Katie Deits is a Master Photographer, has traveled widely on assignments, and has won many awards for her photography. In 2007, she was awarded the South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Artists.

Latest Series: Reverse Abstraction

My imagery is often inspired by prehistoric or ancient art, myths and fantasy. I think about how we relate to humans in other cultures, what we have in common with them and with our species throughout time. 

"Genesis" is an original 20" x 30" Photographic Drawing by Katie Deits. 

Deits' series of conceptual abstract photographs entitled "Looking Down at the Lake Park Library" was on exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art at Goldman Warehouse in Miami, Fla., and at the library from April to May 2007. It has also been in other group and solo exhibitions. Some of the photographs are pictured below, along with the invitation to the MOCA exhibit.

 

Photo caption: "Looking Down at the Lake Park Library" is a 44" wide color photograph and drawing by fine art photographer  Katie Deits. It illustrates the approximate location where each photograph in her award-winning series was taken.

 Exhibtion April 9 - May 26, 2007: 

"Looking Down at the Lake Park Library Parking Lot"  (Photographic Series)

Opening night: 5:30 - 7:30 Tuesday, April 17. Artist's lecture: April 23, 6:30 p.m.

 

 

"La Mer" is a 24"x36" color photograph.

 "Premonition" is a 28"x36" color photograph

 Artist's Statement  "Looking Down at the Lake Park Library"

     Art may be in the seeing, in the knowing. The gift of art is all around us waiting to be recognized. It is through the eyes of artists that art is revealed.

Every day people pass by art without seeing it. Whether provided by nature, humans, animals or a collision of their forces, art is present for the finding.

A series of photographic images, which I created in 2006, is part of a body of work that I have been "finding" most of my adult life. Entitled "Looking Down," the on-going series consists of painterly or sculptural patterns, usually from parking lots, streets or sidewalks.

     "Looking Down at the Lake Park Library," is a series that was discovered in a area of less than 2,000 square feet. Hundreds of people pass by these images every week, but are they are aware of the treasure of patterns, textures, compositions, and illusionary images at their feet?  (The area is defined in a large 40"x30" image entitled, "Image site plan: 2,000 square feet of the Lake Park Library parking lot.")

     The compositions are 'found' or, one might say, 'discovered.' I never manipulate the "stage," only find viewpoints or angles that present the strongest compositions and most effective lighting.

     The discovery is in the perception and "thrill" of texture, light, gradation of color, and natural or human-caused imagery. It is exciting to share these images with others who often ask whether they are photographs or paintings, if they are aerial photographs or taken from a satellite, and I enjoy hearing where their imagination takes them when viewing the images, as some people see figures, animals or make up stories about the images.
As a fine artist, I have worked in many mediums, such as photography, painting, film, video, text, and sculpture. My life-long "Looking Down" series is profoundly personal, daily capturing my imagination whether I am in my own neighborhood or traveling in distant lands.

 

Infrared photograph: Kapok Tree-Lake Trail, Palm Beach (2005 Gold Addy Winner)

 

AROUND THE BLOCK, AROUND THE WORLD

In the photographs of her exhibit “Around the Block, Around the World,” she has captured people in meaningful moments, placed in dynamic compositions.

Some images from the exhibit:

"The Friends," Piazza Santa Spirito, Florence, Italy 1972 cKatie Deits

"The Friends" was photographed in Piazza Santo Spirito in Florence, Italy. "The old signoras and two little girls were engrossed in conversation, oblivious to my camera. Symbolically, the girls have their heads close together; they are totally involved and interested in each other and are positioned on a white background.   The old ladies, in their twilight years, sit separately in front of a looming dark door, one talking, but the other staring off into space. Yet, they have probably been friends since they were the age of the girls. So, it is almost like looking at the past and the future in one piece."

"School boy," Assisi, Italy   cKatie Deits

"Schoolboy" was taken in Assisi, Italy. "I usually have my camera in my hand, and when this schoolboy turned his head toward me, he had the flower in his mouth. He was strolling home after school with his books in his arms."

"Senso Unico," Assisi, Italy   cKatie Deits

"Senso Unico" is a photograph of black-draped nuns scurrying up a one-way street, going against the traffic. This was taken in Assisi, Italy, the hometown of St. Francis. "In a contest held by Ecco, a large Italian magazine, this photo placed second in the country. The photo exemplifies the nuns' tenacity to travel against opposition, but the position of their hands and bodies indicates a genuine empathy and closeness."

"Wind," Door of Assisi Church cKatie Deits

"Myconos Fisherman"                cKatie Deits

"A Room with a View", Lower East Side, Manhattan 1970 cKatie Deits

"A room with a view," a photograph of a young brother and sister leaning out of a window, was taken on the lower east side of Manhattan in 1970. "At that time, it was a very run-down, slum area. These kids must be about 38-45 years old now. I have no idea who they were, as I usually shoot quickly and move on, preferring to capture the moment. I enjoy their lively expressions and hopeful faces despite their brutal living conditions."

"In the Eye of the Beholder" Georges Pompidou Museum, Paris, France 2003 cKatie Deits

"This couple, in my eye and through my camera lens, created their own 'living' abstract Picasso in front of one of his paintings. Caught in an affectionate embrace, their admiration for each other is much like art, it is in the eye of the beholder."

"Imagine" Montmartre, Paris, France 2003   cKatie Deits

"Walking through Montmartre in Paris, I passed by a shop that was being set up. The boy was drawing with a marker on the window what I believe was a picture of Santa Claus with a bag of presents. I dont know whether his parents realized what he had been doing, but I noticed his father approaching from the back of the store. The fashion mannequin gives the photograph a surreal feeling, almost as if the mother was emotionally unavailable."

All photographs are copyrighted by Katie Deits and may not  be reproduced in any way without written permission from Katie Deits.