Image by Stephanie Cohen
Since my teens, (5 1/2 decades ago), the visual world has dominated my senses. So many things catch my eyes and imagination. Nature, light and shadow, simple forms, abstracts, architecture and designed objects, spiders, clouds, people, etc. My cameras were and my iPhone is my extra appendage to this day.
In the reportage photos and portraits are some people I already knew, but more of them are of people who I got to know. Many became friends.
By sheer luck, at age 25, I was hired to work in a prominent NYC art gallery in the early 1970’s.
I set up a crude but functional darkroom in the bedroom clothes closet in my apartment.
At the gallery, in addition to being my employer’s personal assistant, I was encouraged to photograph the art openings. I hardly knew anyone when my job began, but that all changed as time went on. Slowly, I overcame my shyness as I photographed more and more visitors and artists. That then expanded to photographing art installations, individual paintings, drawings, sculptures, and, “my boss” as well, (which she kindly entertained). She and I became very close friends in due time until her passing in 1982.
I continued photographing the art scene but less frequently. At about the same time, I switched my focus, going back to school to study Interior Design. That became my new profession and the occasional subject of my photography when I had time.
CV
Education
1981 - ’83 Parsons School of Design, NY, NY - BFA in Interior Design
1970 - ‘72 School of Visual Arts, NY, NY - Cert. of Graduation in Photography
1969 - ’70 Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM - Undergraduate studies
1967 - ’69 Stephens College for Women, Columbia, MO - Undergraduate studies
Work / Job Experience
1984 - 2011 Metz Design, LTD, NY, NY
1993-94 Paino \ Soffes Architects, Inc., NY, NY
1994 Lee Stout, Inc., NY, NY
1989-90 Paino \ Soffes Architects, Inc., NY, NY
1980’s/90’s Metz, Thornton Architects, Lyme, NH
1990’s A.C.T.S., Inc., West Point, PA
1980’s Richard D. Lawrence Associates, NY, NY
1980’s Joseph L. Roman, ASID, NY, NY
1983 - ’85 Forbes-Ergas Design, Inc., NY, NY
1973 - ’76 Betty Parsons Gallery, NY, NY
1972 - ’84 freelance photographer, NY, NY
1972 - ’73 The Burnt Wood leather store, ABQ, NM
Sum. 1972 Self appointed 6 week photographic portrait study of the Otavalo Indians, around San Pablo, Ecuador, S.A.
Sum. 1970 Vardi-Hambro Music Producers, NY, NY
Exhibitions
2015 Page Coleman Gallery, ABQ, NM “The Grand Expand: 3D Work” by Ali Gallo, Gwyn Metz & Maria Ross
2014 Exhibited at Sumner & Dene Gallery, ABQ, NM - Off Center Community: “Albuquirky Little House Silent Auction” benefit, May, 2014
2013 Exhibited at Sumner & Dene Gallery, Abq, NM - Off Center Community: “Albuquirky Little House Silent Auction” benefit, June, 2013
2009 Chrystoph Marten Salon, Solo sculpture show, NY, NY (show reviewed in “Raining Acorns” blog, as well as interview with Metz) - Weds, Nov. 25, 2009 “Boats That Won’t Float”
1999 YellowHouse, Greenport, NY - Group painting & sculpture show
1996 YellowHouse, Greenport, NY - Group painting & sculpture show
1995 YellowHouse, Greenport, NY - Group painting & sculpture show
1986 International Design Center New York, “397 Chairs”, exhibition created by the Architectural League of New York, 1988 - chair design by Metz
1980 Robert L. Kidd Associates, Inc., Birmingham, MI -“New Wave Photography” group show
1977 Parsons-Dreyfuss Gallery, NY, NY - “Four Photographers”: Chris Rauschenberg, Gwyn Metz, Ron Stark & Jonathan Bayer”
1972 Camera West Gallery, Santa Fe, NM - “New Photographs” by Robert H. Martin, Nancy Warren & Gwyn Metz - (show reviewed in The New Mexican, SF, NM, 9/14/72)
Collections - Upon Request
Related Art Activities in the Fine Arts
Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL, on panel discussion re: Betty Parsons’ art & her exhibition at the Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL, 2005
Photographed artists’ works and designed layouts for numerous artists’ exhibitions for the Betty Parsons Gallery, NY, NY, 1973 -1982
Photographed artists’ works and their art installations for numerous galleries in NYC
Large art installation project for the Honeywell Corp., ABQ, NM, 2014
Books. (Publications in)
Art & Architecture of Ireland, Pub.: Yale Univ. Press and the Royal Irish Academy, Five Vols. of Irish art & architecture from 400 a.d. to the present, 2014
(photographic portrait of artist Maria Simonds-Gooding) - (page unknown)
Betty Parsons, Artist, Dealer, Collector by Lee Hall, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., NY, Pub.: 1991, - 10 portraits of Betty Parsons pp. 76, 142, 144, 154 (middle), 156 (top), 164, 165, 167, 171, 174
Calder’s Universe, Jeanne Lipman & Ruth Wolfe, ed director, Pub.: The Viking Press, NY, in Cooperation with The Whitney Museum of American Art, 1976 - p. 212, bot. left - photograph of necklace
Originals: American Women Artists, by Eleanor Munro, Pub.: Simon & Schuster, NY
photographic portraits of artists Lenore Tawney p. 325, and Michelle Stuart, p. 438
397 Chairs, Pub.: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., NY, 1988 - Exhibition created by the Architectural League of New York,
1988 - p. 19, chair #10, Metz’s chair design
Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives, by Nancy Adair and Casey Adair, Pub.: A New Glide Publications, Inc.,
San Francisco, CA and Dell Publishing Co., Inc., NY, 1978 - portrait of Betty Powell on book jacket cover,
portraits of others, pp. 63, 130, 137, 202, 289
Artists’ Exhibition Catalogs, Magazines & Newspapers
Kenzo Okada Exhibition, Pub.: The Asahi Shimbum, Tokyo 1989 - photographic portraits of the artist, Cover page + pp. 1 & 177
Journeys: The Art of Betty Parsons, by Lisa N. Peters, Pub.: Spanierman Modern, NY, 2010, p. 9 - photographic portrait of Betty Parsons
Shaping a Generation: The Art and Artists of Betty Parsons, by Anne Cohen DePietro, Pub.: Huntington, NY,:
Heckscher Museum of Art, 1999, pp. 48-57 “Recollections of Betty”, Interview by Anne Cohen DePietro with
Gwyn Metz, and, p. 76, photographic portrait of Betty Parsons
Art in America, “The Parsons Effect”, Interview with Betty Parsons by Helene Aylon, p. 137, photographic portrait of Betty Parsons, Calvert Coggeshall & Jack Tilton
North Fork / South Fork: East End Art Now, by Alicia Longwell, Pub.: The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, 2004, p. 21 photographic portrait of Betty Parsons
ARTnews, Vol. 78 No. 3, Mar. 1979, “Betty Parsons: Still trying to find the creative world in everything” by GraceLichtenstein, p. 54, color photo of Betty’s sculpture
The Painted Sculpture of Betty Parsons, Pub.: The Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL. 2005 pp. 2-3, 8, 14-15, 26, 35, 80, photographic portraits of Betty Parsons
Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA, Leo Rabkin Exhibition brochure, 10/1/77 - 11/20/ 77 - photographic portrait of artist Leo Rabkin on Cover
The Sunday New York Times, Arts & Leisure section, Mar. 23, 1977, “Art Notes: Last of the Big-Time Internationals “ by Grace Glueck, sect. D, p. 31 - photographic portrait of Betty Parsons
Los Angeles Times, Calendar section, Sun, Nov, 21, 1976, “Betty Parsons: Pioneering Newest and Best” by Doris Sanders, p. 51, photographic portrait of Betty Parsons
Art / World, A W Tastemakers, April 15 / May 15, 1978. p. 15, photo of Betty Parsons and Joseph Hirschhorn and photo of Jonathan Thomas and Edward Albee
Jahreline Magazin - NR 3, Var /Sommer - 1983, “Norwegisches Portait” by Hans Gudmund Tvedt, Interviewer - p. 25 color photographic portrait of Norwegian artist Jan Groth
International Herald Tribune, Fri., July 4, 1980, “Betty Parsons: The Power of Enchantment” by Mary Blume, photographic portrait of Betty Parsons
The Arts in Ireland (magazine), Vol. 3, No. 2, Pub.: printed in the Republic of Ireland, June 1975, p. 2, b & w abstract sketch
Christopher Street Magazine, Vol. 3 No. 11, June 1979, Pub.: By That New Magazine, Inc., NY, NY - “Portfolio: Gwyn Metz Portraits”, pp. 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 with statement about Metz’s work by the Editor
House and Garden Magazine, “Living” section, Oct., 1976, photo of Jock Truman
Off P’tree, Atlanta’s Magazine of Arts and Entertainment, Vol. 1, No. 5, April 1978 Pub.: Off P’tree, Inc.,
Atlanta, GA. - Color portrait of Bill Blass on cover and b & w photos of Bill Blass, pp. five, 25, 26, 27
Louis Falco Dance Co., Production Fund at the Roundabout Theatre, NY, NY, Nov. 7, 1977 - photos appear on pp. 2 (top right), 5, (top right), 6 (middle right)
Mexico City Newspaper, Fall 1977, “Muestra de Betty Parsons, Hoy”, photo of Betty Parsons
Aftenposten, Oslo, Norway, Jan. 4, 1977 “Grot-tepper i New York” by Elisabeth Holte, photo of Benedikte Groth,
Betty Parsons and Jan Groth womanart magazine, Fall 1977, “Interview with Betty Parsons” by Helene Aylon, pp. 10 & 11 - photographs of Betty Parsons
The Trinity Tripod, Vol. LXXXIV, Issue 16, 2/11/86, Pub.: Trinity College, Hartford, CT, p. 12 - photographic portrait of author Patricia Eakins
Sunday Star Bulletin & Advertiser, Honolulu, HI, 2/12/89, Sect. F-6 - photographic portrait of author Patricia Eakins
Hallways: Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY, 1987 - photographic portrait of author Patricia Eakins
The Woodstock Guild, Woodstock, NY, Pub.: August 1990 - photographic portrait of author Patricia Eakins
Hungry Mind Review, A Midwestern Book Review, No. Ten, Spring 1989 - photographic portrait of author Patricia Eakins Journals (of poetry and prose)
Conditions: eight (magazine), Pub.: Conditions, Brooklyn, NY, 1982, -Cover photo + pp. 171 & 119
Oono by Patricia Eakins, Pub.: I-74 Press, Chapel Hill, NC, 1982 - Back cover photograph
Open Places, No. 33, Spring 1982, p. 32 - photographic portrait of author Patricia Eakins
8 1/2 x 11, Vol. 1, No. 4, Winter 1983, Pub. No. Bennington, VT, pp. 7, 8, 9, 10 - Photographs of Andrea Woodner’s sculptures
8 1/2 x 11, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 1983, Pub. No. Bennington, VT, Cover photograph of Andrea Woodner’s sculpture