McCrea Snyder Kudravetz

I am the one who lags behind, focusing on the details, making photographs. A closely observed detail can sum up the essence of a place or plant or person; I want to capture the fascinating small bits.

As a painter who makes photographs, I’m also collecting with my camera interesting textures, patterns and colors to arrange. After one’s eye takes in the overall abstract pattern of the collage, made from dozens of photographs, the individual pieces of the kaleidoscopic puzzle invite closer scrutiny.

To prevent my collages from becoming too visually static, I prefer to use many different photographs – which might vary ever so slightly – of the same detail. Minute variations engage the eye more than rote repetition. In other words, an eighty-one square collage is made from eighty-one different photographs.

My goal is that my grid collages add up to more than the sum of their individual parts.

McCrea Snyder Kudravetz graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (now Randolph College) in 1969, A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, with a major in Art. She was one of the original renting members of the McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA, in 1975, and is presently an Associate Member. Ms. Kudravetz, who lives in Albemarle County, is comfortable working in a variety of media.