Cindy Stokes grew up in a Midwest household that loved music and books and valued education highly. Despite being an avid clarinetist, she turned to science and engineering in college. She became acutely attuned to the visual during graduate school while spending many hours viewing intricate details of tissues and cells through the microscope. Soon she began to see, and photograph, similar forms in her everyday, macroscopic world.
Cindy's photography focuses primarily on found objects and spaces, with a strong leaning towards abstraction as a metaphor for the uncertainty in life. Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues throughout the US in solo and group exhibitions. She produced a book of abstractions and still-lifes celebrating dynamic form in nature entitled "Dynamic Form" in 2008, and has been a featured speaker at Leonardo events and Shooting the West, an annual national photography conference. Working for many years in black-and-white analog media (i.e., film and silver gelatin), recently she's incorporated color and digital acquisition and printing. She has resided in the San Francisco Bay Area for twenty years.
Solo Exhibits
2022 Rhythms of Water, Mohr Gallery at the Finn Center, Mountain View, CA
2021 Close to Home, Art Kiosk, Redwood City, CA, curated by Lance M. Fung
2018 Form and Formless, PhotoLab, Berkeley, CA
2017 New Work, KW San Carlos, CA
2016 Curious Details, Redux, San Mateo County Law Library, Redwood City, CA
2009 Curious Details, PARC (Palo Alto Research Center, Inc.), Palo Alto, CA
2008 Dynamic Form, KALEID Gallery, San Jose, CA
Before, Center for Performing Arts, April-June, Mountain View, CA
New Work, Stanford Law School Irving Gallery, Stanford, CA
Before, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Mountain View, CA
2006 Dynamic Form, Avalon Art and Yoga Center, Palo Alto, CA
2005 Dynamic Form, Entelos Inc., Foster City, CA
2001 Natural Forces, Entelos Inc., Menlo Park, CA
Selected Group Exhibits
2022 Confluence: Reflections on Our Shifting Environment, with Arminee Chahbazian and Laura-Corallo Titus, The Studio at Marin Art and Garden Center, Ross, CA
The New World, exhibition by Bay Area Photographers Collective, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco CA (Sandra Phillips, curator)
2021 Magnetic Pull, exhibition by Bay Area Photographers Collective, Arc Gallery, San Francisco CA (Daniel Nevers and Jennifer Brandon, curators)
2019 Marking Time: 20th Anniversary exhibition of the Bay Area Photographers Collective, Harvey Milk Photo Center, San Francisco, CA (Meg Shiffler, curator)
Of Dreams and Reality, KG+ Satellite of KYOTOGRAPHY International Photography Festival, Kyoto, Japan
Fragments, Edges, and Ambiguities (5-person), Harrington Gallery, Pleasanton, CA
Life of Water, (juror Jennifer Shaw), Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
Observations of Memory (3-person), Marcela’s Gallery, Menlo Park, CA
2017 Public Alchemy II, Cubberly Art Center, Palo Alto CA
2016 FourSquared, Arc Gallery, San Francisco CA
Nothing is Here, Dada is its Name, Branner-Spangenberg Gallery, Redwood City CA
Public Alchemy, Cubberly Art Center, Palo Alto CA
2013 Timeless: The White Mountains (juried), PHOTO Gallery, Oakland CA
2010 PHOTO Gallery, Oakland CA
2008 18@modern (juried), Modernbook Gallery, Palo Alto CA
Fort Point Views, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Mountain View CA
2007 Captured Light (juried), Pacific Art league, Palo Alto CA
Silicon Valley Open Studios invitational exhibition, Main Street Café and Books, Los Altos CA
2006 Institute of Contemporary Art Fall Exhibition (juried), San Jose CA
SoLA Show 2006, Art21 Gallery (juried), Palo Alto CA
Large Works (juried), Pacific Art League, Palo Alto CA
2005 Institute of Contemporary Art Fall Exhibition (juried), San Jose CA
California Modern Gallery/MesArt exhibition (juried), San Francisco CA
Photo San Francisco, with Pacific Art League exhibit, San Francisco CA
SoLA STARS 2005 exhibition (juried), Main Street Café and Books, April 2005, Los Altos CA
2004 Point of View and Co. Art Gallery, Alexandria MN
Los Gatos Art Association Members Juried Show, Art Museum of Los Gatos, Los Gatos CA
Santa Cruz Art League Statewide Exhibit (juried), Santa Cruz CA
2003 Sara Thomas Collection Art Gallery, Minneapolis MN
2002 Personal Viewpoints, Photographic Center Northwest (juried), Seattle WA
2001 Yosemite Renaissance XVII (juried), Yosemite Museum Gallery, Yosemite CA
Representation
Richter Gallery of Photography, Nashville, TN (2008-2014)
Sara Thomas Collection Art Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (2003)
Awards and Recognition
Winning photograph, Global Physics Photo Walk 2015, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Palo Alto CA
Pacific Art League, Places Near and Far exhibit, 2007, Honorable Mention
Pacific Art League, Large Works exhibit, 2006, Second Place
Collection 2005 and SoLA STARS 2005 awards from Silicon Valley Visual Arts
Los Gatos Art Association Annual Members Juried Exhibit, 2004, First Place and Honorable Mention
Yosemite Renaissance XVII exhibit, 2001, Yosemite Museum Gallery, Honorable Mention
Education
1996-present Photography courses and field workshops from California College of the Arts, San Francisco Photo Center, UC-Santa Cruz Extension, Stanford University and others. Influential instructors include Todd Hido, Mark Citret, Stuart Scofield, Brigitte Carnochan, Rod Dresser and John Sexton.
1989 Ph.D., Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
1984 B.S., Chemical Engineering, Michigan State University
Bibliography
2016 Silicon Valley Artists: Tech workers embrace aesthetics for a whole-brain life, Climate, May issue
2006 A closer look: Engineer-photographer zeroes in on the patterns and designs in nature, Palo Alto Weekly, Dec. 8
Other Activities
Bay Area Photographers Collective, member 2016-present; President 2018-21, Treasurer 2021- present
San Francisco Camerawork, Community Committee, 2020-present
The Art Center-Redwood City San Carlos art curator, 2015
Co-curator, Timeless: The White Mountains exhibit, PHOTO Gallery, Oakland CA 2013
Invited speaker, Shooting the West Photography Symposium, Winnemucca NV 2009
Member of Steering Committee, Silicon Valley Open Studios, 2005-2006
Donations to fundraising art auctions (numerous)