About

Born in Washington, DC, I spent my childhood in Texas, Virginia, Illinois, and Alaska. I accompanied my parents on wilderness camping trips and visits to historic places, and later during high school I backpacked, climbed, and hitchhiked throughout the US. Experiences that shaped my early interest in landscapes.

I entered the graduate photography program at California Institute of the Arts where I completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in the Post-Studio program. At CalArts I was mentored by John Baldessari and studied with Judy Fiskin, JoAnn Callis, Michael Asher, and Barbara Kruger.

As a practicing landscape architect, my work involved documenting heritage landscapes located throughout the continental US, including 15% of the National Park Service units. My work beyond the continental US included projects in the Kham Tibetan region, Belize, Guyana, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Adapting methodologies typically employed in documentary photography, my work occupies a seam between documentary and fine art image-making.

I currently live and work in Charlottesville, a small city located in the central Piedmont of Virginia.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

  • Carrington Arts, INSIDE/OUTSIDE, curated, Sandusky, Ohio, 2020

  • Fraction Magazine’s 12th Anniversary Group Exhibition, juried, (https://www.fractionmagazine.com/12th-anniversary-group-exhibition2), 2019

  • Meaningful Places, juried exhibition, Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art/Indiana Landmarks, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2017

  • 071186 (The baboons were fabulous.) and selected works from the Outposts series, two-person show, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1986

  • 1185 (…not out of the woods.), installation located on the grounds of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1985

  • 010785 (The Charlottesville Mall, before and after), installation located in the storefront of Williams Corner Bookstore, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1985

  • Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, juried, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC, 1983

  • 1983 Annual Awards Exhibition, juried, Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Washington, DC, 1983

  • Options: Washington 1982, juried, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC, 1982

  • F Street Project, Washington Project for the Arts/Collaborative Projects (NYC), installation, Washington, DC, 1982

  • California Institute of the Arts, multiple landscape installations on campus, Valencia, California, 1981-1982

  • California Institute of the Arts, Gallery A402, proposals for landscape structures, Valencia, California, 1981

  • Zirkle House, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1978

TEACHING

  • Lecturer, Landscape Architecture Department, School of Architecture, University of Virginia, 1993, 2000, 2002, 2012, 2015-2017, 2019

  • Distinguished Fellow, Center for Cultural Landscapes, University of Virginia, 2015-2016

  • Instructor, Art Department, School of Art and Art History, James Madison University, 1986

LECTURES | PRESENTATIONS | VISITING CRITIC

  • Cornell University

  • University of California, Davis

  • University of Guam

  • University of Maryland

  • University of Virginia

  • Virginia Tech

EDUCATION

  • Master of Landscape Architecture, School of Architecture, University of Virginia

  • Master of Fine Arts, School of Art, California Institute of the Arts

  • Bachelor of Fine Arts, School of Art and Art History, James Madison University

Contact

robmcginnis [at] me [dot] com


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