Judith Preston - Artist CV
Judith Preston is a photographer and educator who grew up in rural New England and now lives in Southern California. She first became interested in photography while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in English from Keene State College in New Hampshire. Exposed to the work of Minor White and Ansel Adams as a student worker in the college’s audio-visual department, she began to pursue still photography as a visual avenue of communication.
Her first serious work was documentary photographs of the residents of a tenement building in Brattleboro, Vermont. Turning her attention to the Vermont landscape, she began experimenting with black & white infrared film as a way to express the spiritual quality of nature. Wanting to delve into the medium even further, she entered the graduate program in photography at Ohio University, Athens, receiving her MFA in 1986.
Currently, she is interested in low-tech approaches to image-making such as the Holga plastic camera, non-traditional alternative processes and photo collage.
From 1988-2023, she taught both traditional darkroom (black & white and color negative), digital photography, and history of photography classes at several community colleges (Grossmont, Palomar, and MiraCosta) in the San Diego area.
Education
Master of Fine Arts, Photography, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 1986
Bachelor of Arts, English, Keene State College, Keene, NH, 1982
Select Exhibitions
Light + Alchemy, William D. Cannon Gallery, Carlsbad, CA Invited group exhibit, 2026
Absolutely Abstract, Escondido Arts Partnership, Escondido, CA Juried group exhibit, 2025, 2026
Dames on Grand, Escondido Arts Partnership, Escondido, CA Juried group exhibit, 2025, 2026
Personal Impressions, Escondido Arts Partnership, Escondido, CA Group exhibit, 2024
In Plain View, Photographer’s Eye Gallery, Escondido, CA Invited two-person exhibit, 2019
Water, Civic Gallery, Vista, CA Juried group exhibit, 2013
Black and West, InnerSpace Gallery, Escondido, CA Group exhibit, 2010
Alternatives, Wellness Center, Vista, CA Invited group exhibit, 2010
Rebirth, InnerSpace Gallery, Escondido, CA Group exhibit, 2009
Dreamscape, InnerSpace Gallery, Escondido, CA Group exhibit, 2009
Forever Temporary, Spanish Village Gallery, San Diego, CA Group exhibit, 2009
Art of Black & White, InnerSpace Gallery, Escondido, CA Group exhibit, 2009
Reflections, InnerSpace Gallery, Escondido, CA Group exhibit, 2008
New & True, Spanish Village Gallery, San Diego, CA Juried group exhibit, 2008
Human Nature, Escondido Municipal Gallery Juried group exhibit, 2007
Permanent Tourist, Center for Performing Arts, Poway, CA Juried group exhibit, 2007
North County Camera Center and Gallery, Escondido, CA Invited group exhibit, 2004
The Archives, Escondido, CA Invited group exhibit, 2004
North County Camera Center and Gallery, Escondido, CA Invited group exhibit, 2002
Flat Street Gallery, Brattleboro, VT Invited solo exhibit, 2000
Selected Professional Activities: Past and Present
Member:
Photographic Arts Group exhibit, Escondido, CA
Society for Photographic Education
Womens' Caucus for Art, San Diego, CA
Member & Studio Artist, Distinction Gallery, Escondido, CA
Member & Docent, Museum of Photographic Arts, Balboa Park, San Diego
Advisory Board, Photography Program, Torrey Pines High School, San Diego, CA
Juror:
San Diego County Fair, Del Mar, CA
Visions in Print, La Jolla Village Gallery, La Jolla, CA
Spanish Village Art Center Membership Competition, San Diego, CA
The Darkroomers Camera Club, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA
El Cajon Valley High School student art exhibition
Coordinator:
Rebirth, Photographic Arts Group exhibit (PAG) of Escondido
Color Vision - student group exhibit, North County Camera
Color Vision - student group exhibit, Hill Street Coffee House & Gallery
Color Vision - student group exhibit, Lemon Grove Arts Complex, San Diego
Presenter:
Photography Workshop, Sierra Club Lodge, San Diego
Photography, Sierra Club, Sheep Canyon Backpack, Anza Borrego Desert
Golden West Community College, Huntington Beach, CA
Acting Chair, Photography Section, Sierra Club, San Diego Chapter
Teaching
Grossmont College, El Cajon, CA Sept 1988 – Dec 2021
Palomar College, San Marcos, CA Jan 1992 – Dec 2023
MiraCosta College, Oceanside, CA Aug 2009 – Dec 2022
Publications
Exploring Color Photography (1st, 2nd, & 3rd editions), Robert Hirsch, editor, Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1995, 2000, 2004.
New Mexico Photographer, University of New Mexico Press, winter, 1995.
Cowles Mountain Journal, Grossmont College Publications, 1992, 1994.