Awaiting further input from me,
my beloved stepson and intrepid webmaster writes:
Laurie Hatch has been Laurie Hatch longer than anyone else in the business.
Her parents remember fondly that she has wanted to be herself since early childhood.
Her entire career has been fully focused on realizing this dream,
and those in the know feel strongly that she has entirely succeeded.
IN DEPTH:
Laurie Hatch was born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho in 1952. She studied fine art, ceramics, and music at Eastern Washington University and Fort Wright College in Spokane during the 1970's. She was involved in founding The Spokane Studio School, and subsequently continued art studies at the University of Washington. Her wheel thrown miniature Limoges porcelain vessels and objet d'art dating from that period are found in numerous private and public collections throughout the United States and abroad. Pursuing dual careers during the 70's and 80's, she also performed with various jazz and contemporary music ensembles throughout the greater Seattle and Puget Sound region, playing electric fretless five string bass and other instruments.
Hatch transitioned to photography in the early 1990’s after moving to the University of California’s Lick Observatory, where she lived for 17 years. The people, domes and telescopes, as well as expansive 360º views of Silicon Valley, San Francisco Bay, and the Western Sierra Nevada inspired and motivated her to apply her background in art to record this uncommon place. By invitation of University of California Observatories in 2007, Laurie made two expeditions to Maunakea to photograph Keck Observatory. At present, Laurie and her husband Rem Stone (UC Research Astronomer, retired) enjoy exploring both the Western and Eastern Sierra. Laurie continues to photograph Lick Observatory (she says it will always feel like “home”!), as well as the Alabama Hills and Mount Whitney, where stark, monumental scenery and brilliant night skies ignite her photographic passion.
Global science communities and publishers use Laurie’s photographs to educate and inform students, astronomers and other scientists, and the general public. Her work appears in textbooks, picture books, magazines, institutional and museum displays, documentaries, websites and online courses, as well as being featured in several art exhibitions (see selected Bibliography below).
"Even the habitually frivolous become thoughtful when they enter the presence of the Great Telescope."
Lick Observatory Astronomer James Edward Keeler in The Engineer, 1888 July 6
ARTIST'S PERSONAL STATEMENT: Eggs and Drapery
"I first arrived at Lick Observatory in the spring of 1993 to join my astronomer beau. Mount Hamilton would become my home and photographic subject for the next 17 years. I had a small telescope as a child and had taken an astronomy class in college while studying music and art, but had never visited a world class Observatory. The rounded telescope domes were different sizes, a mix of silver and white, and constructed in clean architectural styles and materials that spanned a century. They were clustered on the summit like eggs in a rocky nest. The first exercise in my 1970’s college beginning drawing class immediately came to mind. Near a softly lit window, our instructor had placed a handful of hen’s eggs in the folds of a cotton drape, white on white. Easy, I thought, with freshman naiveté. But I struggled to translate the seemingly simple, yet agonizingly complex shapes and subtle shadows onto a flat sheet of paper (and I'm not talking about realism, but rather essence). We worked on the deceptive still life study for a week, barely long enough to comprehend the real lesson: this was a life’s work. Decades later, the task continues through the lens of a camera with every frame, independent of location and subject. The fundamental question is ever present: How does one communicate the essence of ‘eggs and drapery’— capturing light and shadow on sensuous forms and shapes, deciding how best to authentically transmit the experience of being here in this place, in this moment?"
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
These Observatory and night sky photographs are widely used by the global astronomy community in educating students and young scientists. The images are located in private and public collections, and are reproduced world-wide in programs, publications, and displays:
TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
"Restoring the James Lick Portrait"
2008 Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton CA
"The Ruddy Planet with a Ruddy Old Telescope"
2009 International Workshop on One Century of Mars Observations, Paris/Meudon France
"Hōkūpaʻa • Polaris"
2014 Gallery B "72 Grams Per Pixel" Photographic Exhibition, Bethesda MD
"Mountains I Have Known: A Photographic Journey Through Art, Astronomy, and Place"
2016 Community of Digital Artists, Scotts Valley CA
2017 Los Gatos Saratoga Camera Club, Saratoga CA
2018 Santa Cruz Astronomy Club, Santa Cruz CA
2018 Peninsula Astronomical Society, Mountain View CA
2018 San José Astronomical Association, San José CA
INSTITUTIONAL DISPLAYS
Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles
Hancock Historical Museum, Findlay Ohio
Houston Museum of Natural Science
Keck Center at the National Academies
Maryland Science Center, Baltimore
Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas
Royal Observatory Greenwich
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
University of California Campuses
VIDEO PRESENTATIONS, COURSES, DOCUMENTARIES, AND PROGRAMS
Chesley Bonestell: A Brush With The Future | Bonus Feature
Discovery Channel
History Channel
KQED-PBS Quest
PBS-Nova
Royal Observatory Greenwich
Space Telescope Science Institute's ViewSpace
Teaching Company's The Great Courses
WGBH-PBS
PUBLICATIONS AND PERIODICALS (print and online)
AAA Via Magazine
Academia
Astronomy Magazine
Astronomy Now Online
Bild Der Wissenschaft
Daily Californian
Focus Magazine
Gizmodo Brasil
Gizmodo UK
Laminutelnfo
Le Scienze
Metro Bay Area
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
National Geographic
Nature
Nature UK
Optics & Photonics News
Physics Today
Phys.org
Radcliffe Quarterly
San Diego Metropolitan
Science Journal AAAS
Scientific American
Sky and Telescope
Smithsonian Air & Space
Smithsonian Magazine
Space.com
Stardate Magazine
Sunset Magazine
Tech Explorist
The Engineer
Time Magazine
Universe Today
Wired
Yahoo Tech
ASTRONOMY, ASTROPHYSICS, and SCIENCE PUBLISHERS
Australian Council for Educational Research
Bonnier
CRC Press
Dorling Kindersley
Freeman/Worth
Harcourt
Institute of Physics LAB-AIDS
Macmillan Learning
McGraw Hill
Norton
Oxford University Press
Pearson
Phaidon Press
Rokus Klett Publishing
Royal Observatory Greenwich
Springer
Sterling
Taylor & Francis
Tessloff
Trinity
University of California Berkeley
University of California Publications
University of California San Diego
World Book
World Science
SELECTED WEBSITES AND BLOGS
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
Chabot Space & Science Center
EarthSky
Gizmodo
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
io9
Lick Observatory
Physics.org
Royal Observatory Greenwich
Smithsonian Off The Road
SPIE_International Society for Optics and Photonics
Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory
University of California
University of California Observatories
W. M. Keck Observatory
Yale Exoplanets
EMAIL: info@lauriehatch.com WEBSITE: www.lauriehatch.com
