dennis 'bones' carpenter

Bones Carpenter was born in Meridian, Mississippi and raised in Kentucky. He received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Kentucky in 1972 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in photography from the University of Florida in 1979. He has been a member of the University of Kentucky faculty since 1973 and has taught numerous workshops at Penland School of Crafts and in Europe. He has been an active member of the Society for Photographic Education since 1976, and served on the Board of Directors for eight years, holding the offices of Secretary and Vice-Chair. In 1983, he received an NEA individual artist fellowship and his work has been extensively exhibited in the United States and Europe.

When I started I used to make photographs of things rather than about things

I went from baking bread to building apartments to teaching photography

I liked the idea that one and one could equal three or four instead of two

Revisiting the photographs I make and then exploring the various possibilities by using those in different ways is an important part of my practice

I did work with a large format camera for some time but soon lost interest in that

An accident while working with Polaroid film presented itself with an opportunity

With some of the early digital prints you just got what you got

Nesting and traveling are opposites that we all have