Resume of Photographic Work
by Danny N. Schweers
UPDATED 9/4/2018
A friend, George Rothbart, introduced me to photography in 1969. Since then I have used the camera to see the world and to show the world what I have seen.
I am still something of a Renaissance man, with hands in politics, education, religion, and art. I am an officer of the utopian village of Arden, Delaware, where I previously served as chair of the town assembly. I was on the board of an all-girls charter school. I am still adjunct staff to the Episcopal Bishop of Delaware. I am still unsuccessfully trying to limit himself to fine art photography.
I am president of the Brandywine Photo Collective, teach photography at the Delaware Art Museum, and am Secretary of the Washington Printmakers Gallery. I am a past president of the Texas Photographic Society and briefly was managing editor of Image: A Journal of Art and Religion. From 1976 to 1995, I published the Austin Book of Days Photographic Desk Calendar with the help of many others. Every week now, I add text to one of my photos and email these Photo Prayers to subscribers. I have been doing this since 2007, a surprising feat for someone so easily distracted.
My photographs can be found on DannySchweers.com and on this website.
Service
- 2017 to present,Advisory Committee Chair of the Village of Arden, Delaware
- 2016 to present,Secretary of the Washington Printmakers Gallery
- 2014 to present, President of the Brandywine Photo Collective.
- 2010 to present, Studio Art Instructor, Delaware Art Museum
Current & Upcoming Exhibits and Publications
- Solo Show, March, 2020 I have been invited to exhibit my photographs in my village, at the Buzz Ware Village Center in Arden, Delaware.
- Solo Show, April, 2020 The above exhibit moves to the Washington Printmakers Gallery in the Georgetown neighborhood of D.C.
- Ongoing Exhibits of Printsat the Washington Printmakers Gallery in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. I was the first photographer admitted to this cooperative art gallery, founded in 1985. Prints on exhibit change monthly.
- Ongoing Photo Prayers Every week a photo is paired with text and emailed to subscribers. Some churches send these out by email to their members. See www.PhotoPrayer.com.
- Austin Sun I contribute monthly to the Austin Sun on-line journal of humor, art, and politics for Austin, Texas and the surrounding world.
- Wilmington News Journal I contribute occasionally to my local Delaware newspaper’s Panorame 360 feature.
- Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, 2018 Members’s Exhibition, September 6-29. Opening reception, Thursday, September 13, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Recent Exhibits and Publications
- 2018Those Who See Slowly, solo exhibit of photographs at the Washington Printmakers Gallery, May 31 to July 1.
- 2018Performances: The Brandywine Photo Collective at the Biggs Museum of American Art, February 2 thru April 22, 2018, nine images.
- 2018 3rd Annual Photography Competition and Exhibition at the Rehoboth Art League: 2nd Place Award.
- 2017 One of my photographs was featured and sold by Your Daily Photograph in late 2017.
- 2017 The Mental Health Association of Delaware selected one of my images for its note cards.
- 2017 Members Exhibit at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center.
- 2016I See! I See! solo exhibit in December, 2016, at the Washington Printmakers Gallery in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
- 2016 Members Exhibit of the Brandywine Photo Collective, The Grand Opera House, Wilmington, Delaware during October and November.
- 2016 Philly Photo Day exhibit in Terminal F of the Philadelphia Airport. One of 175 photos in this exhibit.
- 2016 Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA, an exhibit showing the history of the Seamen's Church Institute, an vital ministry to the Port of Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey since 1843. My photos in this exhibit were of the Packer Avenue Terminal.
- 2016 Two articles and six photos published in Celebrating The Rag: Austin’s Iconic Underground Newspaper, edited by Thorne Dreyer, Alice Embree, and Richard Croxdale, New Journalism Project, Austin, Texas.
- 2016 Members Exhibit of the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, at Savery Gallery, 319 N. 11th St., Philadelphia, PA.
- 2016 The Art of Teaching, March 24 - April 13, 2016, Gilliam Studio Library at the Delaware Art Museum. Work by the museum's studio instructors, including my two pieces.
- 2015-2016 28th Annual Members Only Show, Texas Photographic Society. Juror: Keith Carter. The TCC Photo Gallery in Longview, Texas, from December 10, 2015, through March 18, 2016. "Painted Nails, Heparin Lock."
- 2015 Members Exhibit of the Brandywine Photo Collective, Louis L. Redding City / County Building, Wilmington, Delaware, November 2015
- 2015Workshop Leader: "Looking Good: Ten Ways to Improve Your Photos" at the Parish Life Day event of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware, November, 2015.
- 2015 Members' Exhibit at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center.
- 2015 Solo Exhibit at the Buzz Ware Village Center in the Village of Arden, Delaware.
- 2015 Solo Exhibit and Presentation at the Episcopal Church of St. James Mill Creek
- 2014 Transitions Exhibit at the Delware Art Museum. This was a juried exhibition of work from members of the Brandywine Photo Collective.
- 2014 Philly Photo Day Exhibit at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center.
- 2012 Motionless Dancer, Dancing Lens at Colourworks Art Space, Wilmington, Delaware. A joint exhibit with photographer Theresa Knox.
- 2012 Zion National Park: Exhibit and Presentation at the entrance gallery at Crosslands Community in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.
- 2010 Bright Lights at the Public House Restaurant, downtown Wilmington. Beth Trepper and I organized this members-only exhibit for the Brandywine Photo Collective.
- 2010 Taking Photos and Offering Prayers: Exhibit and Presentation at the entrance gallery at Crosslands Community in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.
- 2010 Ten Years in Delaware at the Buzz Ware Village Center in Arden, Delaware. A small retrospective exhibit.
2008 Photo Prayers at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, DE, June - August, 2008. The Delaware News Journal published my introduction to the exhibit intact along with three images on page 1 of its "Life" section, May 31, 2008: "Images With Spirit: Wilmington photographer relates his process, pairing his work with prayerful reflections." Click here to read my updated statement about Photo Prayers.- 2008 Afternoon with the Artist at the Arden Craft Shop Museum, Arden, DE, Sunday, March 30, 2008. Exhibit of photographs, magazine collages, and copies of the Book of Days calendar.
- 2008 Elements: The Alchemy of Form at Colourworks Gallery.
- 2007 Joint exhibit with Ross Stevens at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, DE.
- 2007 Twelve Abstract Photos at Crosslands Residential Community, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.
- 2005 Five Reminders at the Christiana Care Health Service's Helen F. Graham Cancer Center Library, Newark, DE. This exhibit was sponsored by the Delaware Photographic Society. The five photos, I was told, should be of a quiet, pleasing nature. At the conclusion of the exhibit, I was asked by the director of the Cancer Center if I would donate them. They now provide some small comfort to those undergoing radiation therapy. I hope you never have occasion to see them.
- 2005 The Chosen Few at Colourworks Gallery, Wilmington, DE. Click here to see the Chosen Few images, each of which was chosen by a different juror.
- 2007 The Cultivated Eye at Delaware Art Museum. Edward J. Sozanski in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sunday, July 15, 2007, reproduced "Brandywine Creek at Breck's Mill" and said, "Danny Schweers and Jim Graham display a deft ability to abstract nature without losing the essence of their subjects." Kristin Pazulski in Art Matters, June, 2007 reproduced "Steel Bars, No Cage" and devoted five paragraphs to my work. Betsy Price, in Delaware's News Journal, reproduced "Brandywine Creek at Breck's Mill". Edward Higgins reviewed the exhibit for the South Philly Review on June 26, 2007.
- 2007 The Secret Life of Water at University City Arts League, October, 2007.
- 2007 The Walls of Brandywine Creek State Park at the Nature Center, January-April, 2007. Two of my photos were selected for this juried exhibition, winning first prize and honorable mention.
- 2005 The Rag Art Show at the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture. A group retrospective of our years working on Austin's underground newspaper, The Rag, was part of The Rag Reunion. My photos, taken in the early 1970s, are now in the collection of The Center for American History at The University of Texas.
- 2004 White: Fifteen Photographers Play on a Theme at Colourworks Gallery, Wilmington, DE.
Public Collections
- Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX. A complete collection of the Book of Days, 1977-1995.
- Arden Craft Shop Museum, Arden, DE. Photographs documenting the life of a utopian village, 2000-present.
- Austin History Center photography collection, Austin, TX. Photos exhibited in the Austin Seen exhibit of 1984, curated by Russell Lee and Roy Flukinger. Also a complete collection of the Book of Days, 1977-1995.
- Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin. Photos documenting the underground newspaper, The Rag, 1971-1975. Also a complete collection of the Book of Days, 1977-1995.
- Helmut Gernsheim Collection at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museen in Mannheim, Germany. Helmut Gernsheim purchased three of my neon abstract photos in the 1980s. He'd seen nothing like them. One of them, of Threadgill's Restaurant in Austin, Texas, was later used in my Photo Prayer of 2007_02 (above, right).
- Photography Collection at Harry Ransom Center of The University of Texas at Austin. One of the largest photography collections in the world. I have donated to them nearly everything I have related to the Book of Days, including all the issues, 1977-1995. They even have some of my images, 1985-1988, in their collection, documentary shots of Austin, Texas used by an NBC Movie of the Week.
- Witliff Collections at the Alkek Library at Texas State University, San Marcos, TX. Eleven of the thirteen Book of Days that I published. Also posters I worked on while on staff at the Austin Sun weekly tabloid.
Selected Awards
- 2018 2nd Place, 3rd Annual Photography Exhibition at the Rehoboth Art League, Delaware.
- 2008 Joy of Giving Something "Caption Contest" January, 2008 for the photograph "Jumpin" which I later used in Photo Prayer 2007_24 (at right).
- 2007 Brandywine Creek State Park photo contest, First place and an honorable mention. Both images were reproduced in the Greenville Community News of January 23, 2007.
- 1989 Honorary Professor of Photography at East Texas State University in Commerce, Texas (now Texas A&M University-Commerce) after serving as one of three jurors to its International Photography competition and exhibit.
Professional Photography Affiliations
- 2014 to present Washington Printmakers Gallery
- 2014 to present Philadelphia Photo Arts Center
- 2010 to present Delaware Art Museum.
- 2007 to present Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts.
- 2004 to present Brandywine Photo Collective.
- 1980 to present Texas Photographic Society. President, 1985. Board member, 1983-1985.
- 1977-1980 Photographer for the American Deaf Dance Company, Yacov Sharir, Artistic Director.
Kind Words
Danny continues to mix wonderment with insight and grace with humor in a way that very few excellent photographers are consistently capable of doing. (George Krause and Lee Friedlander and Elliott Erwitt come most readily to mind at the moment.) His is a world of keen observation, steeped in an awe of the everyday and an enjoyment of the daily challenge that breathing out and in brings to every creature on this planet. His art is certainly magical and musical, but, above all, it remains overwhelmingly brave — because he agrees to live for every moment and to share that commitment with us all. His photographs challenge us to never cease in that affirmation to life.
Roy Flukinger, Curator Emeritus of Photography & Film,
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center,
The University of Texas at Austin, July 27, 2005
The images [in Danny's 2016 exhibit "I See! I See!"] overall are quite outstanding; I'd not seen them before. I've always said when speaking of your work that you have a very good eye, and that you have vision. This show is proof of those observations!
Harold Ross, Photographer, 2016
To gaze upon a Danny Schweers photograph is to join him on a delectable journey. Danny has the uncanny ability to not only freeze a precise moment in time, but to tell a story within a story - while at the same time, creating a perfectly-composed image. This is what separates Danny from other “Spontaneous Photographers” - the ability to not sacrifice one for the other; rather, to successfully both tell a story and create an appealing image.
Danny’s photographs are multi-faceted: First, there is the spot-on composition, the way artists are taught in school - that perfect trail your eye must travel across the image, up and down and across, giving the viewers a path to follow, keeping the eye engaged.
Next is the captured subject - the focal point of the image. Danny captures his subject from behind, above or abreast - without being voyeuristic. Rather, it’s as if his subjects as well as the viewers are aware of his presence and welcome the exchange. Quite often, once the viewer registers the main subject of the image, another glance reveals a secondary story in the background. The viewer is drawn further and further into the image. The resulting image is sumptuous.
Danny’s photographs may evoke poignancy, humor, history, social commentary or merely beautiful patterns which might escape the ordinary eye. With Danny’s innate sense of curiosity and honed technical skills, we are treated to a true visual feast.
Beth Trepper, photographer, 2013