Jill Bedford
Artist Statement: Gardening has been an essential part of my life for as far back as I can remember. In fact, I still can feel the hands of my grandmother guiding my hands as a little girl using my very first Trowel.
In my family, flowers and vegetables were intermixed purposefully in order to follow a more natural path, versus gardens with more traditional mono cultural rows. My grandmother, herself a woman of science, understood that this method caused a wonderful convergence that would not only attract a wider variety of pollinators, it would also have the effect of confusing and warding off harmful insects. The result: flowers and fruits of amazing varieties, colors and scents.
As a child, I also lived in Puerto Rico, where I had the opportunity to explore nature paths that wove through the nearby rainforest. Under its lush canopy I became fully enchanted by the flowers being visited by special pollinators that included hummingbirds and butterflies. All of these experiences led me to the sciences at UW-Madison where I studied Botany and Horticulture with a strong emphasis on the native origins of plants and the pollinators that are critical to their perpetuation.
Before becoming a photographer, I attempted to portray the beauty of flowers through painting, but soon realized that photographic film better satisfied my goals. In fact, all of my compositions were photographed before digital cameras existed, using medium-format (2 1/4”) film and a my beloved Mamiya RZ-67 portrait camera.
The resulting compositions you see in my portfolio are created by collecting flowers from my wild gardens and from happenstance treasures I find in nature. As I create each composition, my goal is to capture a moment in time where I am trying my best to bring a multi-dimensional world into a two dimensional photograph, hoping it successfully translates the essence of wonder to the viewer.
My science-based focus continues on today through my work with The Nature Conservancy, in addition to local area Land Trusts dedicated to preserving ecologically significant lands.
If you’re interested in learning about what’s inside my two compositions, just click here:
What’s Inside: Still Life with Melon
Grapes and Still Life with Melon were acquired in 2025 and are located outside of the Carnegie Room.