BIO

Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, John Moses grew up with the rolling farmlands of Berks County and the low mountains east of Reading for landscapes.  Thirty years ago, when he moved west to Fresno, California, he traded those tamer views for the vast stretches of San Joaquin agriculture and the distant peaks of the Sierra Nevada range.

Moses has taught writing, literature, and film studies for over thirty-five years, first in Ohio and New York and then in California.  Currently, he is head of the Film Program at Fresno City College and a founding member of Fresno Filmworks, a nonprofit film society in the Central Valley, serving as its President and Program Director before moving to its Advisory Board.  

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

From an early age, I began looking at the world through a viewfinder.  In my teens, I traded my Kodak Instamatic for a Minolta SR-T 101, built a darkroom in my parents’ basement, and later took photography and film classes in college.   As a professor of film studies, much of my professional life has focused on image studies—teaching students to “read” the mise-en-scène and cinematography of motion pictures.  In 2015, I joined the Spectrum Art Gallery and have exhibited more than 20 images there, mostly landscapes.  I draw inspiration from visual and literary arts, but what I most enjoy is rambling through natural and urban settings with camera in hand.  The chief intent behind my images is to present some new perspective to the viewer, to compose the ordinary in such a way as to make it seem extraordinary.

AWARDS AND EXHIBITIONS 

Best in Show, “The Natural World Art Exhibition,” Fusion Art, July 2017.

“California,” Spectrum Art Gallery, July 2017

“New Members’ Show,” Spectrum Art Gallery, Jan. 2017

Spectrum Art Gallery Members’ Space, 2015-17.

Fresno City Hall, August 2016

Fresno County Fair, Oct. 2015