John Wood

I first met John Wood just a few years before he died in 2012, but strangely he was an important part of my life for years before we met.

In pursuing pictures from my coming book on alternative processes in photography, yesterday I met with his daughter Carol to look as some of his collages and cyanotypes.

John was one of the primary architects of the curriculum at the School of Art and Design at Alfred University, an important place in my history as an artist and educator.  For years before I finally met him, I heard about John regularly from my colleagues in Alfred (John retired years before I started teaching), and always with the greatest admiration and respect.

As a creative thinker and maker, I have such great admiration for John.  He had is first real show in his 80’s, and yet worked daily until the day he died.

He studied in the Chicago Bauhaus with Aaron Siskind before heading to Alfred.  He was friends with Robert Heinecken and Robert Frank, and a teacher and mentor to Nathan Lyons.

It was a great treat to look through boxes of his photographs and collages with Carol.  John is a remarkably under recognized artist.  Humble and private, he pursued creative thinking and education as their own rewards, something I find quite inspiring.

I am quite pleased to include his work in my book.