Over the past 30 years, Ron Tarver has built a successful career in photography. He received a B A. in Journalism and Graphic Arts from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma. His work has been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Inquirer Sunday Magazine, National Geographic, Life, Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, and Black and White Magazine.
He is co-author of the book, We Were There: Voices of African American Veterans, published by Harper Collins in 2004, which was accompanied by a traveling exhibition that debuted at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
In addition to his work in photojournalism, Tarver has distinguished himself in the field of fine art photography. This year he received an Independence Foundation Fellowship for his most recent work “The World in a Grain of Sand.” He was a 2001 Pew Fellow in the Arts, and has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. In 1997 Seven Arts Magazine named him one of the Delaware Valley’s “50 Rising Stars in the Arts.”
He is also a 1999 alumni of the Center For Emerging Visual Artists. His photography has been shown both nationally and internationally in over 30 solo and 50 group exhibitions, and is in many private, corporate, and museum collections, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, and the National Museum of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. His work is represented by the Sande Webster Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, The Packard Reath Gallery in Lewes, Delaware, Soho-Myriad in Atlanta, GA and Grand Image in Seattle, WA.
See news
page for a listing of his lastest exhibitions.
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Ron
Tarver Resume:
Personal Data,
Educations, Gallery Affiliation,
Work Experience, Selected One Person
Exhibitions, Selected Group Exhibitions, Recent
Honors & Awards, Works in Selected Collections,
Grants & Fellowships, Selected
Bibliography
Personal
Data:
Born in 1957 in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma.
Currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
e-mail: rontarver@earthlink.net
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Education:
1979. Northeastern State University. Tahlequah, Oklahoma. BA, Journalism
and Graphic Arts.
1984. Missouri Photographic Workshop. Forsythe, Missouri.
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Gallery
Affiliation:
Sande Webster Gallery. 2018 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA.
Monique Goldstrom Gallery. 560 Broadway, New York, NY.
Packard Reath Gallery. 222 Market Street, Lewes, DE.
Soho-Myriad. 1250 B Menlo Drive, Atlanta GA.
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Work
Experience:
2000-2004. Photography Instructor, Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial.
Philadelphia, PA.
1999-2000. Photography Instructor, Perkins Center for the Arts. Moorestown,
NJ.
1983-Present. Staff Photographer, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia,
PA.
1996-1999. Founder and Director, PhotoSession photography conference.
Philadelphia, PA.
1981-1983. Photography Instructor, Drury College. Springfield, Missouri.
1980-1983. Staff Photographer, The Springfield News and Leader. Springfield,
Missouri.
1978-1980. Staff Photographer, The Muskogee Daily Phoenix. Muskogee,
Oklahoma.
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Selected
Solo Exhibitions:
2007
"The World in a Grain of Sand." Sande Webster Gallery. Philadelphia, PA.
Packard Reath Gallery, Lewes, DE
2006
What the Eye Doesn’t See, List Gallery, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
"Havana: A Place out of Time." The Silva Gallery of Art, The Pennington School.
Pennington, NJ.
"Havana: A Place out of Time." Art/Place, Southport Railroad Station. Southport, CT.
"What the eye Doesn't See." List Gallery, Swarthmore College. Swarthmore, PA.
2005
"Trees." Sande Webster Gallery. Philadelphia, PA.
2004
"Deep Deuce and Beyond." Governor's Art Gallery, Oklahoma State Capital.
Oklahoma City, OK.
2003
"Homesteads." Sande Webster Gallery. Philadelphia, PA.
"Trees." Awbury Arborteum. Philadelphia, PA.
2002
"A Sense of Place" (Installation). Philadelphia
International Airport. Philadelphia, PA.
"Homesteads." Edward Carter Gallery. Lewes, DE.
"Havana: A Place Out of Time.” Monique Goldstrom Gallery.
New York, NY.
2001
"Havana: A Place Out of Time." Sande Webster Gallery.
Philadelphia PA.
"Havana: A Place Out of Time." Soho-Myriad. Atlanta, GA.
1998
"The Unseen Landmark." Eastern State College. Devon,
PA.
1997
"Fleisher Exhibition No. 1." Samuel S. Fleisher Memorial.
Philadelphia, PA.
"A Retrospective." Beaver College. Philadelphia, PA.
"The Long Ride Home: the African American Cowboy Experience in
America."
YWCA of Brooklyn. Brooklyn, NY.
1996
"Photography: Contemporary Prospect '96." Historic Yellow
Springs. Chester Springs, PA.
"The Long Ride Home: the African American Cowboy Experience in
America."
African American Museum of Dallas. Dallas, TX.
1994
Connoco Gallery. Oklahoma State University. Okmulgee, OK.
Walt Whitman Center for Cultural Arts. Camden, NJ.
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Selected
Group Exhibitions:
2003
"Impregnable Direction." Rush Arts Gallery. New York,
NY.
"Photography: Ten Years of Acquisitions." Haverford College.
Haverford, PA.
"A Pairing of Peers: Artists Invite." Fleisher Art Memorial.
Philadelphia, PA.
2002
"Havana/Venice: Mirrors of Nostalgia" (two person exhibition). Philadelphia Museum
of Art.
Philadelphia PA.
Queensborough Community College Art Gallery. Bayside, NY.
2001
"America the Beautiful." Edward Carter Gallery. Lewes,
DE.
"Photography 19." Perkins Center for the Arts. Moorestown, NJ.
"Committed to the Image." Brooklyn Museum of Art. Brooklyn,
NY.
"Photo 2001." Monique Goldstrom Gallery. New York, NY.
"Network Group Exhibition." Open Space Gallery. Allentown,
PA.
"Fin de Siecle" (three person
exhibition). Philadelphia Art Alliance. Philadelphia, PA.
"Recently Acquired Works." The Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, PA.
"People and Places." Atlantic City Center for the Arts. Atlantic
City, NJ.
"Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840- Present."
Smithsonian Institution, Anacostia Museum. Washington, DC.
1999
"The Discriminating Lens." Cheltenham Center for the
Arts. Cheltenham, PA.
"Art of the State '99." Harrisburg and Philadelphia, PA.
"Photography 17." Perkins Center for the Arts. Moorestown,
NJ.
"Shutter." Sande Webster Gallery. Philadelphia,
PA.
1998
"Creative Artist Network." Federal Reserve Bank. Philadelphia, PA.
"Photography 16." Perkins Center for the Arts. Moorestown,
NJ.
"20 x 12: A Generation of Challenge Artists." Samuel S. Fleisher
Memorial. Philadelphia, PA.
"Through the Heart of the City." Philadelphia Art Alliance.
Philadelphia, PA.
1997
"Photography 15." Perkins Center for the Arts. Moorestown,
NJ.
1996
"Hidden in Plain Sight." The Philadelphia Art Alliance.
Philadelphia, PA.
National Black Arts Festival. Atlanta, GA.
Penn Charter Arts Festival. Philadelphia, PA.
1993
"Philadelphia Photographs Philadelphia." Borders Bookstore.
Philadelphia, PA.
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Pittsburgh, PA.
"Eye Witness 93," Exhibition featuring winning photographs
from the annual World Press
Photo Awards. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
(traveling exhibition).
1992
"Photography Without Captions." Community Arts Center.
Philadelphia, PA.
1991
"Altered States--Alcohol And Other Drugs in America." Strong Museum. Rochester, NY. (traveling exhibition, acquired by the
Smithsonian Institution as part of permanent collection)
"Visa Pour L." Image International Photojournalism Festival.
Perpignan, France.
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Recent
Honors and Awards:
2002. Ruben V. Burrell Photography Award. Hampton University Museum.
Hampton, VA.
2001. Margaret Danby Visual Arts Award. Black Liberated Arts Center.
Oklahoma City, OK.
2000. Jurors Award and Purchase Award. Perkins Center for the Arts. Moorestown,
NJ.
Award of Merit. Society for Publication Design. New York, NY.
Award of Excellence. Society for News Design. New York, NY.
1999. Jurors Award and Purchase Award. Perkins Center for the Arts. Moorestown, NJ.
1998. Silver Metal. Society for Publication Design. New York, NY.
1997. Jurors Award and Purchase Award. Perkins Center for the Arts. Moorestown, NJ.
Named "One of the 50 Artists to Watch." Seven Arts Magazine. Philadelphia, PA.
1996. Best of Show. Penn Charter Arts Fesitval. Philadelphia, PA.
1995. National Newspaper Magazine Society Award for Documentary Photography.
1992. National Society of Professional Journalist.
National Press Photographers Association.
University of Missouri Pictures
of the Year.
Associated Press Managing Editors Award.
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Works
in Selected Collections:
Banana Republic corporate collection, San Francisco, CA
Eastern College, St. David's, PA
Federal Reserve Bank, Philadelphia, PA
Hyatt Hotel, Philadelphia, PA
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
DC
Johnson & Johnson corporate collection, Skillman, NJ
Mosby Yearbook, Philadelphia, PA
Pennsylvania State Museum, Harrisburg, PA
Oklahoma State University, Okmulgee, OK
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Public Library, Print and Picture Collection, Philadelphia,
PA
Samuel S. Fels Fund, Philadelphia, PA
Schuylkill Printing Facility, Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., Conshohocken,
PA
Sheraton Rittenhouse Hotel, Philadelphia, PA
South Jersey Museum of Art and Culture, Somerdale, NJ
Temple University Urban Archives, Philadelphia, PA
William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
Numerous private collections
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Grants
and Fellowships:
2001 Pew Fellowship in the Arts
2000 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts SOS Grant
1997-1999 Creative Artist Network, Philadelphia PA
1994 National Geographic Magazine, Development Grant for Documentary
Photography, Washington, DC
1993 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship
1991 Artist-In-Residence, Children's Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Sickle Cell Camp for Children
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Selected
Bibliography:
The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Searching for Home," Edward J.
Sozanski, November, 15, 1996, Weekend Section, p. 41
Art Business News, "African American Art Moves Beyond Black and
White",
Laura Meyers, January 2003, cover
Art Matters Magazine, "Photography Seen, Ron Tarver's Cuba at Sande
Webster, " by Helene Ryesky, August, 2001, Page 20
Philadelphia Weekly, "Island Images", by Roberta Fallon, August
8, 2001
Philadelphia Citypaper, Time Travel, Ron Tarver explores Cuba, new and
old, in his exhibit at Sande Webster, August 18, 2001
The New York Times, Up-to-the-minute Show with Echoes of the Past, Sunday
February 14,1999, page 14
The International Review of African American Art, Hampton University
Museum, Volume 14, Number 4, page 10, article illustrated with photograph
from the Bridge series
The Daily Oklahoma, "Black Cowboy Focus of Fine Photo Exhibit,"
John Brandenburg, Oklahoma City, OK, September 10, 1997
The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Mysterious Paintings and Pictorialist
Photos," Edward J. Sozanski, September 12, 1997, Weekend Section,
p. 36
The Camden Courier Post, "Past into the Present," February
2, 1997
Living Section, p. 3
Seven Arts Magazine, "50 Rising Stars," February, 1997, p.34
Samuel S. Fels Fund Annual Report, Illustrated with eight works from
Drill Team Series, December 31, 1996, Philadelphia, PA
The Philadelphia Inquirer, "The Truth and Beauty of Ordinary People,"
Edward J. Sozanski, November, 15, 1996, Weekend Section, p. 40
National Black Arts Festival Exhibition Catalog, Atlanta, GA, July,
1996
The Black Family, Deborah Willis author, Crown Publishing, published
1996
Portfolio 1995, Northeastern State University, "The Search for
Cultural Heroes", Dana Eversole, Tahlequah, OK
The Muskogee Daily Phoenix, "A Long Ride Home," October 20,
1994, Muskogee, OK
3 of 4 Basic Media Writing (Fifth Edition), Melvin Mencher author, Brown
& Benchmark, published 1994
The Comedian Courier-Post, "Images of the Unsung Cowboys,"
Camden, NJ, October 14, 1994
"Altered States: Alcohol and Other Drugs in America," Patricia
M. Tice, Strong Museum, Rochester, NY (exhibition catalog) p. 103
"World Press Photo Yearbook," Thames & Hudson, 1993
News Photographer Magazine, Journal of the National Press Photographers
Association, "Documenting Drug Life," Morrella Raleigh, February
21, 2003
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