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about me

The child of American missionaries, I grew up in Cameroon and India and wanted to be an archaeologist. Instead over the years I've been a screenwriter, a film editor (Fallout, 1995), a drama teacher, and a film and photography teacher.

Through all those years and careers I've also been a singer specializing in folk music from the Republic of Georgia. (You can learn more here about my group, Trio Kavkasia.) As a result I’ve lived and traveled in Georgia off and on for over thirty years; lots of my images from Georgia are of folk singers, whether professionals from Tbilisi or villagers from all over the country.

Nowadays I do fine-art photography (landscapes and portraits), write fiction and travel memoir, and translate old French popular novelsI live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Related websites:

Bertie Stanhope Press

Trio Kavkasia

Thank you to Ian Falcone for this short video interview, shot at my home studio.

  • In May 2024 one of my portraits from India, "Siblings, Phungar Village," was selected for the Louisville Art Association's National Juried Photography Show in Louisville, Colorado.

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  • In April 2024 one of my images from the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Badlands, "Hoodoo Fingertips," was selected for Black & White, a juried show at the Decode Gallery of photography in Tucson, AZ. (My piece is at the top right of the gallery photo below.)

Hoodoo Fingertips
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  • In May 2022 I took part in a three-week artist residency at Woodstock School in Mussoorie, India, as one of seven alumni visual artists from around the world. My project was to extend the series of portraits I began in 2018 (see my gallery of Himalayan Hill People). But—drawing on my experience as a film editor—I also created a short video of images and soundscapes, "In the Bazaar." My work for the final group show was a hybrid of conventional prints mounted on metal panels and that 6-minute video playing in a loop on a nearby wall monitor.

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NM History Museum shop

Travel Bug

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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum store

  • One of my Bisti Wilderness images is in the permanent collection of the U.S. Space Force unit at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque.

  • One of my White Sands images is in the permanent collection of the Fuller Lodge Art Center in Los Alamos.

  • Three of my New Mexico storm cloud images were chosen for Stormy Weather, a juried show at the New Mexico Art League in Albuquerque, September/October 2020.

  • Women at Work, a juried exhibition at PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, VT, in November 2019, awarded Honorable Mention to my image “Rooftop, Landour Bazaar, Mussoorie.”

  • Brush and Lens: Two Views of New Mexico Landscape, a joint show with Lisbeth Cort featuring landscapes painted and photographed, appeared at the MATRIX Fine Art gallery in Albuquerque, October 2019.

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  • Three Southwest landscape and botanical closeup images of mine were chosen for Biologique, a juried show at the New Mexico Art League in Albuquerque, January/February 2019.

  • One of my Bisti snowstorm landscapes was chosen for Lay of the Land, a juried show at the New Mexico Art League, September/October 2018.

  • Kumaoni: People of the Indian Himalayas, a solo show of portraits and street scenes from five weeks I spent in the mountains of India in spring 2018, appeared at the 2 Ten Gallery in Las Vegas, NM, from June to August, 2018.

  • Three Southwest landscapes of mine were chosen for Biologique, a juried show at the New Mexico Art League, January/February 2018.

  • Drawing mainly from images in my Natural Abstract series, I was the featured artist in the April/May 2017 issue of the online literary magazine Eclectica.

  • Charismatic Rock, a solo show of landscapes from New Mexico’s Bisti Wilderness and City of Rocks, appeared at Traveler’s Café in Las Vegas, NM, March 2017.

  • Dagger and Cathedral, a solo show of portraits and landscapes from the Republic of Georgia, appeared at the Ray Drew Gallery, Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM, January/February 2017.

STUART GELZER photography

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