Skip Schiel sorting olives in the West Bank village of Yanoun, November 2003, photo by Julie Valkind

 

©Skip Schiel, 2004
schiel@ccae.org
617-441-7756
9 Sacramento St, Cambridge MA 02138-1843

A participatory photographer, photographing while engaging in struggles for justice, peace, right treatment of the environment, and enlightenment, Skip Schiel makes photos for publications, exhibits, slide shows, and individual use. His main current project is a photographic examination of conditions in Palestine & Israel (Facts on the Ground). Other projects include retracing the Transatlantic Trade journey (A Spirit People), the earth (Scent of Earth), prisons (Imprisoned Massachusetts), and an exploration of the impact of digital technology on photography.

Biography

Occupation—

Photographer, self employed—Teeksa Photography, 1980—present
Teacher of photography, Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 1990—present

Education—

Many photographic collaborations with other artists, including an inter-racial photographers' collective in Boston, 1980—present
Workshops in photography, filmmaking, and video at various arts centers, Boston, 1978—present
Informal studies and educational collaborations with Minor White, MIT, 1965—68
Graduate studies in mathematics, Tufts University, 1965; undergraduate degrees in mathematics and psychology, University of Washington, 1962-65; undergraduate studies in engineering, Iowa State University, 1959-62

Photographic experience—

Numerous journeys to Indian reservations, faith communities, and cities, and other countries including South Africa, Bosnia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, often to explore ceremonies, use of land, history, and spiritual perspectives, 1983—present
Exhibits at Chicago Cultural Center, Boston Public Library, Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, national and regional Quaker conferences, colleges and universities such as MIT, Harvard, University of Rochester, and Truman College in Chicago
In publications such as Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Progressive Magazine, Boston Herald, National Catholic Reporter, Sojourners, Creation Spirituality, The Witness (winning two awards), Environment Magazine and books
In collections of Smithsonian Institution, Peabody Museum of Harvard University, and Pusey Museum of Theater History at Harvard
Independent photographer for conferences, political organizations, schools

Photographic projects previously completed—

Nepal, 1980, Bread and Puppet Theater, 1985, Boston Harbor, 1988, South Africa (first version), 1992, American Indians, 1993, Water, 1996, The Elm Tree, 1996, and several pilgrimages, including Auschwitz to Hiroshima, 1997, and One Sky, about historic slavery and contemporary racism, combining images from a pilgrimage retracing the journey of the African-Atlantic slave trade, the deep South, and South Africa (including Itineraries with Laura Soul Brown, at the Boston Public Library, 2002), 1998-2003

Current project—

Facts on the Ground, a digital slide show about Palestine and Israel, with images made during November 2003. The first stage of a multi-year project examining conditions and struggle in the Levant. Besides the slide show, he's also completed a book, from which this web-presentation is derived (Paired Photographs from the Levant), and a print exhibit of the same title. In autumn 2004, he expects to be back in Israel and Palestine to volunteer his photography to organizations engaged in peace, justice, and reconciliation struggles.

Teaching Experience—

Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 1990-present, digital photography, photojournalism, environmental photography, experimental photography, drawing and photographing the human being (co-taught with Stan Edelson), black and white photography, basic and intermediate photography, and a history of photography, as well as the page layout computer program, Quark XPress
Friends General Conference Gatherings (Quakers), Amherst MA, 1994 and Harrisonburg VA, 1997, "What is Arts Ministry?" (i.e., arts used to heal, reconcile, and invoke), FGC at Blacksburg VA, "Photography as Prayer," and New England Yearly Meeting sessions, Brunswick ME, 1994, "What is Arts Ministry?"
Radcliffe Seminars, 1993 Cambridge MA, landscape photography
Watertown High School and Hosmer Middle School, 1983-88, Watertown Massachusetts, photography and writing, as artist-in-residence
Boston Film-Video Foundation, 1980-82, production and business of media
Boston College, 1969-78, film production and history, organized film series

Grants and honors—

Polly Bond Award of Excellence, 2000, for the cover photo (and layout by staff) used by The Witness magazine; Cambridge Peace Commission, one of their annual Peace & Justice awards, 2000; Eastman Kodak, 1999, product support; Magnum photo collective and agency finalist, 1993; a series of grants from various Quaker funds, 1991—present; Artist Foundation (Massachusetts) grant finalist, 1981; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 1978, film retrospective

(June 2004)