Krista Elrick is a photographer who grew up in both the United States and Guatemala.  Her passion for mixing land conservation with the wisdom of traditional cultures has taken her to sites in Europe and Central America, as well as various watersheds in the United States. Her latest co-edited, Through the Lens: Creating Santa Fe (MNMPress, 2009) received the PubWest Gold Medallion Award (2009).

Currently she is hot on the trail of John James Audubon. Thanks to his pre-civil war journals she is making photographs in the same watersheds where he hunted and painted birds. Avian and human migrations are overlapping themes that motivate her visual exploration.

Prior to that she completed several public art commissions (Phoenix Arts Commission, Seattle Arts Commission) in collaboration with writers, folklorists, and historians.  She holds over a decade of arts management experience (Arizona Commission on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Western States Arts Federation).

Krista received an MFA in Photography from Arizona State University, 1990 (Mark Klett, Bill Jay, James Hajick, William Jenkins; faculty), and BA in Visual Anthropology from Hampshire College, 1980 (Jerome Liebling, Elaine Mayes; faculty).

She offers private workshops in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Her knowledge of photo history and the southwest are highlighted in her books and lectures. 

Public Art Commissions have influenced how Krista works with others in-collaboration.  Her ability to work with a diverse range of artists and citizens offers refreshing professional experience, skills that lead to on-time, on-budget creative community-based projects. 

Arts policy and management:

Visual Arts Director, Western States Arts Federation (1993-1996)
Visual Arts Director, Arizona Commission on the Arts (1988-1993)
Arts Administration Fellow, National Endowment for the Arts (1988)