Jimmye Kimmey Artist Statement |
| Jimmye Kimmey |
After a lifetime of seeing but not taking pictures, except for a decade of
work with film and chemicals, Jimmye succumbed to the digital world;
she bought her first digital SLR in 2004. With the invaluable help of
professional photographer Tom Judd, she soon felt at home with it, and
was encouraged by her friends, the artists Teel Sale and the late
Claudia Betti, who generously spent time looking at and commenting on
her pictures.
The short answer to the question of what she takes pictures of is,
“Geometry-- Euclidian and fractal.” Forms, in buildings or people or
nature, their structures revealed through line, light and shadow are the
basis of her work, most of which is centered in New York City, where
she lived for over 40 years, and which she continues to visit regularly.
In addition to architectural form, reflections and shadows create their
own forms, distorting and abstracting. Pictures of reflections make us
aware of the limits of our intentional looking. We see what we expect to
see: a building, the contents of a shop window. We miss the reflections
in the glass walls and windows.
Jimmye seldom gives titles to her pictures, but place and time are
indicated, thereby taking care of the space/time context. Describing,
interpreting, naming are left to the interested viewer.
In 2006 she had the first of three shows at the UNT Union Gallery, with
another scheduled for October 2009. All these pictures have been
acquired by the Rare Book Room of the UNT Libraries for their
permanent collection. In 2007 one of her pictures, “West 42nd Street,”
was included in the Kennedy Publication book, Best of America:
Photography Artists and Artisans. In July of 2009, her “Triptych I: MoMA
Garden (Serra)” was judged Best in Category in the Visual Arts Society
of Texas (VAST) Regional Exhibit.
After graduating from the University of Texas, Jimmye did graduate work
at Columbia where she became Research Associate at the Institute of
War and Peace Studies while teaching international relations at Barnard
College. She then spent a decade as Executive Director of a non-profit
agency that was influential in securing the right of women to choose to
have an abortion. Once that battle was, for the time being at least, won,
she went to Union Theological Seminary and in 1980 was ordained to
the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. She served as Canon to the
Ordinary for Ministry Development until her retirement in 1995, when she
moved to Denton.
work with film and chemicals, Jimmye succumbed to the digital world;
she bought her first digital SLR in 2004. With the invaluable help of
professional photographer Tom Judd, she soon felt at home with it, and
was encouraged by her friends, the artists Teel Sale and the late
Claudia Betti, who generously spent time looking at and commenting on
her pictures.
The short answer to the question of what she takes pictures of is,
“Geometry-- Euclidian and fractal.” Forms, in buildings or people or
nature, their structures revealed through line, light and shadow are the
basis of her work, most of which is centered in New York City, where
she lived for over 40 years, and which she continues to visit regularly.
In addition to architectural form, reflections and shadows create their
own forms, distorting and abstracting. Pictures of reflections make us
aware of the limits of our intentional looking. We see what we expect to
see: a building, the contents of a shop window. We miss the reflections
in the glass walls and windows.
Jimmye seldom gives titles to her pictures, but place and time are
indicated, thereby taking care of the space/time context. Describing,
interpreting, naming are left to the interested viewer.
In 2006 she had the first of three shows at the UNT Union Gallery, with
another scheduled for October 2009. All these pictures have been
acquired by the Rare Book Room of the UNT Libraries for their
permanent collection. In 2007 one of her pictures, “West 42nd Street,”
was included in the Kennedy Publication book, Best of America:
Photography Artists and Artisans. In July of 2009, her “Triptych I: MoMA
Garden (Serra)” was judged Best in Category in the Visual Arts Society
of Texas (VAST) Regional Exhibit.
After graduating from the University of Texas, Jimmye did graduate work
at Columbia where she became Research Associate at the Institute of
War and Peace Studies while teaching international relations at Barnard
College. She then spent a decade as Executive Director of a non-profit
agency that was influential in securing the right of women to choose to
have an abortion. Once that battle was, for the time being at least, won,
she went to Union Theological Seminary and in 1980 was ordained to
the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. She served as Canon to the
Ordinary for Ministry Development until her retirement in 1995, when she
moved to Denton.
