| Name: Mark C. Klett ’74
Major: Geology
Profession: Photographer, Professor
Home: Tempe, AZ
Combining artistic sensibility and creativity with scientific
training and curiosity has made Mark C. Klett a leading contemporary
voice about the relationship between the human condition and the
Earth’s condition.
Best known as a landscape photographer, Klett was the first geology
major at St. Lawrence to prepare a senior thesis; his topic was “On
the Confluence of Science and Art.” After graduating with
Phi Beta Kappa honors, he worked in the field of geologic mapping
while earning his Master of Fine Arts degree at the State University
of New York at Buffalo and launching his career in the arts.
His first book, Second View: Rephotographic Survey Project,
examined the sights, techniques and artistic intentions of early
landscape photographers of the American West, and brought Klett
national acclaim. Critics have recognized Klett’s sense of
landscape, informed by his knowledge of geologic origins and of
historical photography, a sense that has prompted his biographer
to suggest that Klett is the successor to the renowned Ansel Adams.
Klett’s innumerable exhibitions and seven books have commanded
critical and popular recognition.
Klett is not satisfied with merely creating art; he holds the prestigious
position of Regents Professor at Arizona State University . His colleagues
describe his teaching as “infectious with enthusiasm, inspiring,
exciting, rigorous, and uncompromising.”
|