Bryan David Griffith

Bryan David Griffith’s work spans photography, painting, sculpture, and installation, often using simple materials and equipment in unexpected ways. His work is held in public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; University of Michigan Museum of Art; Center for Creative Photography; and Fort Wayne Museum of Art. He has exhibited extensively throughout the US, with recent and upcoming solo shows at the Griffin Museum of Photography, Coconino Center for the Arts, and Mesa Contemporary Art Museum.

Bryan’s unconventional career began when he stumbled upon an abandoned, dog-eared copy of Henry Horenstein’s Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual and built a makeshift darkroom while studying engineering at the University of Michigan. After graduation he left engineering for big business, building a successful career with an international management consulting firm. However, Bryan found his job increasingly unfulfilling and his clients environmentally dubious. He ultimately resigned to follow his conscience. In order to pursue art full-time, he adopted a simple nomadic life, camping out and saving every dime for film and gas. When Bryan’s van broke down in Flagstaff, Arizona, he fell in love with the mountain town—and then his wife, Tasha—and has called it home ever since.

In 2016, Bryan received the Flagstaff Arts Council’s annual Viola Award, the city’s most prestigious honor for arts achievement. He was also one of five Arizona artists recognized by Phoenix Art Museum with a 2016 Contemporary Forum Artist Grant.

EDUCATION

1997  BSE, Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Commencement Speaker, College of Engineering
• Arlan Hellsworth Award for outstanding student leader
• Wyeth B. Allen Award for outstanding character and achievement
• Site Leader, University of Michigan Project SERVE, Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017  Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, Arizona
2016  Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, Arizona
2016  Central Gallery, Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix, Arizona
2015  Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, Massachusetts
2013  Flagstaff Photography Center, Flagstaff, Arizona
2012  Galerie BMG, Woodstock, New York
2012  Shanghai International Photographic Art Exhibition, China
2012  Flagstaff Photography Center, Flagstaff, Arizona
2011  Translations Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2011  Open Shutter Gallery, Durango, Colorado

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017  Contemporary Forum Artist Grant Winners, Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona
2016  Fires of Change, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
2016  Southwestern Invitational, Phoenix Airport Museum and Coconino Center for the Arts, Arizona
2016  Light Sensitive, Art Intersection, Gilbert, Arizona
2015  Fires of Change, Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, Arizona
2015  All Art Arizona, Art Intersection, Gilbert, Arizona
2015  Southwestern Invitational, Prescott College Gallery, Tubac Center of the Arts, and Yuma Arts Center, Arizona
2014  INFOCUS, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
2014  Approaching the Unreal, Modernbook Gallery, San Francisco, California
2014  Altered Views, Lightbox Gallery, Astoria, Oregon
2014  The National: Contemporary Photography 2014, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana
2013  Photo Forum, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
2013  Extended Photography, Anderson Gallery, Bridgewater State University, Massachusetts
2013  Christina Z. Anderson, Bryan David Griffith, and Michael Puff, Art Intersection, Gilbert, Arizona
2012  Processes & Dreams, Panopticon Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
2012  Crossing Territories, Wall Space, Santa Barbara, California and Wall Space, Seattle, Washington
2012   Alternative Process, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Colorado
2012  Light Sensitive, Art Intersection, Gilbert, Arizona
2011  PhotoAlchemy, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, Oregon

SELECTED AWARDS & GRANTS
2016  Phoenix Art Museum Contemporary Forum Artist Grant
2016  Flagstaff Arts Council Viola Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts
2016  Arrow Five Years Out Art Challenge $5000 Finalist Award to develop proposed new work
2014  Flagstaff Arts Council artist grant for Fires of Change, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts
2013  Flagstaff Arts Council Viola Award Nominee

SELECTED COLLECTIONS & COMMISSIONS
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Robert Morris College, Peoria, Illinois
Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon
Springfield Civic Purchase Collection, Springfield, Illinois
Wisconsin Education Association Trust, Madison, Wisconsin
Janus Capital Student Art Buying Program, Denver, Colorado
Evans Army Hospital, Fort Carson, Colorado
Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona
Casey Health Institute, Gathersburg, Maryland
Arrow Electronics, Denver, Colorado
Levi Strauss & Co., San Francisco, California
Avfuel Corp., Ann Arbor, Michigan
Albrecht & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio
VOA Architecture & Design, Chicago, Illinois
Herring & Trowbridge Architects, Herndon, Virginia
Urban Design Associates, Ltd., Scottsdale, Arizona
Fedderly & Assoc. Desert Art Collection, Palm Desert, California
The Chalk Hill Winery, Healdsburg, California
Wrymark Inc., Maryland Heights, Missouri

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Arizona
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana