Nestled into the landscape and displayed inside the farmhouse gallery, more than 20 of Laurie Tennent’s large-scale photographs create a dialogue between photography, sculpture, and the natural environment. Brightly illuminated blooms, buds, leaves, and branches emerge out of an inky black ground in heightened detail and vivid color, transforming botanical imagery into sculptural form. Graceful stems dance and sway, with Trichostigma spiraling into organic coils and Delphinium stretching to soaring heights. Chardonnay grapevine tendrils curl, Dogwood blossoms embrace one another, and feathery Clematis Achenes appear to drift on a soft breeze. With the eye of a scientist and the creative spirit of a poet, Laurie isolates and magnifies the structural complexity of plant life, revealing intricate cellular patterns, fractal geometries, and subtle organic architectures often overlooked in everyday experience. 

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Based in Michigan, Laurie received her BFA from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, and has maintained a professional photography practice for more than three decades. Her photographs are held in significant public and private collections including the Detroit Institute of Arts, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Kresge Foundation, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Garden, and the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum and the Morton Arboretum. Laurie’s work has been exhibited internationally and is currently included in the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program, with exhibitions presented in Belgium and at NATO Headquarters. 

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“My large-scale botanical works bring the viewer up close to the design and architecture of plant life - expressing strength and fragility, encouraging interaction with simple, often sensual, powerful beauty. The intention of this work is to have people take pause when confronted with details they may often overlook, hopefully experiencing a reconnection with nature.”