Jan Kanter (1940-2024) was a Chicago photographer with a special
interest in nature. Although she enjoys city life and
people's activities, most of her images show few signs
of human presence. She travels many miles to find lush
bluestem grasslands, ferny forests, theatrical trees
and rocks, lava fields, and other magical settings.
Some of her photographs show emotional landscapes that
suggest joy, tranquility, desolation, or chaos. Many
are small scenes--chance arrangements of twigs, small
frogs on leaves, water droplets, the shadows of dune
grasses.
In addition to her nature studies, Kanter also loves
the wonderful shapes found at industrial sites, such
as storage tanks, pipes, wiring, walls of windows,
metal catwalks, and other industrial forms. Chicago
has hundreds of interesting bridges, factories, and
other structures that are fun to photograph. And, of
course, there are the fabulous items to be found on
the road--mysterious buildings, prophetic clouds,
amusing signs, and plaster rhinoceroses.
Some of the photographs in this collection are from
Jan Kanter's series "Jewels of the Forest." She
also has worked on several other series, including
"Landscapes of the Mind," "The Poetry of Grass," and
"Ephemera."
