity to associate with other ASMP
photographers. The best way I have found to really benefit from
the society is to participate both locally and nationally.
10.
What is your current project?
I always have something simmering on the back burner and something
boiling on the front. For example: I am still photographing nudes,
a subject that has fascinated me for many years and is still quietly
in process.
The project on the front burner is a book and exhibition
on portraiture called “ The Face of Poetry”, to be published
by the University of California Press in 2004.
11. What
is something you would like people to know that was not asked?
Never give up your dreams!
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