Jen Folsom is an American fine art photographer, educator, and founder of Alchemy, a photography collective based in Nice, France. Born into five generations of Nevada mining country, her work centers on landscape, memory, archive, and the American West. She holds an MFA in Photography from SCAD. Her work has been exhibited internationally across Europe and the United States. She has taught photography at every level from middle school through university, building award-winning programs and community-based installations that use photography as a tool for collective reflection. She is currently developing The Last Place I Call Home, a longitudinal documentary project spanning thirty years of fieldwork and five generations of family history.
Thirty years of photographic practice moving fluidly between large-format landscape, portraiture, archive, alternative process, and documentary work. Work centers on people and the narratives that shape our connections — imposed, forgotten, mythologized, or erased — with an ongoing focus on identity, labor, memory, and the American West.
MFA — Photography
Savannah College of Art and Design
Thesis: Bare Witness — Exploring Gendered Roles, Power Dynamics and Intimate Space Associated with the Male Nude
M.Ed — Best Practices in Education
National Polytechnical University
Thesis: Incorporating Digital Practice into a Traditional Media-Based Art Curriculum
BFA — Photography
Arizona State University
Thesis: Calendar Girl — Exploring the Tropes of Female Representation in the Male Gaze
Society for Photographic Educators Travel Award2017
Photo District News — Faces — 1st Place2014
Palo Alto Council of PTAs Honorary Service Award2014
Inside Out: The People's Art Project at Tribeca Film Festival2013
Microsoft Partners in Learning Innovative Educator Finalist2012
Henry M. Gunn High School2008–2014
Palo Alto, CA
Built comprehensive program from the ground up: darkroom, medium and large format, wet plate collodion, and alternative process. Coordinated TEDxGunnHighSchool — the first and largest student-run TEDx — including annual large-scale community installations and international student learning immersions to Bhutan.
Front Range Community College & University of Northern Colorado2015–2021
Colorado
Visual Communications, Digital Photography I & II, Photojournalism, Digital Darkroom Techniques. Cross-campus curriculum development and online learning environments.
Workshops & Youth Programs
Alternative process workshops including cyanotype with youth organizations. Sharing photographic practice at all levels from community workshops through university.
Director2000–present
Photography practice encompassing commercial, editorial, and education work, currently focused on building a community-centered photography collective. Exhibition, alternative process education, and community programming around lens-based work.