Susan Moldenhauer, Buckhorn Bar & Parlor, photo by DPTurner Photography
Susan Moldenhauer explores place through image-making that embraces the landscape as a foundational element, seeks aesthetic and poetic experiences, and questions how to make sense of the world in the split-second magic of photography. Her approach embraces the tradition of composing at the moment of exposure. Her lyrical work evokes the synthesis of light, darkness, movement and moment.
Moldenhauer is a photographer, arts administrator, curator, artist advocate, and community leader who has worked to advance artists and the arts throughout her career. In 2017, she retired as Director & Chief Curator of the University of Wyoming Art Museum after 33 years of administrative and curatorial work. She co-founded artist and public art projects and continues to participate in these efforts. She is one of an artist-photographer-dancer partnership called Sequencing Through Time and Place, a creative collaboration that is place-based projects.
Moldenhauer received her MFA from Penn State University and BFA from Northern Illinois University. She is a recipient of the 2017 Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award and the 2016 Wyoming Visual Artist Fellowship. She has a national exhibition record and is represented in numerous public collections. Moldenhauer lives and works in Laramie, Wyoming.
EDUCATION
1982 MFA, The Pennsylvania State University
1974 BFA, Northern Illinois University
EXHIBITION HISTORY
SOLO, TWO- AND THREE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
Susan Moldenhauer (working title). Mystery Print Gallery, Pinedale, WY. 2022. (scheduled)
Sequencing Through Time and Place: The Carissa Mine, National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, Leadville, CO. 2019.
Sequencing Through Time and Place: The Carissa Mine, Clay Paper Scissors Gallery, Cheyenne, WY. 2018.
Sequencing Through Time and Place: The Carissa Mine, Lander Art Center, Lander, WY. 2018.
Sequencing Through Time and Place: The Carissa Mine, Visual Arts Gallery, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY. 2018.
Sequencing through Time and Place: Venice, Center for the Arts, Jackson Hole, WY. 2014.
Composition from the Land: Egypt, Synergy Gallery, Laramie, WY. 2011.
Sequencing Through Time and Place: Ucross | London | Fort Laramie, Gallery 211, Laramie, WY. 2009.
Place | Mind | Spirit, photographs by Susan Moldenhauer, Brayham Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada. 2007.
Place | Mind | Spirit, recent photographs by Susan Moldenhauer, Brayham Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada. 2006.
Translucence / Transparency, New Work by Blinn Jacobs and Susan Moldenhauer, Kehler Liddell Gallery, New Haven, CT. 2006.
Place, Mind, Spirit—Susan Moldenhauer, photographs, New Image Gallery, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA. 2005.
Place, Mind, Spirit—Susan Moldenhauer, photographs 1988 – 2004, Rosenthal Gallery of Art, Albertson College, Caldwell, ID. 2005.
Touchstone: New Work by Wendy Bredehoft and Susan Moldenhauer, Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site, Laramie, WY. 2004.
Landscapes of Mind and Place, Phototroph Gallery, Colorado Springs, CO. 2003.
Landscapes of Mind and Place, Vanier Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ. 2001.
Landscapes of Mind and Place, Western Wyoming College Gallery, Rock Springs, WY. 2000.
Landscapes of Mind and Place, Nicolaysen Art Museum and Discovery Center, Casper, WY. 1999.
Desert Varnish and Other Works, Big Red Gallery, Ucross Foundation, Clearmont, WY. 1999.
Desert Varnish, Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA. 1997.
Desert Varnish, One West Contemporary Art Center, Fort Collins, CO. 1995.
Desert Varnish, Goodstein Gallery, Casper College, Casper, WY. 1994.
Desert Varnish, Wyoming Arts Council Gallery, Cheyenne, WY. 1994.
New Image Gallery, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA. 1992.
Martin Museum of Art, Baylor University, Waco, TX. 1990.
Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA. 1989.
Piedmont VA Community College Art Gallery, Charlottesville, VA. 1989.
McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA. 1988.
Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, NY. 1987.
Blue Sky Gallery, Portland Center for Visual Arts, Portland, OR. 1985.
The New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT. 1984.
Greystone Gallery, Riverdale, NY. 1984.
Graphics Gallery, University of Maine, Orono, ME. 1984.
Photography Gallery, University of Denver, CO. 1983.
Widener Gallery, Trinity College, Hartford, CT. 1982.
EXHIBITIONS ONLINE
Bond/Bound, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA. 2020.
Visualizing 2020, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR. 2020.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)
2020 Juried Benefit Auction, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT. 2020.
North X Northwest, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT. 2019.
SWEET, Golden and Delicious….., Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, IL. 2018.
Ren-dez-vous 2018, Mystery Print Gallery, Pinedale, WY and Clay Paper Scissors Gallery, Cheyenne, WY. 2018.
Worth a Thousand Words: Laramie Photographers, Clay Paper Scissors Gallery, Cheyenne, WY. 2018.
Touchstone Laramie, Laramie WY. 2018, 2016, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2008, 2006.
Place | Setting, 12 Wyoming Women Artists, Cabarrus Arts Council, Concord, NC. 2017.
Wyoming Arts Council Biennial Fellowship Exhibition, Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY. 2017.
Ley Lines: Intersecting Conversations, University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, WY. 2015.
Portrait of Wyoming Invitational, Pedal House Gallery, Laramie, WY; Jackson Hole Center for the Arts, Jackson Hole, WY; Lander Art Center, Lander, WY. 2014.
Photography by Women: Recent Additions to the Permanent Collection, Museum of Art, Bates College, Lewiston, ME. 2014.
Within the Landscape/the Landscape Within, Myers School of Art, University of Akron, OH. 2011.
In the Presence of Trees, 30th anniversary invitational exhibition, Ucross Foundation, Clearmont, WY. 2011.
Ucross Foundation: Twenty-Seven Years of Visual Artist Residencies, Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY; Ucross Foundation, Ucross, WY. 2010.
Coe Library Invitational, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY. 2009.
CONTACT Photography Fair, Brayhem Contemporary, Toronto, Canada. 2005.
Touchstone 2 + 3, Open Studio and Sale, Laramie, WY. 2005.
Photographic Imagination, Here Here Gallery, Cleveland, OH. 2000.
Kodachrome, Ron Judish Fine Art, Denver, CO. 2000.
Desert Wind: Contemporary Artists Working in NM: The Ray Graham Collection, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND. 1999.
Six Contemporary Landscape Photographers, Harmony Gallery, Fort Collins, CO. 1998.
Photographing the American West, Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, MT. 1995.
You Call That Art?, One West Contemporary Art Center, Fort Collins, CO. 1994.
Illuminance ’93, Lubbock Fine Arts Center, Lubbock TX. 1993.
Mountain West Biennial Photography Exhibition, Nora Eccles Museum of Art, Logan, UT. 1993.
National Aperture 3, Sawtooth Building Galleries, Winston-Salem, NC. 1993.
Photo Biennial III, Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK. 1993.
Photo 21: A National Juried Exhibition, Kern Gallery, University Park, PA. 1987.
PA Photography IV, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA. 1985.
Light Sensitive IV, Thomas Center Galleries, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. 1984.
Contemporary Photography as Phantasy, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA. 1984.
Cal Arts National Juried Exhibition, Valencia, CA. 1984.
Imagism, The Light Factory, Charlotte, NC. 1981.
CREATIVE COLLABORATION
Sequencing Through Time and Place, 2009 – present
Sequencing Through Time and Place is an artist collaboration with Wendy Bredehoft, artist, and Margaret Wilson, dancer / choreographer, who explore the creative process by working simultaneously on location through art, photography, and dance
2009 Ucross Foundation, Ucross, WY; residency
2010 London, UK, residency
2010 – 2011 Fort Laramie, Banner, WY; field work
2013 Venice, Italy; residency
2016 – 2019 Carissa Mine, South Pass City, WY; field work and residencies
Pipeline Artists Project, 2008 – present
Pipeline Artists Project, http://www.pipelineartproject.com, ‘pumping art from the energy state of Wyoming, USA, is a group of five Wyoming contemporary artists who are committed to furthering their careers while maintaining Wyoming residency. Their work is in dialogue with the wider world beyond the American West and is inspired by this place.
2008 Co-founded with artists David Klarén, JB Bond, Wendy Bredehoft, and Sue Sommers
2009 Established Studio Wyoming Facebook group (669 members).
2012 Established CLICK! A Conference for Wyoming Visual Artists in partnership with the Wyoming Arts Council and host communities. Pipeline Art Project’s first exhibition as a group was included.
2013 Created the printable portfolio Complexity of Solitude: Five Wyoming Artists.
2016 Initiated Studio Wyoming Review, a column on Wyoming art and artists, curated by Camellia El-Antably in collaboration with WyoFile.com.
2017 Art5: Pipeline Art Project New Works exhibit at Mystery Print Gallery in Pinedale, WY and The Boarding House Gallery, Laramie, WY.
Laramie Artists Project and Touchstone Laramie, 2004 – present (biennial)
Touchstone Laramie is a biennial exhibition for Laramie and Albany County artists who transform hotel rooms into individual galleries for a weekend. Its primary purpose is to acquaint viewers with artistic excellence, provide opportunities for artists and viewers to directly interact, and promote professional development for artists.
2004 Co-founder with Wendy Bredehoft
2006 Co-chair with Wendy Bredehoft
RESIDENCIES
2017 Ucross Foundation, Clearmont, WY
2008 Ucross Foundation, Clearmont, WY
VISITING ARTIST AND PUBLIC PROGRAMS (selected)
Sequencing Through Time and Place: The Carissa Mine, Visual Arts Building Gallery, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY; closing program, group tours. 2018.
Sequencing Through Time and Place: The Carissa Mine, Lander Art Center, Lander, WY; opening program. 2018.
Sequencing Through Time and Place: The Carissa Mine, Carissa Mine, South Pass City, WY; panel discussion. 2018
Sequencing Through Time and Place: The Carissa Mine, Carissa Mine, South Pass City, WY; panel discussion. 2017.
Panel Discussion. Our Place in the West: A Conversation with Wyoming Artists, Our Place in the West….and Beyond: Wyoming at 125 conference, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY. 2015.
PORTFOLIO REVIEWS
2020 Filter Photo 2020 Portfolio Review (online; September 2020)
2020 Fotofest International Meeting Place Portfolio Review, Houston, TX (cancelled due to COVID-19)
2019 Center for Photographic Arts Portfolio Review, Month of Photography, Denver, CO
2019 Wyoming Arts Council Summit Portfolio Review, Cheyenne, WY
PUBLICATIONS (SELECTED)
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS
South X Southeast photomagazine, 9th Anniversary edition, Election 2020: What Matters, curated by Billy Howard | Susan Moldenhauer| View from Home. 2020.
EXHIBITION CATALOGS
Sequencing Through Time and Place: The Carissa Mine, New Work by Wendy Lemen Bredehoft, Susan Moldenhauer, and Margaret Wilson, exhibition catalog (2020); essay by Maggie Bourque, introduction by Joe Ellis; expanded edition
Sequencing Through Time and Place: The Carissa Mine, New Work by Wendy Lemen Bredehoft, Susan Moldenhauer, and Margaret Wilson (2019); essay by Maggie Bourque, introduction by Joe Ellis
Wyoming Arts Council Biennial Fellowship Exhibition (2017), Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY; essay by Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson
Sequencing Through Time & Place: Venice, Wendy Lemen Bredehoft, Susan Moldenhauer, Margaret Wilson (2014)
H.L. Hix, Ley Lines (2014); Wilifred Laurer University Press, Canada
Sequencing Through Time & Place: Ucross, London, Fort Laramie, Wendy Lemen Bredehoft, Susan Moldenhauer, Margaret Wilson (2011)
In the Presence of Trees (2011), Ucross Foundation; essay by Irene Borger
Within in the Landscape / the Landscape Within (2011) University of Akron; essay by Charles Beneke
Ucross Foundation: Twenty-Seven Years of Visual Arts Residencies (2010), Nicolaysen Art Museum & Discovery Center; Lisa Hatchadoorian, curator
Contact 2009, 13th Annual Toronto Photography Festival: Still Revolution, (2009) Toronto, Canada
Desert Wind: Contemporary Artists Work in New Mexico: The Ray Graham Collection (2000), Plains Art Museum
Landscape of Mind and Place (1999), Nicolaysen Art Museum & Discovery Center; essay by Bruce Richardson
BOOKS AND JOURNALS
Open Window Review, Issue 5, Spring 2013; Lori Howe, editor
High Desert Journal, Nov. 2012
James Luciana, Black and White Photography: Manifest Visions / An International Collection, Gloucester, MA: Rockport Publishers
Irma Gilgore, Lois Katz, and Martha Scott, The Searle Collection of Contemporary Art, 1995
View Camera Magazine, “Readers Gallery,” July / Aug. 1993
AWARDS
2020, 2018, 2016, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2005, 1994, 1993. Individual Artist Grant, Wyoming Arts Council
2017 Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award
2016 Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship Award
2014 Finalist, 2015 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards, Portland Art Museum
2005 Bobby Hathaway Memorial Juror’s Award, Governor’s Capital Art Exhibition
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Review. Worth a thousand words: the work of Laramie photographers by Michael Shay, WyoFile.com, March 9, 2018
Interview. Governor’s Arts Award 2017: Susan Moldenhauer by the Wyoming Arts Council, 2018
Review. History of Art? by Dannine Donaho & Camellia El-Antably, WyoFile.com, Sept. 4, 2018
Apollo, The International Art Magazine, Art News Daily, https://www.apollo-magazine.com/richard-long-knighted-in-new-years-honours/, Jan. 2, 2018
Review. WyoFile.com, Wyoming to the World: 6 artists make meaning, by Bruce Richardson, Oct. 13,
US News, University of Wyoming Art Museum Director Retires, Dec. 24, 2017
Artform, University of Wyoming Art Museum Retires, Dec. 28, 2017
Laramie Boomerang, UW Art Museum director retires, Dec. 21, 2017
Cody Enterprise, UW Art Museum director retires, Dec. 27, 2017
Billings Gazette, University of Wyoming Art Museum director retires, Dec. 24, 2017
Hyperallergic, Transitions, Dec 26, 2017
Sheridan Media, University of Wyoming Art Museum director retires, Dec 26. ,2017
Review. Touchstone Laramie brought artists together by Camellia El-Antably, WyoFile.com, Dec. 2, 2016
Article. At Home in the West: The Lure of Public Land by William S Sutton, forward by Toby Jurovics, afterword by Susan B. Moldenhauer, GFT Publishing, 2013
Online exhibition. IN QUIRE: A crossing point for ideas, words, images, and energies, an online project by H. L. Hix, 2013
Feature article. Susan Moldenhauer – Issue 5 Featured Artist, by Victoria Alleck, Open Window Review, Sept. 15, 2013
Gallery 211 Hosts Experimental Exhibition, Explores Concept of Place and Creative Process, by Mike Gray, Laramie Live, June 14, 2011
Interview. Reality Check Interview with Susan Moldenhauer & Wendy Bredehoft by Jackie Battenfield, The Artist’s Guide, 2008
Feature article, Ucross exhibition, Casper Star Tribune, Arts & Leisure section, March 28, 1999
Feature article, Six Contemporary Landscape Photographers, Fort Collins Coloradan, Dec. 4, 1998
Feature article, Desert Wind, Weekend Plus, Great Falls Tribune, Thursday, Jan. 26, 1995
Wyoming Arts Council annual publications: Governor’s Arts Award Dinner invitation and program, 1994-1995 Annual Report, Artspeak conference materials
Newsgram, Mountain-Plains Museum Association of the American Association of Museums, June 1994
All Arts Newsletter, Wyoming Arts Council, June 1994
All Arts Newsletter, Wyoming Arts Council, May 1994
All Arts Newsletter, Wyoming Arts Council, May 1993
COLLECTIONS
Albertson College of Idaho, Caldwell, ID
Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID
Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, ME
Coe Libraries, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
College of Health Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
College of Law, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
Health Sciences Art Collection, University of Virginia, VA
Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
Laramie County Community College, Laramie, WY
Pomona College, Claremont, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Searle Pharmaceutical Corporation, Chicago, IL
Trinity College, Hartford, CT
University of Virginia Museum of Art, Charlottesville, VA
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
ARTS ADMINISTRATION AND CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE
2000 – 2017. Director and Chief Curator, University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, WY
1996 – 2000. Assistant Director and Senior Curator, University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, WY
1991 – 1996. Curator of Museum Programs, University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, WY
1986 – 1991. Director, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
1984 – 1986. Gallery Manager, Edwin W. Zoller Gallery, School of Visual Arts, Penn State University
BOARDS, COMMITTEES, AND PROJECTS
2018 – . Neltje Center Steering Committee, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
2017 – . Jentel Foundation Artist Residency Program, board member, Banner, WY
2013 – . Laramie Public Art Coalition, Steering Team and Executive Board, Laramie, WY
2012 – 2019. UW President’s Public Art Committee, Laramie, WY
2012 – 2014. Biodiversity Institute Faculty Advisory Committee, University of Wyoming
2011 – 2018. Co-founder and co-administrator, Laramie Mural Project, connecting local artists with local business to advance economic development and beautify Laramie’s historic downtown
2010 – . Founding member, Pipeline Artists Project, ‘pumping art from the energy state of Wyoming, USA,’ www.pipelineartproject.com
2009 – 2014. Reinventing the Geological Museum Advisory Committee, University of Wyoming
2008 – . Co-collaborator, Sequencing Through Time and Place, with artist W. Lemen Bredehoft and dance Margaret Wilson who explore the creative process by working on location: Wyoming, London, Venice
2008 – . Laramie Beautification Committee, Laramie, WY
2008 – 2010. Visual Arts Facility Planning Committee, University of Wyoming
2008 – 2009. Long Range Planning Development Advisory Committee, University of Wyoming
2006 – . Co-founder, Touchstone Laramie, an exhibition and sale by the Laramie Artists Project, a consortium of professional artists in Laramie and Albany County, WY
2002 – 2015. Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG, board member, Mountain-Plains representative)
2002 – 2011. Mountain Plains Museum Association (MPMA), board member, AAMG representative
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