Marna Clarke-Bark: Photographic Close-ups of Trees

Clarke’s sensual absrtact images reveal themselves to be close-ups of the naturally rich-toned and patterned bark of madrone, plane, eucalyptus and manzanita trees.

Clarke began photographing in 1973 while living in New York City, married with two small sons.  A B&W Kodak ad had inspired her to look differently at the world around her.  She bought a 35mm SLR camera and began educating herself with classes and exhibitions. “At night I would turn my kitchen into a darkroom and stay up very late to watch the magic of photochemistry turn my observations into silver images.”  Later in Hartford, CT, she had a legitimate darkroom and her work unfolded into exhibitions, professional photography for events, portraits, magazine work and architecture/interior design documentation and advertising.

Now a resident of Inverness, Clarke took a long sabbatical from photography to travel and ended up living in California and creating a new body of work.