BIO/CV
Norma I. Quintana is an American photographer and educator based in California. Born in Cleveland Ohio, she earned a Masters in Social Sciences from Case Western University and worked in human resources during her corporate career. Quintana began her career in documentary photography in the late 90s, attending Napa Valley College for a photography degree completed in 2001.
Quintana has also studied with such influential photographers as Mary Ellen Mark, Shelby Lee Adams, and Graciela Iturbide from Mexico. She works in the tradition of social documentary—primarily in black and white, analog photography. Collaboration is essential to her process. The images, Quintana insists, would not be possible without her subjects’ willingness to reveal themselves.
Her initial project documenting a one-ring American circus took her over a decade. Following the same group of tight-knit performers, she embedded herself behind the scenes. Images from her series Circus: A Traveling Life have been exhibited around the world and were published as a monograph by Damiani Editore and distributed by D.A.P. Artbook Catalog in 2014.
Quintana’s portrait series Forget Me Not is an archival project inspired by her family’s immigration from Puerto Rico. Based on photo-booth images she collected from relatives, she recreated the backdrop and wooden stand to capture a variety of characters in her community. The collection has traveled to Washington DC and Norma continues to develop the project with hopes of returning to Puerto Rico for more research.
Quintana's recent Forage From Fire series documents the excavation of objects and memories after California wildfires destroyed her home and studio. Documented with her iPhone X as she sifted through the ruins, the images of jewelry, camera bodies, Christmas ornaments, pendants, doll parts, kitchen tools and picture frames represent not only a collection of memories, but also a path to recovery.
Works from this series were exhibited in 2018 in a solo exhibition at SF Camerawork and included in group exhibitions in Sonoma and Napa, CA. Forage From Fire is currently included in the exhibition Facing Fire: Art, Wildfire, and the End of Nature in the New West originated at the California Museum of Photography and now traveling to St. George Art Museum, Utah; Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University, Washington; and Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Utah.
Quintana is a founding member of the Bay Area non-profit PhotoAlliance and has lectured nationally at Stanford University, UCLA, American University, Penn State University, NYC and internationally in Madrid, Spain.
For more information about Norma I. Quintana visit her Wikipedia page
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA. Forage From Fire (July-December)
2018 SF Camerawork. San Francisco, CA. Forage from Fire (October)
2015 Luminous-Lint. Online exhibit. Norma I. Quintana: Circus, a Traveling Life
2014 Rayko Gallery. San Francisco, CA. Circus: A Traveling Life Exhibition and Book Release
2009 Byatt Claeyssens Gallery. Sonoma Academy, Santa Rosa, CA. Circus: A Traveling Life
2006 Stanford University Center for Latin American Studies. Stanford, CA. Circus: A Traveling Life
2006 Smith Anderson North. San Rafael, CA. Selections: Circus
2006 Katzen Art Center. American University Museum, Washington DC. Forget Me Not/ No Me Olvides Portrait Series
2005 Manchester Craftmen's Guild. Pittsburg, PA. Circo: The Life of a Traveling Circus
2005 Zoller Gallery. School of Visual Arts, PennState University, PA. Circo: The Life of a Traveling Circus
2004 Off the Preserve! Napa, CA. Forget Me Not/ No Me Olvides Portrait Series
2003 Miauhaus Gallery. Los Angeles, CA. A Traveling Life: The Circus
2002 Napa Valley Wine Auction. St. Helena, CA. Le Cirque du Vin
2001 MACLA Gallery. San Jose, CA. Circo: The Life of a Traveling Circus
2001-2000 ATELIER 142 Gallery. San Francisco, CA. Circus Series: A Solo Show
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University. Logan, UT. FACING FIRE: Art, Wildfire, and the End of Nature in the New West (July-December) 2023 South East Center For Photography. Greenville, SC. Online Exhibition. Women By Women 2023 Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University. Spokane, WA. FACING FIRE: Art, Wildfire, and the End of Nature in the New West (January-May) 2022 Harvey Milk Photo Center. San Francisco, CA. NOMADIC LIVES 2022 Watertown Gallery. Watertown, MA. GAZE
2022 Palo Alto Art Center. Palo Alto, CA. FIRE TRANSFORMS 2022 Burning Man. Black Rock City Nevada. The Musuem of No Spectators 2022 St. George Art Museum. St. George, UT. FACING FIRE: Art, Wildfire, and the End of Nature in the New West (June-August) 2020-21 UCR-ARTS, California Museum of Photography. Riverside, CA. FACING FIRE: Art, Wildfire, and the End of Nature in the New West (February-August)
2020 Environmental Justice Art Museum, William & Mary College. Williamsburg, VA. The Big Burn
2020 Ongoing virtual exhibition. www.theredwood.show. The Red Wood
2018 Art Responds at First Street Napa. Napa, CA. Art Responds: The Wine Country Fires (October - December)
2018 Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. Sonoma, CA. From Fire, Love Rises: The Artists' Community Responds and Rebuilds (September)
2017 SF Camerawork. San Francisco, CA. Circus
2012 Napa Valley Museum. Yountville, CA. Memory Bank II, Preservation Napa Valley
2011 Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo. Oaxaca, Mexico. Oaxaca XV Photography
2011 Preservation Napa Valley. Napa, CA. Memory Bank: A Discovery of Old Hands, Old Faces and the Way It Was
2009 SF Camerawork. 2009 Benefit Auction, San Francisco, CA. Auction Donation
2008 SF Camerawork. 2008 Benefit Auction, San Francisco, CA. Auction Donation
2008 di Rosa Preserve. Wild Things: Annual Benefit Auction, Napa, CA. Auction Donation
2008 Smith Andersen North. San Rafael, CA. Collector Print Fundraiser Benefitting PhotoAlliance
2008-09 Napa Nest. Napa, CA. Bright Lights/Big Top
2007 Bedford Gallery. Walnut Creek, CA. Carny Art: Contemporary Artists Exploring the Circus and Carnival
2007 Chinese Cultural Center. San Francisco, CA. Returning Swallow Exhibition of photographs by students from Prince of Peace China Cultural Tour and new portraits by Norma Quintana.
2007 The Silver Screen: Spectrum’s 25th Anniversary Gala. Mill Valley, CA.
2006 di Rosa Preserve. Supernatural Soiree. Annual Benefit Auction, Napa, CA. Auction Donataion.
2006 Geras-Tousignant Gallery. San Francisco, CA.
2004 Center for Photographic Art. Carmel, CA. Frames of Reference: New Works by PhotoAlliance Founders
2004-02 di Rosa Preserve Annual Benefit Exhibition and Auction. Napa, CA. Off the Preserve!
2002 Colorado Photographic Arts Center. Denver, CO. Evidence
2000 MUMM Cuvee Gallery. St. Helena CA. Still Life, Portrait and Landscape Photography
1998 Eye Gallery. San Francisco, CA. Plastic Beauty Juried Annual Exhibition, Selections.
EDUCATION
1999-2001 Maine Media Photography Workshops: Mary Ellen Mark. Oaxaca, Mexico
1998-2001 Napa Valley College: Photography Degree Curriculum
1999 Maine Media Photography Workshops: Graciela Iturbide. Oaxaca, Mexico
1998 Anderson Ranch Arts Center Photography Workshop: Shelby Lee Adams. Snow Mass, Colorado
1979 M.S.S.A., Juvenile Justice: Case Western Reserve University, Ohio.
AWARDS AND PRIZES
2021 Prix Pictet Ninth Cycle: Fire nominated artist; published in Fire catalog
2018 Fire Recovery Grant awarded by the Hewlett Foundation through Arts Council Napa Valley.
2003/02 Artist In Resident: Youth At Risk Photography Workshops: International Competition Won. The Ministry of Mexico sponsors eight of Quintana's students to travel to and exhibit in Mexico City.
PUBLICATIONS
Fire by Prix Pictet; Publisher: teNeues Publishing UK Ltd, 2021
FACING FIRE: Art, Wildfire, and the End of Nature in the New West, exhibition catalog, Douglas McCulloh, 2020 UCR ARTS, California Museum of Photography
Circus: A Traveling Life, Damiani Editore, Bologna, Italy. Introduction by Mona Simpson, October 2014.
Forget Me Not, Exhibition Catalog. Essay by Cristina Garcia, November 2004.
Memory Bank: A discovery of Old Hands, Old Faces and The Way It Was, Exhibition Catalog, 2011. Preservation Napa Valley.
TEACHING AND LECTURING
2023 California Institute of Integral Studies, MFA Transformative Inquiry: Fall Intensive
2017 Lowepro Photowalk: Social Documentary. Oxbow Market. Workshop.
2017 Napa County Library. Artist Talk.
2016 Napa Valley College Photography Department PhotoEye@NVC 2016-2017 Lecture Series. Lecture.
2015 Berkeley Art Center. Lecture & Booksigning.
2014 B&H Event Space. Guest Lecture: "What Happens When a Photographer Decides to Follow the Circus."
2014 Rotary Club of Napa. Guest Lecture: "Circus."
2011 Preservation Napa Valley. Public Lecture: “Photographing Elders."
2009 Sonoma Academy. Guest Lecture: “Life on the Road."
2008 The Oxbow School of Art. Visiting Guest Artist and Lecturer.
2006 Stanford University School of Humanities. Visiting Artist Lecturer.
2006 Chico State Department of Art and Art History. Visiting Artist Lecturer.
2006 Returning Swallows Project. Photography workshop in China with Prince of Peace Foundation and Bay Area Adoption Services
2005 Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State. Featured Lecturer.
2005 Manchester Craftsmen's Guild. Artist in Residence: MCG Youth Program.
2005 Penn State University. Photography and Women's Studies Department: lecture at Palmer Museum of Art.
2005 California University of Pennsylvania. “Black and White Documentaries” workshop.
2003 UCLA Graduate School of Education. “Information As Physical Evidence” Lectures.
2003 Instructor to Intern. Prescott College, Arizona.
2002 Trinity Grammar and Prep School: Black and White Photography Middle School Seminar. “The World Observed”.
2001-2002. Arts Council of Napa Valley/The Oxbow School/Nuestra Esperanza. Napa, CA.
Artist in Residence. Napa In Blanco y Negro, workshops for local Hispanic students.
AFFILIATIONS
2002 to 2012. PhotoAlliance. Founding Board Member. PhotoAlliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the understanding, appreciation, and creation of contemporary photography in the San Francisco Bay Area.
2007 to 2009. Napa Nest. Founder. The Nest was an art-house and gathering place to experience art, build community, and inspire future generations.
2004. di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature. Board Member. The di Rosa Preserve is one of the largest collections of regional art in the country. A public gift from Rene di Rosa, it houses over 2,000 works of art by Bay Area artists.