“First Place: Fern Nesson
Fern Nesson’s photograph transports us to an otherworldly realm where the familiar elements of nature take on a fantastical quality. Her image evokes the skeleton of an unknown species, with plant leaves arranged in a way that recalls a spine or skeletal structure. The abstraction of the plant forms suggests
something ancient and mysterious, as though the viewer is gazing at the remnants of a species lost to time.

What makes Nesson’s work stand out is the subtlety with which she merges organic forms with abstract ideas. There is a haunting quality to the piece, as it invites contemplation about the connections between what we see in nature and the hidden structures that support life. The photograph feels like a glimpse into another world, one where nature’s familiar elements are rearranged to reveal deeper, unseen connections.”

“Music of the Spheres | Fern L. Nesson
A rhythmic and harmonious photograph plays the Music of the Spheres”

“Fern L. Nesson – Music of the Spheres
Fern L. Nesson for the first time in Italy. With the profetto “The music of the spheres” The exhibition on display at the spaces of the Adams Experimental Photography Center in collaboration with Kromart gallery – open to all”

“Fine art photographer and installation artist based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree in photography from Maine Media College, where she is currently the school’s first post-graduate fellow. Her photographs, abstract and restrained, are not constructed. Instead, they distill reality to its essence, embodying the moment when mass becomes energy.”

“Reception for the Artists – June 22nd, 6 to 8pm Eastern in museum
The Griffin Museum is pleased to present its 14th Annual Photobook Exhibition. Curated by Karen Davis, Director of Davis Orton Gallery and Crista Dix, Executive Director of the Griffin Museum, the team selected 50 self-published photobooks to showcase during this summer exhibition.”

“Nesson’s photographs have been shown internationally in solo exhibitions at the Politecnico University in Torino, Italy, Les Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles, France, Ph21 Gallery in Budapest, Hungary and at The University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. In the United States, Nesson has had solo exhibitions at the Griffin Museum of Photography, at MIT and Harvard, and at the Beacon Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, the Pascal Gallery in Rockport, and Maine, and Through This Lens Gallery in Durham, NC. Additionally, her work has been selected for numerous juried exhibitions in the U.S., Barcelona, Rome and Budapest. Nesson’s photobooks, Signet of Eternity and WORD, won the 10th and the 12th Annual Photobooks Award from the Davis-Orton Gallery.”

“Scientists fight a never-ending battle against our sensory experience of the nature of the universe — scientific “truth” — they challenge our most basic assumptions. Each time a new scientific theory is offered, from Copernicus to Galileo, to Newton to Einstein and Bohr, we are forced to question or at least to enlarge our point of view.”

“Congratulations to Fern L. Nesson on being selected for Water”

“Embark on a captivating journey into the world of photography through our exclusive exhibition. Discover a mesmerizing collection of breathtaking images, skillfully created by talented emerging photographers from around the globe. Prepare to be captivated by these extraordinary visuals, showcasing the limitless creativity and expertise of photographers who passionately explore the world in pursuit of their art.”

“Some of Fern’s most cherished moments have been spent discovering parallel ideas to her own in the writings of those who came before me. When Fern was thinking about the connections between theoretical mathematics and abstract photography, she found an incisive companion in Henri Poincaré, the great early 20th century French mathematician. When translating the poetry of Baudelaire, George Steiner’s, who coined the concept of “mimesis” was right on her wave length. Buddha and Einstein became close friends as she explored the nature of time.”

“Nesson’s photographs have been shown internationally in solo exhibitions at the Politecnico University in Torino, Italy, Les Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles, France, Ph21 Gallery in Budapest, Hungary and at The University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. In the United States, Nesson has had solo exhibitions at the Griffin Museum of Photography, at MIT and Harvard, and at the Beacon Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, the Pascal Gallery in Rockport, and Maine, and Through This Lens Gallery in Durham, NC. Additionally, her work has been selected for numerous juried exhibitions in the U.S., Barcelona, Rome and Budapest. Nesson’s photobooks, Signet of Eternity and WORD, won the 10th and the 12th Annual Photobooks Award from the Davis-Orton Gallery.”

“FERN L. NESSON: TILT! The Cambridge artist’s black-and-white photographs take a modernist’s approach to architecture, amplifying and upending ordinary human perspective. Cityscapes slope; tunnels twist; buildings lean. Her gray-scale palette accentuates incidental abstractions of light and dark. Her skewed viewpoints reframe traditional horizontals and verticals to suggest the world is not predictable; it can be seen anew. ”

“Fern L. Nesson, September 1, 2023 – October 29, 2023
With the tilt of her camera, Nesson’s photographs of architecture evoke scientist and philosopher, Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), who first theorized that the planets orbit the sun rather than the reverse. Copernicus’ innovative thoughts were thanks to his ability to shift perspective. He imagined how one’s perspective might change if Mars, rather than the Earth, was at the center of the universe. Nesson, too, takes standard perspective and shifts it to give viewers a new paradigm of understanding. ”

“BOSTON, Aug. 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Beacon Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition Fern L. Nesson: TILT!. Featuring the work of Cambridge-based artist Fern L. Nesson, TILT! will be on view at the South End gallery from September 1st through October 29th, 2023.

Tilt! explores how a shift in perspective can open up a new world of infinite possibilities. Through a series of abstract monochromatic photographs, Nesson shows the viewer how familiar places and objects change when seen from a different angle. It is a way to honor multiple perspectives, rather than being stuck looking at the world through our forced gravitational perspective.”

“With the tilt of her camera, Nesson’s photographs of architecture evoke scientist and philosopher, Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), who first theorized that the planets orbit the sun rather than the reverse. ”

“Fern Nesson is an art photographer living in Cambridge, Massachussetts. Though she’s loved photography since she was a young girl, she’s been snapping her camera professionally only recently. For France Today, she chose to present her portfolio of French museums - each photograph was taken in different museums in France, including in Paris, the Musée des Arts et Métiers, the Rodin Museum, the Fondation Cartier, Beaubourg and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs ; in Aix-en-Provence, Château La Coste ; in St. Paul de Vence, the Fondation Maeght.”

“After 2020’s Perception Abstraction we are pleased to have Fern L. Nesson back at Beacon Gallery for her first solo show, The Mind of God.  ”

“Fern Nesson’s E=mc² is up at the Griffin Museum until July 9th, 2023. Here is your chance to learn more about her work if you missed the Artist Talk!”

“When I choose a subject, I read as much as I can about it and then write about the ideas that inspire me. Then I go out and shoot. I do not to illustrate these ideas but instead to respond to them aesthetically. Invariably, these other disciplines provide parallels which illuminate the issues I face in creating non-objective, abstract photographs.”

“Roland Barthes asserts that “a photograph is a witness [to] what has been. Every image is an image of death.” But Barthes is wrong. A photograph may speak to a moment now past if that is what is desired. But a photograph can create its own energy as well. Like Cezanne’s paintings, it can live; it can breathe.”

“Fern L. Nesson is a fine art photographer who lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She received her MFA in Photography from Maine Media College (2018), a J.D. from Harvard Law School (1971.) She has had solo exhibitions abroad at the Politecnico University in Torino, Italy, Les Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles, France, Ph21 Gallery in Budapest, Hungary, the University of The West Indies in Jamaica and ...”

“Fern’s spare photographs distill reality to its essence, highlighting its energy through the use of form and abstraction. In the past four years, she has had solo exhibitions in Torino, Italy, at Les Rencontres D’Arles, at the MIT Museum, at the Beacon Gallery in Boston, and at Through This Lens Gallery in Durham, NC. Additionally, her work has been selected for numerous juried exhibitions in the U.S., Barcelona, Rome and Budapest. She will have a solo show at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Boston this spring.”

“First, we are delighted to have this fantastic exhibition here in Budapest and are extremely happy that the artist was able to join us tonight. Thank you very much Fern for sharing your works with us. To avoid the talking-head syndrome, I thought I’d better split up the opening into two parts...”

“Fern’s spare photographs distill reality to its essence, highlighting its energy through the use of form and abstraction. ”

“Biennale Tecnologia, the cultural event organized by the Polytechnic of Turin and dedicated to exploring the relationship between technology and society, returns to Turin from Thursday 10 to Sunday 13 November for its third edition. After the great success of the Technology Festival, held in 2019 on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the Politecnico and which became Biennale Tecnologia in 2020 - with a rich online edition - the exhibition is back in Turin.”

“In 1934 he inaugurated at the MoMA in New York “Machine Art”, an innovative exhibition that presented to the public 1000 objects produced in series thanks to the use of machines. It was an absolute novelty: for the first time machines were treated as art. Photographer Fern L. Nesson, who revisits that exhibition at the Biennale through a series of 24 photographs of cars and 3 short films, tells us in an interview about her exhibition and the dynamic meaning that her inanimate subjects assume. ”

“As a scientist, Fern Nesson lines up with Einstein; spiritually, she feels kinship with Buddhism. Like all of us, Fern experiences the forward flow of time’s arrow, rushing her all too fast into her future. But, as a photographer, she doesn’t have to choose sides. For her, the debate is both infinitely interesting and totally beside the point. Whatever we believe the nature of time to be, we have only the present moment in which to experience it. Living in that moment and capturing its essence in an image is reward enough.”

“This PH21 Gallery exhibition is presented in Rome, Italy, in collaboration with KromArt Gallery and Centro Sperimentale di Fotografia Adams, a renowned Italian centre for photography.”

“Nesson’s spare photographs distill reality to its essence, highlighting its energy through placement of forms and the use of abstraction. ”

“Nesson works exclusively with her camera, using her lens to capture images that leap forth from the dark in mysterious bursts of color and movement. ”

“The work of Fern L. Nesson is connected by a single philosophy. Simply put, Nesson strives to capture the essence of life in her photography, embodying the moment when mass becomes energy. The breathtaking results can be seen in Beacon Gallery’s Perception Abstraction...”

“If you missed it live, check out our interview with Fern Nesson from June 17th! Her two-artist photography show, Perception Abstraction, is up at Beacon Gallery through July 12th.”

“Beacon Gallery is pleased to announce an online exclusive exhibition, by Fern L. Nesson entitled Windows. This exhibition of the enigmatic photography features 15 poignant photographs that offer a multitude of perspectives on and through windows.”

“Turning back towards the stairs, one sees a pair of Nesson’s photographs. A ring swings on a pendulum, its shadow perfectly captured in a spotlight. Next to it, less obvious circular forms cut diagonally in and out of the shadows.”

“Fine art photographer Fern Nesson asserts that the place for art is critical during this time of pandemic, and she has immersed herself in the French poets, translating important works and sharing them as photo essays. ”

“Where did the idea come from? My father was a superb fine art photographer. In 1999, he and I published a book together about his life’s work. The book, Reflections, consisted of 100 of his photographs and six interviews that I did with him about his aesthetic and his process. Writing the book together was an intimate and extraordinary experience. I learned so much about the life of an artist.”

“All Here, All Now is an immersive experience, marrying still and moving images, using graphic and abstract elements to engage the viewer in a discussion of the greater hypotheses of time and relativity. At the intersection of science and art, opens in a new windowFern Nesson ponders the concepts of the here and now. What does that look like? Sound like?”

“Photography Atelier is a portfolio and project building course for emerging to advanced photographers. Participants engage in supportive critical discussions of each other’s work and leave with a better understanding of the fine art industry and with an ability to edit, talk about and sequence their own work.”

“Beacon Gallery- “Perception and Abstraction” featuring photographs by Steve Edson and Fern L. Nesson reveal the fractal and abstract patterns found through careful framing of every day objects or architecture. This two person show is curated by Christine O’Donell and will be on view from March 20th through April 26th, 2020. An opening reception is planned for April 3rd from 6pm to 8:30pm.”

“Bonjour Paris can only be the true Insider’s Guide to Paris by tapping into the talents of our correspondents, some of whom have written for the site for over 15 years. With a diversity of backgrounds and interests, these contributors live and breathe Paris, bringing you all the insight and personality that makes Bonjour Paris unique. ”

“Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fern Nesson is a fine art photographer with an MFA in photography. She visits Paris regularly where she captures interior scenes. Her work is abstract, and brings fresh perspective to lovers of Paris, while also illuminating interesting museum exhibitions and cultural events taking place in the City of Light.”

“The WPA writers described the significance of hallowed historic sites in Cambridge. Fern’s essay seeks to bring these events and places to life, especially since this year the residents of Massachusetts were not able to mark the date with the traditional commemorative events...”

““My goal is create living works of art that embody the energy that remains from the past and create new energy to pass on to the future. My images are never constructed. Everything in them is real. They remind us of our own transcendence, embodying the moment when mass becomes energy. In that moment, we know ourselves to be infinite, inextricably a part of the universe. We perceive that, when we die, we will merely change in form. Nothing is ever lost.”

That’s quite an ambition. As I noted when I reviewed her book of photography, Fern Nesson regularly achieves it. Now, from July 7 to September 22, her work will be featured at Les Rencontres de la Photographie, the annual photo festival in Arles. She’ll be there for the opening; if you’re in Provence, it’s worth it to spin over to Arles and have her walk you through her exhibit.”

“As I opened I Am Awake, I got it — this book is authored by the many-lived Fern Nesson. It’s everything she’s learned, everything she’s read, everything she can draw with a Japanese brush or paint with watercolors, everything she can photograph. As the distillation of a rich, textured, privileged life, it’s a centering device, a meditation-starter — for the author and reader alike.”

“I am drawn to elegance. In choosing a subject or a scene, I seek elegance in pattern, line, color and shape. I prefer the intricate, small detail, over the panorama. My photographs are abstract but not in the sense of removing detail; just the opposite. I focus on an element and I abstract it through the use of an unusual perspective or point of view.”

“Great job by all the photographers, and a special shoutout to Julius Kassovic, Barry Toranto, Fern Nesson, Roshni Sandhlla and Christian Gilge for their particular standout images! I couldn’t choose just three this month! ”