Artist Statement

Specializes In long term photographic projects about places, urban and landscape, which create over years of interaction and research in-depth visual archives and complex portraits of human made and natural environments. Since 2018 he has been an artist in residence at the Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA.

Abbott curates exhibitions, is available for custom commissions, and with high quality originals prints his own work to custom sizes for consultants, curators and collectors.

Projects/Archives:

1983-2023 Ben Franklin Bridge, DelawareRiver Front, Philadelphia

1988-1992 & 2012-2013 Berlin

2000-2012 Cape Cod National Seashore

2013-2023 Florence, Venice, Rome, Milan,  

2013-2023 Tuscan landscape  

James B Abbott, a photographer, arrived in Philadelphia in 1981 and, from his first loft seventy-five feet from the Ben Franklin Bridge began photographing the bridge and its neglected riverfront neighborhood. The Ben Franklin Bridge is an ever-present icon in these photographs, viewed from an abandoned and decaying riverfront and from the emptied-out blocks that were in the process of becoming the Vine Street Expressway. He went on to other long term urban and landscape projects, He maintained a studio/gallery on North Third Street until 2015. He has exhibited and curated shows on the Ben Franklin Bridge and its urban landscape. And from 2013-2023 while teaching in Italy generated two new bodies of work on the architecture and urban landscape of Florence, Venice, Milan, Rome. Abbott graduated from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI, and over the course of thirty-five years has received numerous, grants, awards, residencies, commissions, and maintained a freelance photography practice. His fellowships include two Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Fellowship Awards, a fellowship with the Center for Emerging Visual Artists, 2013 Artist Fellowship from the Independence Foundation for his Berlin: Landscape of Memory Project. In 2011 Abbott was invited to be an Honored Guest Photographer as part of the Lishusi International Photo Festival in China. Past appointments include serving as photographer to the Stieglitz Center at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gallery Director for Aperture’s Burden Gallery, as well as teaching at the Penland School of Crafts, University of the Arts, Philadelphia University, and Tyler School of Arts. For the last ten years Abbott has been teaching in the Italy Intensives Program of East Carolina University in Certaldo, Italy. He prints all his own work and has a sizable photographic archive of Philadelphia, Berlin, Cape Cod, Venice, Tuscany, Venice, Rome, and Florence Italy.

His work references and builds on precedentary works about man made environments as structural embodiments of the cultural, economic and political forces shaping the urban landscape.The goal is a personal interpretation of extraordinary and familiar sites anew.

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Education

‍1980
BFA Photography, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI

1975 - 1977
Photographic Studies Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC

1972 - 1975
Liberal Arts Studies St. Thomas University, Miami Gardens, FL

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Visiting Artist Lectures

‍2018
East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

2014
SPE National Conference, Image Maker Lecture, Berlin: Landscape of Memory Collaboration

2010
Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

2007
Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA

2006
Visiting Artist, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI

2007
Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC

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Professional Experience

‍2021-2023
Conceive, Propose, Administer, and Master Printer for The Print Center series of artist commissions for Windows on Latimer, began in its iconic bay window during COVID, Ksenia Nouril curator

1983 - 2019
Freelance Photographer, National and International Experience

1999 - 2003
Founder/Director, Exhibit 231 Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Organized and Curator for:
2002 Sandy Sorlien Photographs from Fifty Houses: Images from the American Road, One person exhibition and book signing
2001 Geanna Merola: Poetic Transmissions: hand altered photographs, One Person Show
John Geard, System and Chaos, Paperworks and Artist Books, One person show, show and lectures part of Philadelphia Print Collaborative Festival
Joel Katz: Paris Dream-walk, Photographic Assemblages, One person Show

2000
Carl Toth; Photo-Montages 1970-2000, The Eye Evolves, One Person show

The Bridge on the Horizon Show Exhibit 231 Gallery

Research and curate three part exhibition of the Ben Franklin Bridge; Urban Landscape photographs 1982-2000 by James B. Abbott with drawings and photographs from the bridge archives of the Delaware River Port Authority

1984 - 1985
Assistant, Burk Uzzle, Photographer

1983
Gallery Director, Burden Gallery, Aperture Foundation, New York City, NY

1982
Photographer, Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, PA

1981
Art Reproduction Photographer, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA

1977 Intern Light Gallery, New York City, NY

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‍Teaching Experience

‍2021 & 2023
Adjunct Instructor, Italy Intensives, East Carolina University, Certaldo, Italy

2013 - 2018
Adjunct Instructor, Italy Intensives, East Carolina University, Certaldo, Italy

2012 - 2013
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

2012
Adjunct Professor, Philadelphia University, Philadelphia, PA

2003 – 04
Senior Lecturer, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

1993
Adjunct Professor, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA

1985
Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC - Workshop Instructor for Photography and Collage/ Design Session, co taught with designer Jane Kosstrin of Doublespace Design, NYC

1978 - 79
Teaching Assistant to non major graduate students, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI

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Awards/Grants/Fellowships

2023
Merit Awardee 2023 Kite Prize for Contemporary Art‍

‍2018
Meyer Award for Contemporary Art with Exhibition, Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA

2012 - 2013
Independence Foundation Artist Fellowship, Berlin: the Landscape of Memory Project

2011
Lishui International Photo Festival, Lishui, China, Honored Guest Photographer

2008 - 2009
Artist Career Development Fellowship, Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Philadelphia

2002
SOS Grant for Exhibition Support, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

2001
Visual Arts Fellowship, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

1983
Visual Arts Fellowship, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

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Artist Residencies

‍2018 - 2023
Artist in Residence Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA

2007
C-Scape Dune Shack Residency, Cape Cod National Seashore, Provincetown, MA

2003
Outer Cape Artist in Residency, Cape Cod National Seashore, Provincetown, MA

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Public Collections

‍Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA

Free Library of Philadelphia, Print and Picture Collection, Philadelphia, PA

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Allentown Museum of Art, Allentown, PA

Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI Federal Reserve Bank, Philadelphia, PA

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Select Commissions

2023 - 2024  
Four Seasons Photographing Modern Japanese Sound Garden by Yamaguchi Yousuke

‍2015 - 2017
Curate and Install 25 photographic works from three bodies of work for permanent display at corporate offices of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Boston, MA and King of Prussia

2001 – 2018
Architectural and Urban Street photography for Center City District/Central Philadelphia Development Corp, Annual reports, collateral, web

2003 – 2004
Creating Sacred Places, Transcultural Initiative Project for Rutgers University and NJN Public TV, Site photography - architectural, interiors, portraits, of Under Ground Railroad Church and Buddhist Temple for exhibition, web, cd, catalog

2000 – 2002
Landscape Photography for Laurie Olin of Olin Partnership, Philadelphia, PA Sites include: American Academy in Rome, National Gallery Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, Bryant Park & Wagner Park, NYC

2000
New. Land. Marks. Site photographs for Fairmount Park Art Association, Book, Web, and Exhibition at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

1998
Philadelphia Underground, Photographer for Philadelphia Magazine feature. Text by Mark Bernstein

1983 – 1984
Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Urban Photography for a Series of Posters Designed by Willi Kunz of Willi Kunz and Associates, NY

1980
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Architecture Department, Photography for Daniel Libeskind Project: Symbol and Interpretation, catalogue, poster and exhibition at Suomen Rakennustaiteen, Helsinki, Finland

Selected Solo Exhibitions

‍2021
‍On the River’s Edge: The Disintegrating Touch of Nature Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA

2020
High Tide, LowTide, High Tide. Windows On Latimer (Site Specific Installation) The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA

2019
Florentina with Flowers by Clara Sophia, Flower show themed exhibition, The Gallery, Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA

2018
Survey of Ben Franklin Bridge and Waterfront Work 1983-2001, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA

BridgeWorks, Large scale images of Ben Franklin Bridge Anchorage, The Gallery, Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA

‍What Is & What If, 14th Annual Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition, Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA

Made in Italy, (45 prints from long term project in Florence and Venice, Italy) Italy Intensives, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

2015
The Landscape before Me: Cape Cod 2000-2012, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA

2014
Berlin: Landscape of Memory, Saint Asaph Gallery, Bala Cynwd, PA

2013
Berlin: Landscape of Memory, Collaboration with Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra with Ignat Solzhenitsyn Conducting, for The Philadelphia International Arts Festival, Time Machine - Berlin, Multi Media One person exhibition of Prints, CFEVA Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2012
Making Way: Defining the Urban Landscape of the Ben Franklin Bridge (983 -1987), Free Library of Philadelphia, Print and Pictures Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2011
The Landscape Before Me: Cape Cod 2000-2011, Lishui Photo Festival, Lishui China

2008
Wellfleet Landscapes, Photographs by James B. Abbott, Wellfleet Public Library, Wellfleet, MA

2006
The Landscape Before Me: Cape Cod, Photographs by James B. Abbott, J. David Broudo Gallery of Art, Endicott College, Beverly, MA

2005
The Landscape: Photographs by James B. Abbott and Robert Asman, Art Works Gallery, Philadelphia Museum of Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2004
Bridge Works, St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA

2002
Bridge Works: Constructed Photographs of the Ben Franklin Bridge, Exhibit 231 Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2000
The Bridge on the Horizon, research archives of the DR Exhibit 231 Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Sightlines; Berlin, 1988-1992, Photographs by James B. Abbott, Curated by Carl Toth Exhibit 231 Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1994
Jim Abbott: Berlin 1988-1992, Allentown Museum of Art, Allentown, PA

1987
Bridge Series Work, Gunn Gallery, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

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Selected Group Exhibitions

‍2022
HONZO X ABBOTT present Black Excellence, Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA ‍

Facciate: Architectural Overlays in Italy, A Photographic Exhibition by James B Abbott & Blaise Tobia, Two Person Exhibition, Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA

2021
‍Unfolding, In the Time of Covid Piece, Curated by Nicole Pollard, Philadelphia Contemporary, Atelier Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2013
Tyler School of Art Photography Faculty Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA

American Life, Group Exhibition of Twenty American Photographers, Touring exhibition ShiJiaZhuang Art Museum, Shijiazhuang, China, Curator Yan Li

2012
The Print Center: Four Photographers of the Landscape, Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Science, Long Beach Island, NJ

2011
Documentary Pix: Philadelphia, A Century of Change, Free Library of Philadelphia

2010
Art of the State 2010, State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA

2009
Streets of Philadelphia, Photography 1970 – 1985, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA

2008
Perspectives, Ice Box Project Space, Philadelphia, PA

Sneak previews: CFEVA Presents, Philadelphia Foundation, Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia Selections, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA

2007
Art of the State 2007, State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA

Perkins Center for the Arts, Morristown, NJ

2006
Works from the Dune Shack, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Truro, MA

Art of the State 2006, State Museum of Pennsylvania. Harrisburg, PA (Third Place Award, Photography)

Works on Paper, Arcadia University, Glenside, PA

Print Center 80th Annual International Competition, Print Center, Philadelphia, PA (Philadelphia Museum Purchase Award)

2004
Print Center 78th Annual Photography Competition, Philadelphia. PA

Photography Now, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA

Spectra ‘04: National Photography Triennial, Silvermine Gallery, New Canaan, CT

2002
Suspended in Time: The Ben Franklin Bridge, Rutgers Center for the Arts, Camden, NJ

2001
New. Land. Marks, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA

Take 5 on the American Landscape, Group show of Photo Sessions

Speakers at the Nexus Foundation for Today's Art, Nexus Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1992
20/20 Vision, Cranbrook Museum of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI

1991
Pennsylvania Photographers, Allentown Museum of Art, Allentown, PA

1989
150 Years of Photography in Philadelphia, Museo Bardini, Florence, Italy