Photo by Madeline Kennedy for Baby & Co.
When I was a child I pasted found objects and photographs into books. It helped me record thoughts and create visual order. I still paste things together. Combining images satisfies my compulsion to arrange random events into a narrative; to mix past with present and form an imagined world inside of one that exists. The work is about disorder, time and their inevitable inseparability. It carries with it a variety of influences, which constantly evolve based on the relevance I apply to particular happenings in the world. My process is nonlinear. I frequently start with a drawing or painting, sometimes a photograph. I later add combinations of varying media, and what I end up with rarely resembles my original intent.
My first camera was a 1973 Polaroid Land Camera. I began shooting at night. Unable to make the rotating, disposable flash cubes sync with my shutter, the images were blurry. I remember thinking, if I could just hold still, I’d take better pictures. I started shooting again in the early nineties to create content for my collage work. The darkroom enchanted me. I loved the meticulous routine and rules, which I later learned could be broken. Around the same time I began photographing people, and have been doing so for more than two decades. I never set out to be a portrait photographer and still don’t think of myself that way. What began as a means of temporary, supplemental income managed to plant itself as a permanent guest. I try to approach portraiture as an artist - the difference being I’m no longer expressing only myself, but obligated to capture my subjects as well.
-Peggy Washburn is an interdisciplinary, artist, educator and fine-art portrait photographer whose work has been acquired by permanent collections including the Bibliothéque nationale de France, The Ralph Lauren collection, The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Museo Nazionale della Fotografia and Seattle University. Along with numerous gallery shows, nationally and internationally, her work has been exhibited at The Woodmere Art Museum, The Frye Art Museum, The Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Seattle Art Museum Gallery and Museo Nazionale della Fotografia. She works on both East and West Coasts, and currently resides in Philadelphia where she runs an after-school photography program for at-risk youth.
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Rose Lehrman Art Center Gallery, Harrisburg, PA Precisely Now
2015 Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle, WA Learning To Write
2013 Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle, WA. Passion and Reason
2013 Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle, WA Entropy
2013 Seattle Art Museum, Gallery, Seattle, WA Entropy
2011 Fine Art Gallery at Fontbonne University, St. Louis, MO Entropy
2008 Benham Gallery, Seattle WA, Tangential Relations
2006 Benham Gallery, Seattle WA, Stories
2002 Benham Gallery, Seattle, WA, Ghosts
2000 Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA Two Years Later
1999 Benham Gallery, Seattle, WA Two Years Later
1997 Benham Gallery, Seattle, WA. Time Out
1995 The Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA On the Road
1995 Benham Gallery, Seattle, WA. Intimate Images
1994 Benham Gallery, Seattle, WA Redefined Form
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Woodmere Museum, Philadelphia, PA, Woodmere Museum 82nd Annual Juried Exhibition
2023 Woodmere Museum, Philadelphia, PA, Woodmere Museum 81st Annual Juried Exhibition
2022 Dab Art, Los Angeles, CA, Group exhibition Wait Gain
2022 The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA 96th Annual
2021 Dab Art, Los Angeles, CA Art in the Time of Corona
2019 Harris Harvey Gallery, Seattle, WA Studies In Nature: Photographic Views
2019 Aperture Gallery, NYC, Lens Culture Beyond Boundaries
2018 Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Connect
2017 Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, Notions of Home
2016 Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle, WA Resident Artist Group Show
2016 Photographic Center Northwest Seattle, RIFFS
2014. Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley Filtere
2014 Silvia White Gallery, Ventura CA Entropy
2013 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland Oregon Resurrectio
2008 Friesen Gallery Seattle WA Seeds of Change
2008 Museo Genova Nervi, Brescia Italy She Shots
2003 Ricco-Maresca Gallery, NYC Home
2003 Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham WA Photography Now
2003 Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, Contemporary Northwest Women in Photography
2003 Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA Elizabeth Brown Juried International
2002 Barret Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY New Directions, Joan Young Juried International
1998 The Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA Faculty Showcase
1997 The Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA Joyce Tenneson Juried International
1996 Il Museo Nazionale della Fotografia, Brescia, Italy Benham Gallery Resident Artist’s Show
1996 The Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA Faculty Showcase
Selected Collections
Bibliothéque nationale de France, Paris, France
The Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Museo Nazionale della Fotografia, Brescia, Italy
Ralph Lauren, New York, NY
Women In Photography International, Los Angeles, CA
Seattle University, Seattle WA
Selected Awards
2022 The Print Center 96th Annual International Competition Fish/Pearce Award
2022. BUP Book Award finalist
2021 Lens Culture Critics’ Choice Award
2018 Lens Culture Art Photography Awards
2016 International Photo Awards
2014 Winter Art Walk Awards, City Arts
2011 IPA Lucie Awards
2006 Women In Photography International
2005 Black and White Spider People’s Choice Award
2004 PCNW Roy Flukinger Award
Selected Features and Publications
2023 Frames Magazine -The Female Gaze by Diana Nicholette Jeon
2023 Lenscratch Magazine - June 2023 interview / feature with Greg Banks
2022 Musée Magazine - 2022 interview / feature with Nemo Chen, Woman Crush Wednesday
2022 BETA Developments In Photography - no. 41
2021 One Twelve 2021 - Poignant Portfolio no. 26
2021 One Twelve 2021 - Diffusion, Volume X
2021 Picture of Lily 2021 - Precisamente Ahora
2018 Od Review 2018 - A Familial Disorder, The Art of Peggy Washburn
2018 Lens Culture 2018 - Entropy
2008 23 Sandy Gallery 2008 - Resurrection
2007 Women In Photography International - Turning Silver (custom hard bound book, sponsored by Kodak), 2007
2003 Black and White Magazine, 2003
2005 Fotophile, 2005
2004 Photovision (Spain), 2004
2004 Archives of Pediatric Medicine, 2004
2004 Shots Magazine 2004
2004 Camera Arts, 2004
2004 Parade Magazine 2004
Lectures/Teaching
2023 Rose Lehrman Arts Center at HACC, Artist Talk
2017 Portland Art Museum, Artist Talk
2003-2009 University of Washington, yearly Guest Lecturer for MFA program
2003 Frye Art Museum, Panel Discussion with Dr. Naomi Rosenblum, Ellen Garvins and Gail Gibson
2001 Directions in Photography Artist Talk
1991-2002 Faculty Photographic Center Northwest
1991-2002 Faculty Bellevue Community College
Volunteer work and Community Involvement
2018-2023 Director of Photo Club, an after school photography program for at-risk youth in North Philadelphia
2017-2023 Academic Advisory Board member, University of Washington, Certificate in Photography
2017-2018 Photo in Schools (Non-Profit program bringing photography to at-risk youth in Philadelphia Schools)
2011-2013 Casa Latina (Non-Profit organization to help Latin American Immigrants in transition)
2003-2004 The Heart Gallery Project (Traveling state-funded exhibit to increase adoption in WA State)
1992 Director Insight Youth (Non-profit photography program for at-risk youth in Seattle)
1991 Instructor Youth In Focus (Non-profit photography program for at-risk youth in Seattle)