Often my work is in response to strong emotion, so the earlier pieces on my website are from an installation entitled, "grooming behavior" about the sequence and consequences of incest. This call-and-response approach led to explorations of stories, particularly from people who had survived ragged times and spaces. Within the metaphor of 'making' I use pinhole, digital, and traditional photography, video, voice, and music to help weave a body of work that tells a larger story about transformation and transcendence in the human experience.

If I lost my home, my family, my country, and if I found that I was still alive, what would I take with me, and what would be left behind? I am very interested in the idea of the kingdom of heaven on earth as emerging and imminent rather than far-off and vague. More frequently these days I seek and find exquisite examples in the people I meet.

My process is a time-intensive approach, open to opportunities for serendipity and change as I listen to the rise and fall of voices and watch gestures emerge. In this way, the work offers relief from traditional, linear documentary. I like to look at in-between spaces to see what sort of invisible information is contained in the telling.

Education

2001-2005 Indiana University MFA, Printmaking
1996-2001 Indiana University, BFA Printmaking
1994-96 Indiana University, Continuing Studies
1976-77 University of the Philippines
1975-76 University of Arizona
1973-75 Sacramento City College
1972-73 Kansas State University/ University of Kansas
1966-67 University of Arizona

Grants/Awards

2007-2008 Brabson Library and Education Foundation grant, Sudanese Rebaba Project.
2006-2007 Indiana Arts Commission Individual Artist Program grant, Cities of Refuge Instrument Project
2003-05: Grant-In-Aid of Research Award, Indiana University Graduate School
2003: IDEAS Festival, Indiana University, Best Digital Narrative for “birthright,”
2001-2002 Graduate Fellowship: Indiana University Hope School of Fine Arts/Friends of Art
2000 Area Award for Printmaking, Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts, Indiana University 
2000 Indiana University Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Grant entitled, “Pinhole Photography from Small- to Large-Scale.”

2007: A COCOON FOR THE PAGES, Matrix Anthology of Literary and Visual Arts Vol. 2 , “eggs” from birthright and “master” from Cities of Refuge”, pinhole archival pigment prints.

2006: The Intersection of Science and Art at Lupin Mine: The Poetics of Place. Collaboration with Peter Suchecki, Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon), Washington DC. Video.

2006: Honorable Mention, Photographer’s Forum Magazine, Best of College Photography Annual 2006, Britty, archival pigment print.

2006: Powerful Impressions, la Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Palazzetto Tito, Venice Italy, “family weave”, pinhole archival pigment print with text.

2005: FINE WINE MORTAR, Matrix Publication, "berimbau", archival pigment print.

2005: La Biennale de Venezia 51st International Exhibition, Powerful Impressions, “family weave”, pinhole archival pigment print with text

2005: MFA Thesis Show “Cities of Refuge”; pinhole archival pigment prints, text, performance by Grupo de Capoeira Angola Estrela do Norte; audience interaction with Sudanese refugees.

2005: MFA 2005, Indiana University MFA Graduates, "Daniel Kuch Kuol", archival pigment print and "family weave", pinhole archival pigment print with text.

2005: Southern Graphics Council Conference, Italian Embassy, Washington DC, Powerful Impressions: Stampe Italiane e Americane, “family weave”, pinhole archival pigment print with text

2005: MFA Printmakers, SOFA Gallery, Indiana University, “Daniel Kuch Kuol” archival pigment print, and part one from “family weave”, pinhole archival pigment print

2004: LIQUT collaborative video/fiber piece, "cemetery" mixed media: fabric, nails, wire, vandyke brownprint, cyanotype. Indiana University Fuller Gallery>

2003: IDEAS Festival, Indiana University, "birthright" digital narrative

2003: Graduate Printmakers, “master” “dancer” Pinhole archival pigment print, SOFA Gallery, Indiana University

2002: Artists in Print, , “kitchen ware” digital composite, archival pigment print; “Jessica's wedding gown ” pinhole archival pigment print SOFA Gallery, Indiana University

2001: BFA Thesis Show, SOFA Gallery, Indiana University installation: “grooming behavior”, pinhole silver gelatin prints; ”christening gown” cyanotype, Vandyke brownprint, fabric, wood, text, cardboard.

2001: Artists in Print “untitled” monotype, SOFA Gallery, Indiana University

2000: Whitewater Valley Annual Art Competition: “Genevieve” triptych, pinhole silver prints.

1998: United Printmakers, Indiana University/University of the West of England exchange show: “Dollface”, Pinhole photo intaglio print.

Publications
2000: Droppo, R. and Calman, W., Pinhole Photography from Small- to Large-Scale.
Undergraduate Research Conference, Indiana University Kokomo,Abstract with Program.

Collections
MFA Printmaking Archives, Indiana University
Indiana University Art Museum, "family weave"

Current Projects

2006-2008: Project Director, The Sudanese Rebaba Project.  Multimedia body of work building  rebabas, using wood, goatskin, and metal, and documenting the making process with video, audio, pinhole, and digital photography. Artist Partnership with Sudanese artists, Lauri Twitchell, Peter Suchecki, Jessica Droppo. Support from the Brabson Library and Education Foundation grant, 2007-2008.

2006-2007: Cities of Refuge instrument building project.  A multimedia body of work using pinhole and digital photography, video, and audio to collect the gestures and sounds of Michael Malik Pac as he makes a rebaba, a stringed instrument that he built and played in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya. Collaboration with Peter Suchecki and Lauri Twitchell.

2003-2007: Cities of Refuge. A multimedia work combining pinhole and straight photography, voice recordings, music, and video. Contributors are women and men from the African-American, African/Brazilian, Sudanese, Hmong, and American cultures. There is a strong emphasis on stories, gesture, tone of voice and invitation within the metaphor of making. In progress.

2001-2006: birthright. Collaboration with composer Michael Mattner. A multimedia work that addresses how women pass on information by means of gesture, tone of voice, and story-telling, using cookbooks as a metaphor for making. The five-part piece includes original music, voice recordings, pinhole photography, and silver photography. VHS/DVD, and archival pigment prints. In progress.

2001-2004: MFA Technical Thesis, “Indiana University Printmaking Archives: Cataloging and Conservation.”