Photography program continues partnership with Seattle Macy's to create "Winterscapes" project

Photography students from the Western Washington University (WWU) Department of Art have created a project entitled “Winterscapes” that is on display through Nov. 27 at the historic downtown Seattle Macy’s department store Skybridge over Third Avenue.

Working with Macy's downtown store visual manager, Pierre Gour, students in WWU’s Introduction to Photography course created 22 large format landscapes. Gour then selected images that were relevant to the North Face promotion and the students were asked to alter or edit their work according to what suited the promotion. The intent of the project was to question the relevance of landscape in contemporary society.

Featured students in “Winterscapes” include Kendra Aldrich, Park City, Utah; Timothy Byrne, Quincy, Calif.; Kai Caemmerer, Bellingham; Marybeth Coghill, Seattle; Carmen Daneshmandi, Bellevue; Heather Harris, Juneau, Alaska; Saylah Leu, Tacoma; Tse-Tang Lin (James), Taipei, Taiwan; William Losleben, Sultan; Mireille Melki, Bothell; Micheal Oldani, Prescott, Ariz.; Kei Omotaka, Kyoto, Japan; Allison Paul, Lynwood; Benjamin Peterson, Olympia; Justin Riehl, Issaquah; Paul Summerson, Pullman; and White Salmon’s Anna Zuck, with support from Dana Ollestad and Kelli Waugh as classroom assistants.

“I am constantly looking for ways to push the boundaries of photography and introduce students to new and challenging exhibition venues. In this project, we are grateful that Macy's donated the materials for the project,” said WWU’s Garth Amundson, instructor of the course. The project was designed to introduce fine art photography students to a commercial project, and to highlight the dialogue between the fine art and commercial worlds.

For more information about the project, contact Garth Amundson at garth.amundson@wwu.edu.