Mary Randlett Landscapes

Mary Randlett's photographic vision of the Northwest is big-hearted, intricate, and tender -- and fully inhabited by the animals, tides, forests, mountains, and spirits that dwell there. What others may take for granted, Randlett sees as quintessential: overcast days with endless and often exquisite variations of gray clouds, raindrops on puddles, dripping branches, and distant shafts of sunlight breaking through the cloud cover. She is steeped in the history of the Northwest and its many art forms.

The images presented here stand as a visual record of the Northwest at its most pristine and poetic. During her many years of finely turned observation, Randlett has learned to take the time to ponder the essences of what she sees -- the curl of a bird's drifting feather, a water strider not quite breaking the surface of the water, fog ascending a hillside, the moment a pond's surface turns to ice.

The magnificent photographs are accompanied by text that sheds light on the artist and her work. Anchoring the book is an essay by the internationally renowned poet Denise Levertov about Randlett the artist, along with seven of her own poems that were directly inspired by Randlett's photographs. In another essay, Washington artist Barry Herem situates Mary Randlett among the major figures in Northwest art. Photographer/actor Ted D'Arms offers an introductory essay addressing Randlett's place in photography and in the Northwest. Jo Ann Ridley provides a biographical chronology, and Joyce Thompson remembers Randlett's seventieth birthday party. Randlett adds a technical note in which she shares details about the cameras, lenses, film, and printing techniques she has used, as well as pertinent information about time, place, and circumstances.

Mary Randlett has been photographing the Northwest for more than fifty-five years. Her works are held in at least forty permanent collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution.