From her earliest memories, there has never been a time Maggie Skiba didn’t have a camera within her reach. Her mother’s Canon accompanied every family outing, although Maggie only enjoyed being the subject, and never the operator of this intriguing machine. A circa 1970’s yellow Kodak 110 created Maggie’s first successful exposure somewhere around the age of 5. The make and model of many more low-budget plastic cameras that found their way into her backpack, or were simply left in the dirt to die, are a blur. Make no mistake, though, Maggie isn’t immune to the allure of high-end photo equipment. Yet, she firmly believes that a good photographer can make a notable photograph with any camera. Expensive equipment need not be an impediment to creative expression.
Today Maggie is a mother herself, and also owns a camera her kids can’t touch. She does share her Holga, however, and garners the most exposure from this plastic toy camera. Having grown to appreciate the beauty of medium format film and to favor a 6X6 square frame, Maggie’s created a treasure chest of memories in negative sleeves that she’ll catch up to someday. For now, those small, square frames are how Maggie mediates her internal make-up with the world around her. So, she won’t be slowing the progress of her uptake spool to catch up anytime soon, and continues working hard to make the negatives in life positive. Currently she’s focused on interior landscapes, be that someone’s physical living space or emotional space materializing in the tangible world. While there are many folders of ongoing work, Maggie is most excited about working on her current project, the Amalgamated Family series. She’s exploring her identity in ancestral terms; as well as the concepts of life and death, blessing and loss, and intergenerational family dynamics by compositing old family snap shots onto contemporary landscapes.
Ms. Skiba makes her home in Eagle River and holds a day job with the Anchorage School District. She also spends Saturdays working as a lab monitor at the UAA Camera Club and is an active member of the Alaska Photographic Center. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions including Alaska Positive, Rarefied Light, and the 50/50 Invitational at such venues as the International Gallery of Contemporary Art, MTS Gallery, the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, and the Alaska State Museum in Juneau. Maggie’s work has also been shown at New York City’s SoHo Photo Gallery in the International Juried Fine Art Exhibition Krappy Kamera VIII and XII, and has been published in Light Leaks Magazine multiple times. Most recently, Maggie is the recipient of the Juror’s Choice Award for Alaska Positive 2010 and became collected by the Alaska State Museum. She looks forward to exploring the world a little more with a camera in her hands.
Today Maggie is a mother herself, and also owns a camera her kids can’t touch. She does share her Holga, however, and garners the most exposure from this plastic toy camera. Having grown to appreciate the beauty of medium format film and to favor a 6X6 square frame, Maggie’s created a treasure chest of memories in negative sleeves that she’ll catch up to someday. For now, those small, square frames are how Maggie mediates her internal make-up with the world around her. So, she won’t be slowing the progress of her uptake spool to catch up anytime soon, and continues working hard to make the negatives in life positive. Currently she’s focused on interior landscapes, be that someone’s physical living space or emotional space materializing in the tangible world. While there are many folders of ongoing work, Maggie is most excited about working on her current project, the Amalgamated Family series. She’s exploring her identity in ancestral terms; as well as the concepts of life and death, blessing and loss, and intergenerational family dynamics by compositing old family snap shots onto contemporary landscapes.
Ms. Skiba makes her home in Eagle River and holds a day job with the Anchorage School District. She also spends Saturdays working as a lab monitor at the UAA Camera Club and is an active member of the Alaska Photographic Center. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions including Alaska Positive, Rarefied Light, and the 50/50 Invitational at such venues as the International Gallery of Contemporary Art, MTS Gallery, the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, and the Alaska State Museum in Juneau. Maggie’s work has also been shown at New York City’s SoHo Photo Gallery in the International Juried Fine Art Exhibition Krappy Kamera VIII and XII, and has been published in Light Leaks Magazine multiple times. Most recently, Maggie is the recipient of the Juror’s Choice Award for Alaska Positive 2010 and became collected by the Alaska State Museum. She looks forward to exploring the world a little more with a camera in her hands.
