Lynn Beldner

“Steeplechase” was made on another day when I could not go outside because of the horrible air quality that is the result of all of the endless fires that are occurring here in Northern California. I have been spending a lot of time looking at photographs of burned trees, houses, debris, etc. I am struck by how beautiful this destruction can be. I am concerned that this will be our new normal; smoke filled skies and living in the midst of a pandemic. Endless.

I think nature is resilient. I am not so sure about human beings. My state of being fluctuates throughout the day. I am trying to stay on course in the studio. On the days when I am not certain that my work is not going in the right direction I remind myself to carry on. To trust where the work is taking me.

Lynn Beldner’s studio was located in Oakland, CA until 2017. In 2017 she relocated her studio to Woodland, CA with her husband, Steve Briscoe, who is also an artist. Her sketchbooks/journals from the past 36 years were recently acquired by the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. She studied photography at the San Francisco Art Institute. During this time, she used a 35mm camera and then later a view camera. Recently Stanford University has acquired her collection of photographs and negatives. Through the years her art practice has expanded to cover many different mediums.

She is the recipient of the James Phelan Award, Bemis Art Residency, Public Glass Residency, and Paulson Bott Residency. Her work is in the collection of Harvard, Crocker Art Museum, Oakland Museum, DeYoung Museum, Berkeley Art Museum, and the Oakland Museum of California, as well as many other private collections.