N0RA ECCLES HARRISON MUSEUM OF ART
Utah State University, UT

Norma I. Quintana’s Forage From Fire series is featured in this traveling group exhibition curated by Douglas McCulloh, currently at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art.

Artists:  Noah Berger • Kevin Cooley • Josh Edelson • Samantha Fields • Jeff Frost • Luther Gerlach • Christian Houge • Richard Hutter • Christoph Kapeller • Benoit Malphettes • Anna Mayer • Cody Norris • Stuart Palley • Norma I. Quintana • Justin Sullivan • Joan Wulf

Traveling Venues: UCR Arts California Musuem of Photography, Riverside, CA 02/22/20 – 08/15/21 • St. George Art Museum, St. George, UT 06/04/22 – 08/27/22 • Jundt Art Musuem, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA 01/21/23 – 05/13/23 • Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, 07/08/23 - 12/16/23

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF INTEGRAL STUDIES
San Francisco, CA

“The most common news image after wildfires is the figure standing in front of the charred remains of their home, but Quintana instead shares with us the things, emblematic of the memories they hold. Her home and studio —once  places of refuge—she keeps for herself. ‘I didn’t want to photograph the house and the destruction because I wanted to keep my memory sacred.” Her home, which the artist describes as epic, was lost. And though she’s remarkably sanguine about it today, she wants to preserve the memory. “I can walk into a room right now and close my eyes and I can see my house and that’s how I want to see it, not destroyed.’” - Curator, Kija Lucas • Read more

VIEW CATALOG

HARVEY MILK PHOTO CENTER
San Francisco, CA

Norma I. Quintana’s Circus series is featured along side selected works by Jamie Johnson in this exhibition at the Harvey Milk Photo Center in San Francisco, CA.

“These black and white images suspend the characters outside of time. They could be portraits from the turn of the century or the 1940s or any point in history. The consistencies of children playing dress-up, cuddling pets, napping on laps, or running in a field, transcend time and place. Johnson and Quintana entrance the viewer, pulling us into the unique and fascinating worlds of these nomadic cultures.” - Curators, Ann Trinca & Melissa Keesor

Artists: Norma I. Quintana • Jamie Johnson

2023 ARCHITECTURE BIENALLE
Palazzo Mora, Venice, Italy

“A big part of the Museum of No Spectators exhibition at the Palazzo Mora, during the Venice Biennale, was a vitrine filled with art and gifts that we gave people at the Gifting Shop. There was a wide and rich range of photos, art, jewelry, patches, and stickers that represent the passion and creativity of the Burning Man Community” - Curator, John Marx

PALO ALTO ART CENTER
Palo Alto, CA

Norma I. Quintana’s Forage From Fire series is featured in this group exhibition at the Palo Alto Art Center, guest curated by Rina Faletti

“Art offers a safe place of solace after the trauma of the firestorm has passed […] How can we learn to transform our fear, sadness, loss, anger, and confusion into something more comforting and clear? How can we rest from climate fatigue, even as we face the real and tragic losses that fire causes in the face of global-scale change? Thankfully, we have artists to help us.” - Curator, Rina Faletti Ph.D

Artists:  Kim Abeles • Marion Coleman • Samantha Fields • Brian Fies • Jeff Frost • Linda Gass • Tamara Murphy • Erika Osborne • Norma I. Quintana • Felicia Rice • Gregory Roberts • Adrien Segal • Adam Shaw • Kala Stein • Young Suh • Beth Ames Swartz • Jonah Ward • Mirang Wonne • Rouben Mohiuddin • SCU Chico Students of Interior Architecture and Design

PRESS

“See How California Artists Process Wildfires Through Their Work,” Smithsonian Magazine, 10.18.2022
“Inspired By Fire: Palo Alto Art Center Exhibit Features Artists Who Felt Compelled To Create After A Wildfire’s Destruction,” The SixFifty 09.15.2022

BURNING MAN: MUSEUM OF NO SPECTATORS
Black Rock City, NV

Work from Norma I. Quintana’s Forage From Fire series is featured as a part of the participatory museum experience “Musuem of No Spectators” at Burning Man, Black Rock City, NV.

“The Museum of No Spectators (MoNS) asks a question – what would a museum be like on the playa within Burning Man culture? What would you do there? What role would art play, what role would people play, what role would you play? It picks up the debate of the participatory nature of Burning Man culture in contrast to the Default World museum experience. MoNS turns the concept around and creates a fully participatory container by encouraging people to participate playfully with the idea of what museums and participatory art means in terms of creating and nurturing culture. Radically inclusive and highly interactive, MoNS creates a space for all citizens of BRC to become exhibiting artists.” - Museum of No Spectators

PRESS
”The Museum of No Spectators Burning Man 2022 / John Marx + J Absinthia Vermut” Arch Daily, 09.16.2022

UCR ARTS CALIFORNIA MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Riverside, CA

Norma I. Quintana’s Forage From Fire series is featured in this group exhibition originating at the California Museum of Photography in Riverside, CA.

“Fire as omen and elemental force, as metaphor and searing personal experience -- these are the subjects explored by the artists of Facing Fire. California's diverse ecologies are fire-prone, fire-adapted, even fire-dependent. In the past two decades, however, West Coast wildfires have exploded in scale and severity. There is a powerful consensus that we have entered a new era. The artists of Facing Fire bring us incendiary work from active fire lines and psychic burn zones. They face fire, sift its aftermath, and struggle with the implications.” - Curator, Douglas McCulloh

Artists:  Noah Berger • Kevin Cooley • Josh Edelson • Samantha Fields • Jeff Frost • Luther Gerlach • Christian Houge • Richard Hutter • Christoph Kapeller • Benoit Malphettes • Anna Mayer • Cody Norris • Stuart Palley • Norma I. Quintana • Justin Sullivan • Joan Wulf

Traveling Venues: UCR Arts California Musuem of Photography, Riverside, CA 02/22/20 – 08/15/21 • St. George Art Museum, St. George, UT 06/04/22 – 08/27/22 • Jundt Art Musuem, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA 01/21/23 – 05/13/23 • Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, 07/08/23 - 12/16/23

SF CAMERAWORK
San Francisco, CA

On October 8, 2017, the Atlas Peak wildfire descended upon Quintana’s neighborhood. First responders arrived at her door, and she and her family had only minutes to gather important documents and quickly evacuate. Within a few hours, the home where she raised her children and its treasured, numerous collections of books, artifacts, and art were destroyed—consumed in minutes by the fire’s intense heat.

Days after the smoke cleared, Quintana’s documentarian instincts kicked in and she started making work with remnants she salvaged from the ashes. Using her IphoneX, she photographed and chronicled the blackened and burnt objects - some barely recognizable - to create a new series Forage From Fire. Framed by the black plastic gloves issued for fire clean-up, the sequence of images includes jewelry, camera bodies, Christmas ornaments, pendants, doll parts, kitchen tools, and picture frames which she saw as objet d’art.

The objects signify markers in an archeological dig for familiar treasures. But they also provide healing and closure and a path forward for Quintana. She states, “As an artist, when I despair, I don’t break down, I break through.” More than documenting a loss, her new project provides inspiration to others recovering from trauma and puts life into perspective. Quintana continues to excavate memories and embraces the blank slate placed before her.

PRESS
”Photographer loses camera collection in fire- then takes pictures of it,” San Francisco Chronicle, 10.3.2018
"Fire: An Interview with Norma Quintana,” Dickerman Prints, 10.3.2018
”One Year After the Napa Fires, Photographer Norma Quintana’s Show Opens at SF Camerawork,” Forbes Magazine, 10.3.2018
”With Ingenuity and Strange Beauty, Northern California Artists Rebuild from the Ashes A Year After the Devastating Wildfires,” ArtNet News, 10.19.2018

RAYKO
San Francisco, CA

Norma Quintana documents artists, aerialists, and performers who make their livings traveling with an American one-ring circus. To celebrate the release of her first monograph Circus: A Traveling Life, RayKo Photo Center hosted a solo exhibition of the work and a book signing on October 30, 2014. RayKo Photo Center (1991 - 2017) was a vital resource for photographers, providing darkroom access; youth and continuing education classes; exhibition and residency opportunities, and community involvement.

KATZEN ART CENTER
Washington, DC

American University Museum, Washington DC. “Forget Me Not/ No Me Olvides” Portrait Series.