On the occasion of Val Britton: Ghost Coast and Western Wave: Vanessa Marsh & Joni Sternbach, the three artists sat down at Berggruen Gallery for an artists panel discussion moderated by Melanie Ross, Director.
Val Britton (b. 1977, Livingston, New Jersey) received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design before completing her MFA from California College of the Arts. Britton's work has been shown in over 65 solo and group exhibitions in museums, galleries, art fairs, universities, and non-profit institutions nationally and internationally. She is the recipient of many grants, fellowships, and residencies including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and the Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship. Born in Livingston, New Jersey, Britton spent 14 years in San Francisco before relocating to the Pacific Northwest, where she now lives and works in Portland, Oregon.
Vanessa Marsh (b. 1978, Seattle, Washington) is a Portland, Oregon based visual artist. She received her M.F.A. from California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2004. Marsh’s work has been the subject of solo and group exhibitions at venues including Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco, Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, OR, The San Jose Museum of Art in San Jose, CA, The SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport, The Penumbra Foundation in New York, photoEye Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, and The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Marsh has been the recipient of a Penland Winter Residency and Fellowship (2023), a Jentel Foundation Fellowship (2018), a Rayko Photo Center Residency (2014), a MacDowell Colony Fellowship (2007), and a Headlands Center for the Arts MFA Fellowship (2004). Marsh’s images are held in institutional collections including the San Jose Museum of Art, the San Francisco Art Commission, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.
Joni Sternbach (b. 1953, Bronx, New York) is a New York-based artist with an M.A. in Photography from New York University/International Center of Photography and a BFA from the School of Visual Arts. She has taught at numerous institutions, including NYU and Cooper Union, and is a founding faculty member of the Penumbra Foundation, where she currently teaches and serves on the advisory board. Sternbach began exploring historic and alternative photographic processes in the early 1990s, which became a central part of her teaching during her 15-year tenure as an adjunct professor at NYU. Her work has been exhibited widely in the U.S. and internationally, including in the landmark exhibition Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort at MoMA, and is held in public collections such as the High Museum, LACMA, The Nelson-Atkins Museum, MoPA, Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She has received numerous grants and awards, including fellowships from MacDowell and NYFA, as well as the 2011 Clarence John Laughlin and 2010 Santo Foundation awards.
