My work explores the quiet collaborations between natural systems, light, and time, revealing the delicate entanglement of growth, decay, and renewal across the living world. Using historical and plant-based photographic techniques such as chlorophyll printing, cyanotype, phytograms and gum bichromate, I invite sunlight, water, and organic matter to participate in image-making, blurring the boundary between artist and environment. Each piece becomes both document and reverie: a temporal surface where transformation, impermanence, and care unfold in slow conversation with the more-than-human world.
Laurie Beck Peterson (b. 1962) is a U.S.-based artist known for her work with 19th-century photographic processes. Her practice explores impermanence, ephemerality, and the cycles of growth and decay in the natural world. In her most recent projects, she incorporates sustainable, plant-based printing techniques that align with her environmental themes.
Peterson is currently on faculty at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia, PA, where she teaches contemporary applications of historical photographic methods. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and is held in numerous public and private collections.
Notably, she was selected to exhibit at the Royal Photographic Society's International Photography Exhibition 164 (IPE 164) in Bristol, UK. In 2025 this work was also on view at The Fox Talbot Museum at Lacock Abbey and is now in the museums collection. Other exhibition venues include the Woodmere Art Museum, The Delaware Contemporary, FotoNostrum Gallery, and The Museum of Gloucester.
Her work has been featured in publications such as Rfotofolio, The Hand Magazine, Gum Printing: A Step-by-Step Manual, Santa Fe Photographic Workshop Portraits, and Anthotype Emulsions (Volumes 1 and 3) and most recently is featured in the book Eroding Forms, launched at the 2025 Ephemere Photo Fest, Tokyo, Japan. She is represented by UpStart Modern Gallery in Sausalito, California.
1984
Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
BFA, Photography
2024
Interim Program Head, Photo, Tyler School of Art and Architecture,Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
2023
Presenter, The Royal Photographic Society IPE 164, Bristol, UK
2022
Light Talk with Laurie Beck Peterson, The Halide Project, Philadelphia, PA
2021 - present
Workshop Instructor, The Halide Project, Philadelphia, PA
Photo 20/20 Cyanotype Alternatives
2021
Workshop Instructor, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY
Cyanotype on paper and wood
2020
Lecture - Alternative Process Photography, Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA
2019
Juror and Lecturer, Being There - Black and White Photography, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
2018 - present
Adjunct Faculty, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Photo Process, Eco Friendly Plant Based Photo Printing
2016 - 2019
Lecture - History of Non-Silver Photography, University of The Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2016
Workshop Instructor, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Platinum / Palladium
2016
Professional Practices Presentations, Tyler School of Art and Architecture,Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
2015
Workshop Instructor, Googleworks Center for The Arts, Reading PA
GumBichromate
2011 - 2020
Senior Lecturer, University of The Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Nonsilver Printmaking Process
2009
Workshop Instructor, Chemical Heritage Foundation – Philadelphia, PA
Cyanotypes and Sun prints
2008
Professional Practices Presentations, Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, Lancaster, PA
1984 - present
Beck Photography, Rochester, NY & Philadelphia, PA
1985-1986
In-house Photographer, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY
2025
Eroding Forms, Curation Chiara Salvi, Publisher Anne Murayama, Ephemere
2021
The Hand Magazine, Issue 33
Analog Forever Magazine, Artifact as Memory, On-line Exhibition
The Hand Magazine, Issue 31
2017
Gum Printing, A Step-By-Step Manual, by Christina Z. Anderson, Focal Press
2016
Sensational Photography Exclusive, "After Photoville from NYC," MUG Publishing
2011
Santa Fe Photographic Workshop Portraits, "Winners," A&I Books
2019
Cover Art, Explorations of a Mind-Traveling Sociologist, by Renee C. Fox, Anthem Press
The Eastman School of Music
The Fox Talbot Museum
2023
Artist in Residence, Awbury Arboretum, Philadelphia, PA
2021
Artist Grant, The Living Land, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY
Visitors Award, Two Pair Section, A. Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
2020
Artist Residency, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY
(postponed until 2022)
2016
Semi-finalist, National Park Artist in Residence, Acadia National Park, Winter Harbor, MA
2012
Pinhole Featured Photographer, Art Blog, Chris Keeney, San Diego, CA
2025
Actinic Traces, Adkins Arboretum, Ridgely, MD
2024
The Aftermath, High School Park, Elkins Park, Philadelphia, PA
2023
Instability, Awbury Arboretum, Cope House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2022
We All Fall Down, Stella Elkins Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2016
Visible Obscured, Kol Ami Gallery, Elkins Park, PA
2012
Infinite Light, Olde City Jewish Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA
2007
Dory Days, Allens Lane Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
2024
The Art Of Gum Bichromate (invitational), Duncan Miller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Feature Works from RPS 164, Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock, UK
Royal Photographic Society 164th Touring Exhibition, Museum of Gloucester, Gloucester, UK
2023
Royal Photographic Society 164th Exhibition, Bristol, UK
Breaking Ground: Art about the Earth, Annmarie Sculpture Gardens in Association with the Smithsonian Institution, Solomons, MD
Shallow Anchors, Upstart Modern, Sausalito, CA
2022
New Now V, InLiquid, Philadelphia, PA
Lux et Libera - Philly Edition, 20/20 Photo Festival, Philadelphia, PA
The Photo Review - Best in Show, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Juror: Christopher James
Rfotofolio, Selections and Interview
Jurors: Ann Jastrab, Diana Bloomfield, Connie and Jerry Rosenthal
2021
Barcelona Foto Biennale, 15th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, Fotonostrum Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
Juror: Elisabeth Avedon
International Juried Exhibition, Center For Photographic Art, Carmel CA
Jurors: Darren Ching and Debra Klomp Ching
Alternative Processes, Griffen Museum of Photography and Soho Photo, NY, NY and Winchester, MA
Juror: Paula Tognarelli
Hope & Possibility, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
The Living Land, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY
Curator: Bradley Butler
Chiaroscuro Spring, Park Towne Place, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: Clair Finin
Reciprocity - Collaborative Artist Pairs, Women Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Jurors: Barbara Clurej and Lindsay Lochman
Art + Science 2, A. Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
Juror: Linda Alterwitz
A Woman’s View, SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
Juror: Elinor Carucci
2020
Alternative Processes, SOHO Photo, NY, NY
Juror: Aline Smithson
Vistas, A. Smith Gallery, Johnson City TX
Juror: S Gayle Stevens
Focal Points - Women Advancing The Aperture, The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, DE
Curator: Katherine Page
2019
We All Fall Down - Artists Respond to the Emerald Ash Borer, The Schuylkill Center, Philadelphia, PA
2018
Rebirth - An Exhibition of Arts Faculty and Staff, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
Making Contact, SPE National Conference, University of The Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2015
Alchemical Ensemble - New Visions in Historic Photographic Processes, Columbia College Sidney Larson Galley, Columbia, MO
Curator: Scott McMahon
Ways of Making, Goggleworks, Reading, PA
2016
Past Imperfect Time, Museum of Contemporary History, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Curator: Harris Fogel
2012
Local Alternatives, The Light Room Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: Sandra Davis
2009
Bed, Umbrella Arts, NY, NY
Juror: Harvy Stein
2008
Ellarslie Open XXVI, The Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ
2007
Undressed – Looking at Nudes, Umbrella Arts, NY, NY
Juror: Harvey Stein
Hand Made, Wired Gallery, Bethlehem, PA
2006
National Alternative Processes Show, Soho Photo, NYC
Handcrafted, Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, Sacramento, CA
Juror: Kerik Kouklis
