Iterations by Joel Degrand
By Amanda Freymann
Joel DeGrand (1944–2022) was originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but lived in Beverly Shores, Indiana, for his last twenty-one years. He held an MFA in photography from the University of Oregon and a bachelor of science in Art Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He was a photographer from his early childhood. He participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions all over the United States. He taught art and photography from 1968 to 2016 at Columbia College in Chicago and Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Illinois.
"Iterations," his last body of work, are so named because they iterate Joel's previous series, "Uniforms, Outfits and Accessories." He moved from purely documentary photographs of these fourteen (ten shown here), life-size, three-dimensional images with multiple elements of whimsy and humor.
In Joel's own words, "It was simply my urge to change, alter, construct, deconstruct, add, subtract, and move the elements that make up a portrait to make it come alive and visually resonate a little bit more. A quest that demands that a viewer stop, look, listen, and reflect on what they are seeing."
See more about the Iterations and Joel's other work at degrand.com.
The Mad Hatter
The Hawker
The Baker
The Fairy Dim
The Lobster Man
The Ringmaster
The Owkchemist
The Snake Man
