About the Artist
Abby’s fine art photography career spans more than thirty years. She began taking pictures as a child, and at age 16 won a statewide photography contest. She went on to earn a photography degree, with honors, in 1988. Her images have been shown and awarded in numerous competitions, and have appeared in various publications.
For the past fifteen years, Abby has worked also as a traditional photographic retouch artist. It was during the process of learning digital retouching that she became interested in creating digital fine art.
Working from her thousands of photographic images, Abby began digitally enhancing them, yielding striking renditions that took on entirely new characteristics.
That experimentation led Abby to what is now her primary focus - creating what she calls “Abi-stractions” (since her name is Abigail). These are abstract compositions that begin as scanned press targets from commercial packaging, then undergo digital manipulation until they resemble “paintings.” Her favorite art movement is Abstract Expressionism – its “Color Field” painters like Mark Rothko in particular – and this influence can be seen in Abby’s art. Likewise, she is fond of “retro” modern, and incorporates this passion for mid-twentieth century style into many of her compositions.
Currently, Abby is an active member of the San Diego-based Digital Art Guild. She has shown her digital compositions in multiple galleries and venues, including several juried shows in which she won awards.
“Revisiting an image I may have shot twenty years ago and manipulating it digitally offers me a whole new relationship with that image. Limited only by my imagination, I can present it in ways that weren’t possible when I first captured it.
Even more exciting is making something completely new using digital technology! Images in my ‘Abi-stractions’ series all start with “press targets” – the various small patterns found on the margins of commercial product boxes and wrappings. They are used in industrial applications to check and register color plates before mass printing. Here are some examples:
Although these graphics were designed with no aesthetic intent, to me they have an illusive appeal, an accidental charm. They are ubiquitous in our modern, consumer-driven world, from the bottom flaps of our cereal boxes to the wrappings on our toilet paper, yet most people never notice them.
I am compelled to rescue these little beauties and interpret them as art. Having accumulated hundreds of them, I digitally scan my bits of cardboard and plastic and then manipulate these scans using computer software, creating large images of abstract art. Society’s mass automation provides my rich source material, technology enables me to tinker with it, and my own subjectivity allows me to render unique creations.
Through this process, I am exploring the relationship between consumerism and artistic expression, in a found art / pop art-sort of way. What some people ignore and discard can be recycled, inspiring others to make and appreciate art.
We are living in an increasingly digital world. New imaging technologies have expanded options for creative expression, enabling us to build on established methods and influences, while breaking new ground. Venturing into the realm of reconciling the concepts of high tech and high art, while integrating them into new interpretations of artistic integrity is, for me, a fascinating pursuit.”
-A.K.M.
1977: South Carolina Scholastic Photography Competition,
1st Place Award
1980: Gailey Photo Spring Photography Contest,
Escondido, CA, Honorable Mention
1985: Photo Darkroom Photography Contest,
Escondido, CA, 3rd Place Award
1985: 1986, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001: Exhibited and
awarded, International Exhibition of Photography, Del Mar, CA
1988: Bravura, Palomar College Literary Magazine,
Photography Editor, San Marcos, CA
1990: “Toys For Big Boys” Photography Contest,
Oceanside, CA, 3rd Place Award
1990: “The American Express Collection
of San Diego Images,” photographs included
1992: San Diego Tapestry by Michael Grant,
photographs published
1996: “Women Vision” Gallery show with Women In
Creative Photography, Solana Beach, CA
1997: The Photo Factory Gallery, San Diego, CA
1999: “Collective Visions” Gallery show with Women In
Creative Photography, San Diego, CA
2002: “Illumination” Gallery show with Women In
Creative Photography, Escondido, CA
2003: “A Spring Obsession” Ironstone Vineyards
Juried Art Show, Murphys, CA
2003: Internet International Art/Photography Contest (Online)
2003: “Virtual*Visual: People, Places, Things” Women In
Photography International (Online), Honorable Mention
2003: Museum of Computer Art, Los Angeles, CA (Online)
2004: St. Mark’s First Annual Digital Art Festival,
First Place Award, San Diego, CA
2004: The Art of Photography, La Jolla Art Association
Gallery, La Jolla, CA
2004: “Small Treasures,” Caffe Vero, San Diego, CA
2004: “Digital Abstraction: 3 Views” Avalon Gallery,
San Diego, CA
2004: “Digital Art Guild at Café 976” Pacific Beach, CA
2005: “Have You Seen Art Lately?” Art Institute of California,
San Diego, CA
2005: “Dawn of the Living Pixel” Poway Center
for the Performing Arts, Poway, CA
2005: St. Mark’s Second Annual Digital Art Festival,
San Diego, CA
2005: “Modernism: Abstract, Non-Objective and Mid-Century
Influence” Commerce Gallery, Wichita, KS
2006: "eArts" (Digital Art) San Diego County Fair, San Diego,CA,
2nd Place Award and three Honorable Mention Awards
2006: La Jolla Digital Show, La Jolla, CA
2006: " 'Without Limits': A Latin American Slant" Expressions of
Mexico Gallery, San Diego, CA
2006: Featured artist, M.O.C.A. (Museum of Computer Art) (Online)
2006: Inaugural Show, Digital Media Center, Santa Ana, CA
2006: September Show, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA
2006: Southern California Regional Award Show,
San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA
2007: Nanoart Show (Online)