Ivana D. George is an interdisciplinary artist working with photography and mixed media. Her artwork originates from a conviction that great art not only is visually compelling but that it should also have a subject matter, a meaning, and an inspirational purpose in addition to the aesthetic value. She is passionate about exploring the relationship between humanity and the natural world, informed by her ethics of environmental stewardship. Her artwork is the manifestation of George’s love of exploration and learning. She takes on various roles such as gardener, mountain climber, investigator, and environmental activist in order to explore and learn. In her art she shares her discoveries, insights and observations.

Her early life experiences influence the artworks she creates today. Throughout her childhood she was exposed to rural and urban agriculture in her father’s backyard. This upbringing connected her to the seasons and an awareness of growing and eating seasonal healthy food. She developed a sense of enjoyment in nurturing life from small seeds to plants or baby chicks to adult chickens. This connectedness to the cycles of life contributed to her developing environmental ethics. George’s parents encouraged her involvement in civic life and she was active in several environmental issues. George raised money to create the Children’s Forest preserve in Costa Rica, planted trees in a massive tree planting campaign on Mount Mitchell in western North Carolina, and she led a youth weekly letter writing campaign to state senators on environmental issues. She continues her civic involvement by volunteering for the Bridgewater State University community garden, which provides food free through the campus food bank.

George’s creative influences are varied. She holds a M.F.A. degree from the joint program of The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Tufts University and a B.F.A. degree in Art with minor in Theater from Guilford College. Her educational background in visual art, technical theater, acting, video and performance art influences her approach to conceiving her artworks. As an artist who uses lens based imaging, her aesthetic is one of carefully constructing an image rather than taking a picture. She manipulates lens-based media to construct a metaphor, idea or expression in her work Visual influences from art styles as diverse as ancient Greek, Italian Baroque, Dutch still life, Surrealism, Pictorialism, and Dada can be seen in her work. She has exhibited in over 50 national juried and invitational exhibitions including Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Lens Culture Online, Flash Forward Photography Festival, The Griffin Museum, Newspace Center for Photography, Soho Photo Gallery, Dallas Video Festival, Junction Arts Festival and the Danforth Museum. Her work has been featured in solo and two person exhibitions at Panopticon Gallery, Contemporary Art Center in Las Vegas, Fort Point Gallery in Boston, Tower Hill Botanic Garden and Bridgewater State University. She has completed a fellowship residency at the Vermont Studio Residency Center. Her work has been written about in Orion Magazine, the Boston Globe, New England’s Bay Windows, the Las Vegas Sun, Atlanta’s Creative Loafing as well as several blogs. She is an Associate Professor of Art at Bridgewater State University (Massachusetts, USA), where she teaches black and white analog photography, historical photo processes, digital photography, audio, video, and environmental stewardship.