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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.

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

  • 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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  • 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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