André Ruesch
About André
André Ruesch, originally from Switzerland, earned his B.A. from Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland, followed by both an M.A. and M.F.A. from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. His textbook, Critiquing Individual Photographs within a Collective Consciousness, was published by Focal Press/Routledge in 2018. He also contributed to The Race – Tales in Flight by Patrick Nagatani, alongside other writers, published by AMP/Fresco in 2017. Ruesch’s work has appeared in publications such as the British Journal of Photography, Art in America, and Asian Art News. His photography is included in both private and public collections, including the New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts, the Wyoming Art Museum, the New Mexico History Museum, First Community Bank, Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida, México, and has been exhibited in various galleries across the United States and internationally.
Teaching students visual literacy and technical skills in support of developing their ideas and individual voices has been the most meaningful work of my career. Each student brings a unique perspective and personal motivation for using photography to achieve their goals. I see the classroom as a collaborative laboratory—an evolving space where students refine their strategies for engaging with the world and with one another. Photography, though relatively young, is marked by a trail of obsolete technologies, and that evolution will undoubtedly continue. Yet its power to engage, inform, and challenge remains—constantly shifting, but ever vital.
- MUSEUM SHOWS
- 2014 Gathering + Hunting - New Additions to the Museum’s Collection, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2013 Photography from the Twentieth Century - The Art Museum Collection Part II University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, Wyoming
- 2012 The Lost Years and Waterproofs - the inaugural Untitled XII group show at The Bond House Museum, Española, New Mexico
- 2011 A Murder of Crows - Solo Show - University of Wyoming Art Museum and American Heritage Center, Centennial Gallery, Laramie, Wyoming
- 2009 Imágenes sin Fronteras - Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida, México, curated by La Fundación Casa de la Fotografía del Sureste A. C. México
- 2009-10 Through The Lens - Creating Santa Fe, New Mexico History Museum, Palace of the Governors, curated by Mary Anne Redding & Krista Elrick, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2004 Divergent Talents - SFCC Fine Arts Faculty, New Mexico Museum of Art, The Round House Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 1992 Measuring Distance - MA Graduation Show, The Museum of Fine Arts, UNM, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- SELECT GALLERY SHOWS
- 2019 Elaine Jeffrey and Guests at Photokina World of Imaging Fair, curated by E. Jeffrey Internationale Leitmesse rund ums Bild in Köln, Cologne, Germany
- 2014 Your Work Here 2.0 - A Boston Photography Community Show, Photographic Resource Center (PRC), Boston, Massachusetts
- 2014 Adaptations - Visual Artists Work with Profound Disease and Illness group show at SCA Contemporary Art Gallery, curated by Sheri Crider, Patrick Nagatani, Amy Clinkscales, and Valery Roybal, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- 2014 Visible Soul - Celebrating the feline as muse through painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture, The VanDernoot Gallery at Lesley University Hall, curated by Andrew Mroczek, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- 2012 Photography at Edinburgh Napier University - A Retrospective 2012, The Marchmont Gallery, curated by Robin Gillanders Edinburgh, Scotland
- 2011 Lumen Photography - A show juried and curated by Melanie McWhorter, Red Dot Gallery, Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2011 SPESW 2011 Juried Members’ Exhibition, Marion Center for photographic Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2011 Inaugural Opening - A show juried and curated by John Addison, Red Dot Gallery, Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2010 The Art of Photography Show - An international exhibition, juried by Natasha Egan, Lyceum Theatre Gallery, Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego, California
- 2010 STILL - A presentation of NF Gallery, Singapore & Vancouver, BC, Canada at Ion Art Gallery, Ion Orchard, curated by Shen Po, Singapore
- 2010 Photosynthesis - A School of Arts + Design Photography Showcase Exhibition, Visual Arts Gallery, School of Arts + Design at SFCC, Santa Fe
- 2009 AIPF - Juried Invitational to inaugural Asia International Photography Fair, A new component of ARTSingapore, curated by Shen Po, Singapore
- 2009 Photo Arts - An exhibition curated by Camera Arts & View Camera magazines’ editor, Steve Simmons, at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2009 Water - A national juried photography exhibition, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, Vermont
- 2008 Hit Me With Your Best Shot, A.D. Collective Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2008 Pay No Attention to The Man Behind the Curtain - A show curated by John Mar Graff, Salon Mar Graff, Tesuque Village, New Mexico
- 2007 March Salon - Curated by Jon Carver, Salon Mar Graff, Tesuque Village, New Mexico
- 2006 Birds & Brains - Solo Show, Phil Space, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2006 Art and Infinity - Curated by Jon Carver, Visual Arts Gallery, SFCC, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2006 Real to Surreal - Show with students, Phil Space, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2005 On the Edge - Solo Show, August Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2002 New Views - Curated by James Hart, James Hart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 1996 Dog God - MFA Graduation Show, Jonson Gallery, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- 1991 Photography Exhibit of UNM Photo Dept. Faculty & Graduate Students, Permian Basin, University of Texas, Odessa, Texas
- 1988 UK National Agfa Bursary Winners, Smith Gallery, Covent Garden, London, England
- 1988 Napier - BA Graduation Show, City Art Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland
- AUTHORED & CO – AUTHORED BOOKS
- 2018 SUBTEXT - Critiquing Individual Photographs Within a Collective Consciousness, by André Ruesch, © Focal Press/Routledge 2018 - A Textbook on critiquing fine art photographs featuring student work
- 2017 THE RACE - Tales in Flight, by Patrick Nagatani in collaboration with co- authors, incl. André Ruesch, © AMP/Fresco 2017 - A Novel & limited print edition, diverse female pilots cross the Pacific reflecting on their lives
- PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK FEATURED IN BOOKS & CATALOGS
- 2021 VISUAL WORLDS - Looking, Images, Visual Disciplines by James Elkins & Erna Fiorentini, back cover review, Oxford University Press 2021
- 2020 AFFIRMING DISABILITY - Strength-Based Portraits of Culturally Diverse Families by Janet Story Sauer & Zachary Rossetti, page 52, image: Portrait, Teachers College Press, 2020
- 2014 ADAPTATIONS show catalogue, pages 21/22, images: Horse and Care Givers Essay: Letter to Cancer, SCA Contemporary Arts publication, 2014
- 2014 UNDERMINING by Lucy Lippard - A Wilde Ride through Land Use, Politics and Art in the Changing West. Page, 153, image: Big Water at 760 feet, New Press, New York, 2014
- 2012 PHOTOGRAPHY AT EDINBURGH NAPIER UNIVERSITY - A Retrospective 2012, Edinburgh Napier University Press catalogue, page 11, image: Crows & Spider, Foreword and Editor: Robin Gillanders, Reader ENU, 2012
- 2010 THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY show catalogue, page 39, image: Crows & Spider Foreword: Natasha Egan, Associate Director and Curator, MoCP
- 2009 ART SINGAPORE exhibition catalogue, page 15, image: Crow & Dolphins
- Inaugural Asia International Photography Fair (AIPF) accordion insert
- 2009 WATER exhibition catalogue, page 12, image: Josephine, dancer underwater, 2009
- 2009 THROUGH THE LENS - Creating Santa Fe Editors: Mary Anne Redding & Krista Elrick, page 102, image: Big Water at 760 feet, © Museum of New Mexico Press, 2009
- 2007 CCA live auction catalogue, page 7, image: Crows & Cat
- SELECT PRESS PUBLICATIONS
- 2021 LESLEY PUBLIC POST, online newspaper, Feb. 9th, 2021, by Thomas Desmond, Lesley Film Professors Successfully Adapt to Remote Learning
- 2018 FRACTION online magazine, Issue 106, 2018, Subtext – Critiquing Individual Photographs Within a Collective Consciousness, André Ruesch, by Lauren Greenwald
- 2017 FRACTION online magazine, Issue 104, 2017, The Race: Tales in Flight, Patrick Ryoichi Nagatani, by Lauren Greenwald
- 2014 LAPHAM’S QUARTERLY, Volume VII, Number 3, Summer 2014, YOUTH, c. 1190 How To Become a Knight, page 153, image: Cat and Girl (also online edition)
- 2014 The New Mexican’s weekly Magazine of Arts, Entertainment & Culture, Nov. 28th, 2014, Patrick Nagatani’s magnificent women and their flying machines by Michael Abatemarco
- 2014 LOCAL IQ “Albuquerque’s Intelligent Alternative” online magazine, June, Adept at ‘Adaptation’ Artists explore how illness demands change, sparks transformation, by Katherine Oostman
- 2014 EYE-AI Japanese magazine “Chronicling Contemporary Japan for 38 years” May 2014, pages 38-39, Photo Essay Eye by André Ruesch, text and images from the “Japan” series
- 2012 DESERT EXPOSURE newspaper, page 21, May 2012, Preview of Untitled XII at Mesquite Gallery
- 2012 MOVIES, POLITICS, ART blog by Chris Knipp, February 7th, 2012, Untitled XII: Photographs. An Exhibition from Santa Fe
- 2012 PASATIEMPO Weekly Magazine of Arts, Entertainment & Culture, pages 36 - 37, February 3rd, 2012, UT-XII: The Lost Years & Waterproofs Review by Douglas Fairfield
- 2012 REPORTER magazine online, January 21st, 2012, Untitled-XII Surprises, Inspires Review by Wren Abbott, image: Comprehension, Captured, and Water
- 2012 RIO GRANDE SUN Sunday’s Arts Section, p. 6, February 9th, 2012, Untitled XII, Photographs from the Lost Years and Waterproofs, image: Captured
- 2012 RIO GRANDE SUN Sunday’s Arts Section, p. 11, January 19th, 2012, Openings, Untitled XII at the Bond House Museum, image: Crow & Hand
- 2011 THE magazine, page 55, December/January 2011-12, Critical Reflections, Photographic Truths & other Illusions, Review by Anthony Hassett
- 2010 THE magazine, page 43, April 2010, Critical Reflections, Photosynthesis, Review by Richard Tobin
- 2009 ASIAN ART NEWS magazine, pages 117 - 119, September/October 2009, Vision Beyond Painting, image: Crow & Dolphins
- 2009 SHOTS magazine, page 22, Spring issue, 2009, Water Issue, image: Crow and Hand
- 2009 DIARIO DE YUCATÁN newspaper, May 17th, 2009, Las imágenes borran las fronteras, Exponen en Mérida seis fotógrafos de Estados Unidos
- 2008 PASATIEMPO The New Mexican’s Weekly Magazine of Arts, Entertainment & Culture, page 36, May 2nd, 2008, Club Red, Andre Ruesch’s underwater photography class, photo by Jane Phillips
- 2008 THE NEW MEXICAN newspaper, page E6, April 6th, 2008, Que Pasa, Andre Ruesch’s underwater photography class, photo by Jane Phillips
- 2008 PASATIEMPO Weekly Magazine of Arts, Entertainment & Culture, page 73, March 28th, 2008, Ongoing at the Galleries, image: Crows & Kittens
- 2008 REPORTER magazine, page 32, March 26th, 2008, Curtains! Review by Zane Fischer
- 2007 THE magazine, pages 12 - 13, November 2007, Universe of … segment, Thoughts on Photography by André Ruesch
- 2007 ART IN AMERICA magazine, page 212, June/July 2007, Santa Fe, André Ruesch at Phil Space, Review by Sarah King, image: Crow & Dolphins
- 2006/07 THE magazine, page 52, December/January 2006-07, Critical Reflections, André Ruesch: Birds & Brains Review by Kristin Barendsen, image: Crows & Cat
- 2006 REPORTER magazine, page 54, November 8th, 2006, Zane’s World - Vision Management, Review by Zane Fischer, image: Crow & Hand
- 2006 THE magazine, page 53, June 2006, Critical Reflections, Art and Infinity Review by Kathryn M. Davis, image: Phoenix
- 2006 THE magazine, page 48, May 2006, Critical Reflections, Real to Surreal Review by Kristin Barendsen
- 2006 ART PAPERS magazine, pages 69 - 70, March/April, 2006, André Ruesch, Santa Fe Review by Jon Carver, image: Crow & Crater
- 1996 ALBUQUERQUE TRIBUNE newspaper, pages B1 & B6 November 1st, Dog meets God when artist dissects language, Review by T.D. Mobley-Martinez, image: Dog-God
- 1987 BRITISH JOURNAL of PHOTOGRAPHY Front Cover, June 19th, 1987, André Ruesch, BIPP/Fuji Award Winner, BJP Issue 25, image: Blue Dancer
- PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
- 2013 New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2012 Edinburgh Napier University Collection, Edinburgh, Scotland
- 2011 University of Wyoming Art Museum Collection, Laramie, Wyoming
- 2009 New Mexico History Museum, Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2009 Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida, México
- 2007 First Community Bank (Now US Bank) Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2005 Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
- 1985-2016 In Switzerland, Germany, Britain, Singapore, and U.S.
- AWARDS - HONORS - NOMINATIONS
- 2023 Recipient, Faculty Development Grant for, Pedagogy in the Age of AI
- 2023 Recipient, Davis Grant, Student-Led Peer Review course integration in First-Year Seminar
- 2022 Recipient, Sabbatical, The Abode of the Devils, a study of one family’s predigests and betrayals
- 2021 Recipient, Davis Grant, New GenEd Course Development, The Gaijin Mirror
- 2015 Recipient, Davis Grant, Visual Literacy Faculty Fellow, Lesley University InFusion Project
- 2014 Entered in Lens Culture permanent online gallery
- 2013 Entered in Art Photo Index at Photo Eye, highly vetted online gallery
- 2011 Nominee, CENTER Teaching Award, annual award honoring photographic educators, U.S.
- 2011 Recipient, NISOD Excellence Award, U.S.
- 2007 Nominee, The Patron Saint of Photography Award, U.S.
- 2006 Candidate, SF Prize in Photography, SF Center for Photography, by invitation only, U.S.
- 1988 Recipient, AGFA BURSARY Award, national competition, U.K.
- 1988 Winner, HAMILTON TAIT Award, local award, Edinburgh, Scotland
- 1987 Student Merit, BIPP / FUJI FILM Award, national competition, U.K.
- SYMPOSIA/PRESENTATIONS
- 2023 AI Presentations about Ethical Concerns and Pedagogical Opportunities, related to LLMs and image generators to the School of Science and Liberal Arts, the Academic Advising Committee, and other interuniversity entities, Lesley University, Cambridge Massachusetts
- 2019-2022 Regular presentations in colleagues’ classes on ways to read images, Lesley University, Massachusetts
- 2019 Connections and Intersections, Moderator and Co-presenter of photographic work related to Advocacy & Wellbeing in the context of therapeutic photography, Lesley University, Massachusetts
- 2018 The Race Public gallery talk and discussion of Patrick Ryoichi Nagatani’s limited edition portfolio presented by the Griffin museum at the Laconia Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
- 2018 Identity and Leadership in the Context of Social-Change Presentation with peers on Visual Literacy with Chris Clark, Martha McKenna, Janet Sauer, and Ellen Schön, Lesley University, Massachusetts
- 2017 International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) - Co-presentation on Counter Narratives with Designing Visual Literacy Experiences from a Dis/ability Perspective with Disability Studies expert Dr. J. Sauer and student S. Mansfield, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- 2016/17 Research & Inquiry across Disciplines Presentations with students on Alternative Facts with Megan Eckles, Dominique Giniusz (2017) and Thap Saengsouriyheth (2016) Lesley University, Massachusetts
- 2016 Shots Fired - How to talk to children about gun violence and trauma, Panel Discussion in conjunction with art exhibit by Mark Teiwes in Marran Gallery, Lesley University, Massachusetts
- 2016 Visual Literacy at Lesley Panel presentation on a two-year professional development program, funded by the Davis Educational Foundation by teams of faculty fellows, Lesley University, Massachusetts
- 2014 SPE-NE Micro Conference, Finding Models of Teaching that Reach Today’s Students, Present the summary of the breakout session MECA, Portland, Maine
- 2011 SPE-SW Chair & MC. Introduction to multi-day conference theme, presentations, and speakers including Joel Peter Witkin, Patrick Riochi Nagatani, Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison, and Eugenia Parry SF, New Mexico
- 2011 VISUAL arts SERIES, University of Wyoming Art Department, Visiting Artist, including Public Lecture and Critique of senior level student’s work, Laramie, Wyoming
- 2010 Photo Salon Public Talk and subsequent Q&A about a personal series of work: A Murder of Crows - An Evolutionary Disaster at the Photo Eye Gallery Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2006 Real to Surreal Public gallery talk & discussion on selected Student Work and the Photography Program at Santa Fe Community College, New Mexico
- 2005 Photo Salon Public Presentation and subsequent discussion with audience of own work: Brain Coral at the Marion Center at the College of Santa Fe
- 2005 In Focus Introduction to Speakers and Photography Program during Public Lecture Series on photography featuring selected artists at SFCC
- EVENT ORGANIZATION
- 2014 Instant Connections A talk with gallerist and author Jason Landry and André Ruesch, subsequent audience Q&A, held at AIB, Boston, Massachusetts
- 2012 Host and introduction to the nationally Emmy Award-nominated film maker and author Denis Belliveau of In the Footsteps of Marco Polo, held at SFCC
- 2011 Chair and host of SPE-SW, Society for Photographic Education, SW Region, multiday conference with multistate presenters and attendees, held at Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2011 Co-Director APIS Alternative Photographic International Symposium, multi-day Conference with international presenters and attendees, held at SFCC, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- 2009 Host Mac-On-Campus Nationwide events to further photographic education and promote high quality products at discounted prices for students and faculty at SFCC, SF, New Mexico
- 2008 Host The Bogen Café Nationwide curriculum enrichment program, promoting photographic image taking at the University & College level, held at SFCC, SF, New Mexico
B.A., Photography - Edinburgh Napier College
M.A., Art Studio Photography - University of New Mexico
M.F.A., Art Studio Photography - University of New Mexico