2010 Visual Artist: Alex MacLean
Pilot and photographer Alex MacLean has flown his Cessna 182 over much of the United States documenting the landscape. Trained as an architect, he has portrayed the history and evolution of the land from vast agricultural patterns to city grids, recording changes brought about by human intervention and natural processes. His powerful and descriptive images provide clues to understanding the relationship between the natural and the constructed environments. MacLean’s photographs have been exhibited widely in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia and are found in private, public, and university collections. He has won numerous awards, including the 2009 CORINE International Book Award for OVER: The American Landscape at the Tipping Point, the American Academy of Rome’s Prix de Rome in Landscape Architecture for 2003–2004, and grants from foundations such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Graham Foundation. His other books include Visualizing Density (2007), The Playbook (2006), Designs on the Land: Exploring America from the Air (2003), Above and Beyond: Visualizing Change in Small Towns and Rural Areas (2002), Taking Measures across the American Landscape (1996), and Look at the Land: Aerial Reflections of America (1993). MacLean maintains a studio and lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts.
Alex MacLean’s work will be displayed on campus throughout the festival. Additionally, there will be a Café Conversation that features a discussion with the artist, followed by an artist’s reception, both of which are free and open to the public (date TBA).