Stephen A. Scheer

Stephen A. Scheer holds a BA degree in Art History from Bowdoin College and an MFA degree in Photography from Yale University School of Art. Scheer came to the University of Georgia in 1992 with the appointment of Chair of Photography at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, which he held through 2006. His prior positions in teaching included Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts, Bard College, Rice University, Yale University, Stanford University and Ohio University. Scheer was awarded the UGA Foundation Professorship in the Arts in 2016. Scheer teaches undergraduate and graduate photography within the context of the interdisciplinary arts program at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. His specialization is narrative photography with emphasis on the visual literacy of historical developments and contemporary trends as evidenced through methods and practices of the expanding medium. For further information about Stephen A. Scheer and his body of work on New York Civic Architecture, see: http://www.interboroughnewyork.com/ and visit the “About” page for more biography.

Research Focus

The research focus in Stephen A. Scheer’s practice has been recognized and awarded for its humanism in his treatment of urban subjects. Scheer’s photography features the combined use of documentary description with lyrical expression and an aptitude for precision in his camera work. Using picture sequencing, including panoramic or composite arrangements as well as single frames, Scheer weaves photographic narratives of fact with fiction about the dynamics of the city, including civic architecture, urban landscape, ethnic advertising, fashion culture and personas of citizenry – all on point with his sense of urban place and community. Scheer utilizes many formats in photography including analog black & white / color and digital capture with lighting and accompanying texts. Scheer invented a form of in-camera multiple exposure analog photography mixing natural light with strobe lights in color for landscape, portrait and still life subjects that were prominently featured in the series on New Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Books with his work include New Color/New Work (Abbeville Press), Mothers and Daughters (Aperture Books), American Independents (Abbeville Press), Wave Hill Pictured – Celebration of a Garden (Harry N. Abrams), The Maples (Blue Sky Gallery Books). Scheer is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Individual Photography Fellowship and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in Photography. Interviews with Stephen A. Scheer about his work can be found online at:
http://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2011/06/q-and-with-stephen-scheer.html
http://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2011/10/q-with-stephen-scheer-part-2.html