Ann Chwatsky is known as a photographer and an educator. For many years she taught at New York University. In addition, from 1987 to 1997 she was the Director of the Master Workshop in Art at Southampton College, Long Island University. She has been a Visiting Artist in colleges as diverse as Oklahoma State University to the University of Patagonia Argentina, from the New School in New York City to Universities in Moscow, Kyiv, Bejing, and Korea. Ann has co-led the PHOTOGRAPHY AS ART/CHINA program at New York University. Presently Ann was a member of the NYU Faculty developing the Arts Curriculum for the forthcoming NYU Campus in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Her publications include the book, FOUR SEASONS OF SHAKER LIFE, text by Gerald Wertkin, and photos by Ann Chwatsky, which was published by Simon and Schuster and tells the story of the last remaining Shakers of the Sabbathday Lake Community, Maine. Her other book is THE MAN IN THE STREET, forward by Pete Hamil, with photos and interviews by Ann Chwatsky. This work is concerned with the physicality of labor. The viewer experiences the sensuous variety of men. Later projects include a black and white series on ANDROGYNY, the blending of the genders and digital montage pieces which are narrative in nature, a series of INTERIOR LANDSCAPES, large Iris Digital prints called WHEN I WAS A GIRL………(such as WHEN I WAS A GIRL, I WAS ALWAYS HIDING) and continuing her interest in combining imagery and words, CURTAIN series. Her photographs are included in other book collections, such as WORKING WOMEN, PREGNANCY, and other titles. Chwatsky’s most recent work is SOLAR SERIES, photographs on canvas with text reflecting interest in myths and ideas about what is “out there.”
Photographs by Ann Chwatsky have been exhibited widely in galleries and museums in New York City, the Hamptons, Texas, and California. Abroad all the projects have been shown in galleries in Argentina, London, Prague, Russia, and China. Her photographs were in the Seoul Photo Triennale. In addition, her commercial assignments have been published in Newsweek, Newsday, New York Times, Esquire, Glamour, and many other publications. Her photographs are in many collections here and abroad such as the Forbes Collection, NYC, The Bass Museum of Art, FLA., The Susan Rothenberg Collection, the Greater Lafayette Museum of Art, Nassau County Museum of Art, and the Patagonia Museum of Art, Argentina.
She was recently appointed the honorary vice president of the Association of Women Artists. She was the Chair of the Northeast Region of the Society for Photographic Education. Past awards have been the Leica Award and the Kodak Photographers Award. A Polaroid Grant and a Eastman Grant and a Suffolk County Historical Grant were also received. She completed a Jentel Artist Residency which she was awarded where her projects on the land continued with a series entitled, THE SKY IS FALLING. Recent Exhibits include: Puck Building, NYC, and WHEN I WAS A GIRL…., Hampshire College Gallery, Amherst, MA…CROSSING THE ATLANTIC…Uneasy Spaces, New York City and London, UK. And the ANDROGYNY series was on exhibit at the Dimbola Museum, UK., and at the Hillwood Museum, Greenvale, NY.