Christopher C. Faust (born 1955 in

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in G ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

) is a

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

photographer in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

. He holds a degree in biology from St. Cloud State University and an MS in educational media from St. Cloud State University. He is best known for his panoramic photographs of landscapes. From 1990 to 1996 he created a series of black-and-white images of new suburban development, especially in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

, USA. Many of these depict new structures and spaces not yet fully formed, and not yet inhabited by people. A frequent theme in these and other series is the intersection of human beings with nature, and places where the two interact in visually provocative ways. An example is "The Edge, Eden Prairie, MN" which is in the collection of the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, to ...

. This photograph appears to be a split, double image, but is actually a single scene, depicting where a suburban development near

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

, Minnesota runs up against prairie vegetation. The imported, landscaped vegetation, especially the central tree, conifers, and lawn grass balance the smaller native tree and prairie grass of the other half, as the condominiums loom from a corner. Other of his series include outdoor industrial scenes typical of the northern Midwest, like

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposit ...

s and railcars, rural landscapes from Minnesota and Appalachia, and color photographs of natural scenes. Faust's work is exhibited regularly in galleries around

. His work appears in a number of institutions and is held by the permanent collections of the

Minneapolis Institute of Arts The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United Stat ...

Weisman Art Museum The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum is an art museum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1934 as University Gallery, the museum was originally housed in an upper floor of the university's Northrop Auditorium. In 1 ...

, and

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

Twenty of Faust's photographs, many of them from his Suburban Documentation Project, illustrate the 1997 book ''Placing Nature: Culture and Landscape Ecology'', edited by landscape architect Joan Iverson Nassauer, and including essays by novelist

Jane Smiley Jane Smiley (born September 26, 1949) is an American novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992 for her novel '' A Thousand Acres'' (1991). Biography Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a s ...

and philosopher Marcia Muelder Eaton. Faust has been honored with

McKnight Foundation The McKnight Foundation, a Minnesota-based family foundation, advances a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and planet thrive. Established in 1953, the McKnight Foundation is deeply committed to advancing climate solutions in ...

Fellowships in 1989, 1992, and 1997. Faust is now a media teacher at Gordon Parks High School, St.Paul MN.. Faust takes a majority of his photographs using a specially designed Fuji G617.

Awards

* 2016 Knight Arts Challenge Grant for work on Transforming Central * 2014 Minnesota State Arts Board, Artist Initiative Grant * 2014 Graham Foundation * 2000 Graham Foundation * 1997 McKnight Foundation Fellowship for Photography * 1996 Graham Foundation * 1995 Minnesota Humanities Commission * 1995 Bush Fellowship * 1994 Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship * 1993 American Society of Landscape Architects, National Honor Award in Communications. * 1992 McKnight Foundation Fellowship for Photography * 1989 McKnight Foundation Fellowship for Photography

References

External links

Chris Faust's artist page

Interview with Chris Faust
1955 births Living people American photographers Landscape artists People from Fort Riley, Kansas Artists from Kansas Artists from Saint Paul, Minnesota {{US-photographer-stub