About
Molly Wood
Lives & works in Des Moines, Iowa
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I learned photography from my grandfather during our walks together – cameras in hand - around his small-town Louisiana farm. My favorite subjects were the things that were interesting from the eye level of a child: plants, flowers, and trees. Subjects like the live oak tree outside of his schoolhouse that he used to climb as a boy and the bearded irises that were planted by his grandmother and bloomed every spring.
For me, the act of making photographs became entwined with studying botanicals that were rich with my own personal history. My earlier images were traditional black and white botanical works using old school, large format 4x5 film cameras and hand-printed gelatin silver prints. These photographs showed the life cycle of plants at a time when I was contemplating my own mortality after my daughter was born and my father died in the same year.
Recently, I have moved into color work and have begun to shift from personal subjects to those with more universal and historical resonance and significance.
My work has been shown in solo exhibitions in Iowa at the Sioux City Art Center, the Dubuque Art Museum, the Des Moines Botanical Garden, Iowa State University and included in national group shows at the Midwest Center for Photography (Wichita), the Colorado Photographic Arts Center (Denver), and the Freeport Art Museum (Illinois). Pieces are included in the collections of the Sioux City Art Center, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bankers Trust, Farm Bureau, Principal Financial and the Presidential Suite of the Surety Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa.
CV
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EDUCATION​
​1992 Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas - Master of Art, Art History
1987 Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas - Bachelor of Art, Photojournalism
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​SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, Iowa
2020 Central College, Pella, Iowa
2019 The Poison Garden - Dubuque Museum of Art, Iowa
2019 Omnia Vanitas - Muscatine Art Museum, Iowa
2019 Omnia Vanitas - Olson-Larsen Galleries,
West Des Moines, Iowa
2019 Fatal Flora - Iowa State Capitol, Des Moines, Iowa
2018 Fatal Flora – Des Moines Botanical Center,
Des Moines, Iowa
2018 Fatal Flora - Memorial Union Gallery, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
2017 Fatal Flora - Morrissey Gallery, St. Ambrose
University, Davenport, Iowa
2016 Fatal Flora - Viaduct Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022. Figge Art Museum Davenport, Iowa
2021 Annual Member’s Show, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, Colorado. (juror – Aline Smithson)
2021 botanical, A. Smith Gallery, Johnson City, Texas
(juror – Wendi Schneider)
2020 PhotoSpiva, Spiva Art Center, Joplin, MO (juror -
April Watson - Nelson-Atkins Museum)
2019 Briar Cliff Review Exhibition, Sioux City Art Center,
Sioux City, Iowa
2018 Photo Sensitive, Olson-Larsen Galleries, West Des
Moines, Iowa
2018 Iowa Women's Art Exhibit, Iowa State Capitol, Des
Moines, Iowa
2017 Annual Small Works Show, Olson-Larsen Galleries,
West Des Moines, Iowa
2017 Current Work, Kansas City Society of Contemporary
Photography, Kansas City, Missouri (juror – Keith
Davis – Nelson-Atkins Museum)
2017 14th Annual Regional Juried Exhibition, Freeport Art
Museum, Freeport, Illinois
2017 DUMA Biennial, Dubuque Museum of Art,
Dubuque, Iowa
2017 Iowa Exhibited XXXII, Polk County Heritage Gallery,
Des Moines, Iowa (merit award)
2016 National Fellowship Competition, Midwest Center
for Photography, Wichita, Kansas
​2016 Salisbury House, Des Moines, Iowa
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OTHER​
2021 Resiliency Grant – Iowa Arts Council
2019 Project Grant - Iowa Arts Council
2018 Iowa Arts Council Fellowship
2016 Project Grant - Iowa Arts Council​
2016 to 2021 Des Moines Art Center Print Club Board
2015 to 2021 DMACC Adjunct Professor - History of
Photography
2008 to present Meredith Brand Licensing - Better Homes & Gardens – Commercial Photo Shoot Producer​​