Chuck Davis
— Bio / CV

Chuck Davis, b. 1954.

Independent curator and photographer based in the Ozarks. A practice in large format film, 3D stereo, and wet plate collodion — kept by hand.

Portrait · Detlef Körtge / epigramstudios

— Biography

Working in the Ozarks, Chuck Davis (he/him/his) is an independent curator and photographer — a visual artist whose work critically observes Ozark history and the adjacent lands once described as Indian Territory. Of Indigenous and European descent, Chuck’s message traverses inter-generational tensions of both new and Native residents.

Chuck Davis (b. 1954) earned a BAFA in History of Photography from the University of New Mexico, and an MFA in Visual Arts from Lesley Art + Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He studied Photojournalism at the University of Missouri, earning a B.A. with Honors. After completing a residency at Casa Ranzini in São Paulo, Brazil in 2019, he was awarded an Arkansas Arts Humanity Grant in 2022 and an Art + Everywhere Grant in 2024.

He received a stipend award in 2021 and his work entered the permanent collection of the Regional Art Museum (RAM) in Fort Smith, Arkansas. In 2025 he exhibited at MASS MoCA while on retreat, and was in residency at Gallery RAG in Gloucester, Massachusetts. His next solo exhibit is at Mount Sequoyah, Fayetteville AR, during November and December 2025. He has just been awarded an Arkansas Individual Fellowship grant for Community Arts Engagement.

— Education

BA — Photojournalism, University of Missouri, Columbia

1975

BAFA — History of Photography, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

1982

MFA — Art Institute of Boston / Lesley Art + Design

2019

— Residencies

Casa Ranzini — São Paulo, Brazil

2019

Al Capp's Home — Cambridge, MA

2018 & 2019

MASS MoCA — North Adams, MA · Art + Everywhere Retreat

2025

Gallery RAG — Gloucester, MA

2025

— Exhibition history & arts engagement

2017 — 2026.

By year · selected
2026
  • Small Works On Paper
  • AR Heritage / Arkansas Arts Council — travel exhibition
  • AR Heritage / Arkansas Arts Council — travel exhibition
2025
  • Roots / Wings
  • MASS MoCA, North Adams MA
  • Curator: Naima White
  • Living Image 2024 / 2025
  • Halide Project, Philadelphia
  • Juror: Adam Finkelston
  • Love Wins
  • Fenix Arts, Fayetteville AR
  • Curator: Laurie Foster
  • Exploring the Inevitable — The Art of Dying
  • Fenix Arts, Fayetteville AR
  • Curator: Laurie Foster
  • 10th Anniversary Show
  • Local Color Gallery, Fayetteville AR
  • Trace Light
  • Gallery RAG, Gloucester MA
  • Curator: Tracy Hayes · with Rocky Neck residency
  • 3D Gallery Artist
  • 3D-Con, National Stereoscopic Association, MN
  • Contemporary Daguerrotypes
  • Daguerreian Society Symposium, Hartford CT
  • Individual Artist Fellowship — Community Art Engagement
  • Arkansas Arts Council
  • Awarded October 2025
  • Our Art, Our Region, Our Time (4th Annual)
  • Alexander Gallery / Porter Art Warehouse, Fayetteville AR
  • Hand Prints at SPIVA
  • Beshore Gallery, Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin MO
  • Curator: Adam Finkelston · also published in The Hand, Issue 50
  • Ozark Giraffes at Mt. Sequoyah
  • Mt. Sequoyah Hall Gallery, Fayetteville AR
  • Solo exhibition
2024
  • Innovation Grant — Ozark Giraffe
  • Art + Everywhere
  • Distant Dialogues
  • Distant Dialogues
  • Float Magazine
  • Honorable Mention
  • Your Daily Photograph — Keetoowah Elder
  • Photogravure (Artist Proof)
  • 9th Anniversary Show
  • Local Color Gallery, Fayetteville AR
  • Cambridge Art National Show
  • Cambridge MA
  • Juror: Ben Sloat
  • Healing Waters & Segregated Springs
  • 3D-Con 2024, Wichita KS — presenter
  • Word Play
  • Fenix Arts, Fayetteville AR
  • Curator: Susan Idlet
  • Nexus of Northwest Arkansas
  • Fayetteville Public Library
  • Curator: Susan Idlet
  • Ozark Giraffe — Beyond a Home's Walls
  • Two-person fence wall exhibit with Mario Quiroz
  • Surreality
  • Fenix Arts, Fayetteville AR
  • Curator: Zeek Taylor
  • Current Works 2024
  • Leedy Volkus Gallery, Kansas City MO
  • Juror: Adam Finkelston
2023
  • Art + Everywhere
  • VanDernoot Gallery, Cambridge MA — Lesley A+D 20th Anniversary
  • Magnificent Monochromes
  • Sage Gallery, Sheridan WY
  • Curator: Keith Davis
  • Les Femmes Fâchées: Angry Women
  • Fenix Arts, Fayetteville AR
  • Curator: Laurie Foster
  • Current Works 2023
  • Albrecht-Kemper Museum, St Joseph MO
  • Juror: Elijah Gowin
  • The Avoidance of Othering — Ozark Giraffes
  • Ozarks Symposium, Missouri State University–West Plains
  • Around Town
  • Local Color Gallery, Fayetteville AR
  • Curator: Alex Cogbill
2022
  • Paper Routes
  • Fenix Arts — collaboration with Simone Wicca (Brazil)
  • The Wheel
  • Martha Jones Gallery, Fort Smith Regional Art Museum (RAM)
  • Solo · Stipend Grant + Lecture Series
  • PhotoSpiva
  • Spiva Arts Center, Joplin MO
  • Jurors: Eric & Erin Dodson
  • A Sense of Place
  • Fenix Arts, Fayetteville AR
  • Curator: Laurie Foster
  • Light Sensitive
  • Art Intersection, Gilbert AZ
  • Juror: Elizabeth Opalenik
  • Our Art, Our Region, Our Time (2nd Annual)
  • Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville AR
2021
  • Exploring Mindscapes
  • Fort Smith Regional Art Museum (RAM)
  • Stipend & Solo Show Award
  • Re-Emergent
  • Mount Sequoyah / Fenix Arts, Fayetteville AR
  • Curator: Laurie Foster
  • Our Art, Our Region, Our Time (1st Annual)
  • Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville AR
  • Fresh From the Studio
  • Fenix Arts, Fayetteville AR
  • Curator: Laurie Foster
  • Día De Los Muertos
  • Mount Sequoyah Creative Spaces, Fayetteville AR
  • Curator: Lourdes Valverde
2020
  • Control
  • Fenix Arts, Fayetteville AR
  • Curator: Ciara Froning
  • Chaos and Confusion
  • Fenix Arts, Fayetteville AR
  • PhotoSpiva
  • Spiva Arts Center, Joplin MO
  • Juror: April Watson
2019
  • Rewilding the Grid
  • Raizes Gallery, Cambridge MA
  • Collaborations and Conversations
  • PROCESS Zine — The Nexus of Northwest Arkansas
  • Cambridge MA — published
  • Collaborations and Conversations
  • Fenix Arts, Fayetteville AR
  • PhotoSpiva
  • Spiva Arts Center, Joplin MO
  • Juror's Stipend Award · Patty Carroll
  • Flagship Heritage Biennial
  • VanDernoot Gallery, Cambridge MA
2018
  • One Year Down
  • New Deal Studios, Little Rock AR
  • Curator: Rachel Trusty
  • Fenix at Nadine Baum
  • Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville AR
  • Delta des Refusés
  • Butler Center, Little Rock AR
2017
  • Listed Artist
  • Arkansas Arts Council
  • Light Sensitive
  • Art Intersection, Gilbert AZ
  • Juror: Ann M. Jastrab
  • The Hand — Halloween 1981
  • Issue 17, July 2017 — published
  • Current Works 2017
  • Mallin & Charno Galleries, Kansas City MO
  • Juror: Keith Davis
  • In Our Natural State
  • Rogers Experimental House, Rogers AR
  • Two-person show with Dan Snow
— Portfolios
Jack — 1976 (portfolio #1)
Biddy — 1978 (portfolio #2)
Halloween — 1981 (portfolio #3, unique chromogenic prints)
Dogpatch — 2017 (Mail Art on DiBond™)
Nexus of Northwest Arkansas — 2019 (Dye Sublimation on Aluminize™)
— Curation
  • 2018
  • Our Natural State
  • Art Center of the Ozarks, Springdale AR
  • Works by 18 national & international artists — including Alec Soth, Mike Disfarmer, Tim Hursley, Sabine Schmidt.
  • 2019
  • Anonymous Women — Patty Carroll
  • Hendrix College, Conway AR
  • 2022
  • The Hand at Fenix Arts
  • Mount Sequoyah, Fayetteville AR
  • Juried with The Hand Magazine.

For studio inquiries,
prints, or curatorial conversations.

Contact the studio →

White Rock Spiral

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 16x20 inches
Edition
Edition of 15
Price
$820

White Rock Mountain Recreational Area offers one of the most stunning panoramas in the Natural State of Arkansas. It was a perfect place for in camera light painting at dusk one evening in 2015.

Inquire
Collect Now

Trail Trees - Hobbs State Park (4 of 4)

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

“In 2017 I worked closely with the largest state park in Arkansas and with several of its Interpreters. Al Knox had made an inventory of Trail Trees, sometimes called Mystery Trees. Of several understandings, these bound and disfigured trees grow in the direction to a source of water, and Interpreter Knox used his water dowsing skills to prove their significance.

To date, I’m the only photographer to ever make a systematic study of Trail Trees at Hobbs State Park.”

Inquire
Collect Now

Trail Trees - Hobbs State Park (3 of 4)

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

In 2017 I worked closely with the largest state park in Arkansas and with several of its Interpreters. Al Knox had made an inventory of Trail Trees, sometimes called Mystery Trees. Of several understandings, these bound and disfigured trees grow in the direction to a source of water, and Interpreter Knox used his water dowsing skills to prove their significance.

To date, I’m the only photographer to ever make a systematic study of Trail Trees at Hobbs State Park.

Inquire
Collect Now

Trail Trees - Hobbs State Park (2 of 4)

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

In 2017 I worked closely with the largest state park in Arkansas and with several of its Interpreters. Al Knox had made an inventory of Trail Trees, sometimes called Mystery Trees. Of several understandings, these bound and disfigured trees grow in the direction to a source of water, and Interpreter Knox used his water dowsing skills to prove their significance.

To date, I’m the only photographer to ever make a systematic study of Trail Trees at Hobbs State Park.

Inquire
Collect Now

Trail Trees - Hobbs State Park (1 of 4)

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

In 2017 I worked closely with the largest state park in Arkansas and with several of its Interpreters. Al Knox had made an inventory of Trail Trees, sometimes called Mystery Trees. Of several understandings, these bound and disfigured trees grow in the direction to a source of water, and Interpreter Knox used his water dowsing skills to prove their significance.

To date, I’m the only photographer to ever make a systematic study of Trail Trees at Hobbs State Park.

Inquire
Collect Now

Mother Road - Stratford, Texas

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

“Travelling Route 66 before Interstates provides me a unique perspective to the Mother Road. I’ve crisscrossed the country on its pavement, stopped at most of its attractions, and lived on the road for several years in downtown Albuquerque near the Kimo Theater. Later, in 2015, Greg Disch and I journeyed with intention to the most colorful and iconic locations. It was fun staying at the Blue Swallow Motel.

A year later, in 2016, I celebrated these images in a solo show in Fayetteville, and in 2021 an image from this series was awarded Best of Show during the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum’s Invitational call for art.”

Inquire
Collect Now

Mother Road - Blue Swallow - Tucumcari, New Mexico

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 16x20 inches
Edition
Edition of 15
Price
$820

“Travelling Route 66 before Interstates provides me a unique perspective to the Mother Road. I’ve crisscrossed the country on its pavement, stopped at most of its attractions, and lived on the road for several years in downtown Albuquerque near the Kimo Theater. Later, in 2015, Greg Disch and I journeyed with intention to the most colorful and iconic locations. It was fun staying at the Blue Swallow Motel.

A year later, in 2016, I celebrated these images in a solo show in Fayetteville, and in 2021 an image from this series was awarded Best of Show during the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum’s Invitational call for art.”

Inquire
Collect Now

Mother Road - Bug Ranch

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

“Travelling Route 66 before Interstates provides me a unique perspective to the Mother Road. I’ve crisscrossed the country on its pavement, stopped at most of its attractions, and lived on the road for several years in downtown Albuquerque near the Kimo Theater. Later, in 2015, Greg Disch and I journeyed with intention to the most colorful and iconic locations. The Slug Bug Ranch outside of Amarillo is a favorite for me, here rendered like a vintage postcard.

A year later, in 2016, I celebrated these images in a solo show in Fayetteville, and in 2021 an image from this series was awarded Best of Show during the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum’s Invitational call for art.”

Inquire
Collect Now

Espanola - New Mexico

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

In 2015, I traveled through northern and southwestern New Mexico with photographer Cleo Wright and poet Keli Wright. Cleo and I later exhibited our images at the John Blatz Gallery on Bentonville Square, alongside Keli’s poems inspired by our journey. My work was also featured in a juried alumni exhibit at Northwest Arkansas Community College.

Espanola, New Mexico has always been an authentic Southwestern community for me, which this image illustrates a brief moment of.

Inquire
Collect Now

Chimayo - New Mexico

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

In 2015, I traveled through northern and southwestern New Mexico with photographer Cleo Wright and poet Keli Wright. Cleo and I later exhibited our images at the John Blatz Gallery on Bentonville Square, alongside Keli’s poems inspired by our journey. My work was also featured in a juried alumni exhibit at Northwest Arkansas Community College.

Santuario de Chimayo is one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in the United States.

Inquire
Collect Now

Bisti - New Mexico - Sunset

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

In 2015, I traveled through northern and southwestern New Mexico with photographer Cleo Wright and poet Keli Wright. Cleo and I later exhibited our images at the John Blatz Gallery on Bentonville Square, alongside Keli’s poems inspired by our journey. My work was also featured in a juried alumni exhibit at Northwest Arkansas Community College.

Santuario de Chimayo is one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in the United States.

Inquire
Collect Now

Bisti - New Mexico - Cliffs

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

In 2015, I traveled through northern and southwestern New Mexico with photographer Cleo Wright and poet Keli Wright. Cleo and I later exhibited our images at the John Blatz Gallery on Bentonville Square, alongside Keli’s poems inspired by our journey. My work was also featured in a juried alumni exhibit at Northwest Arkansas Community College.

We hiked into the De-Na-Zin Wilderness (Bisti) during two days and one long night, capturing the lunar landscape of this federal reserve within Navajo Nation.

Inquire
Collect Now

Bandelier - New Mexico - Black Hands

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 16x20 inches
Edition
Edition of 15
Price
$820

In 2015, I traveled through northern and southwestern New Mexico with photographer Cleo Wright and poet Keli Wright. Cleo and I later exhibited our images at the John Blatz Gallery on Bentonville Square, alongside Keli’s poems inspired by our journey. My work was also featured in a juried alumni exhibit at Northwest Arkansas Community College.

Black Hands was captured inside a kiva, accessible only by a wooden ladder.

Inquire
Collect Now

Sunflowers

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

For several years I shared a studio on Emma Street in Springdale, Arkansas where annually we would setup for a Flowers in the Studio event. These images are my favorites from this period.

Inquire
Collect Now

Chrysanthemum – Color

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

For several years I shared a studio on Emma Street in Springdale, Arkansas where annually we would setup for a Flowers in the Studio event. These images are my favorites from this period.

Inquire
Collect Now

Chrysanthemum – B&W

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

For several years I shared a studio on Emma Street in Springdale, Arkansas where annually we would setup for a Flowers in the Studio event. These images are my favorites from this period.

Inquire
Collect Now

Eureka Springs - Store Front

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 16x20 inches
Edition
Edition of 15
Price
$820

Eureka Springs, Arkansas is a favorite destination of mine due to its diverse community and rich history of natural springs. In 2026, I was in there in residency at Dairy Hollow Artist Colony for ten days.

Inquire
Collect Now

Eureka Springs - Gable

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 16x20 inches
Edition
Edition of 15
Price
$820

Eureka Springs, Arkansas is a favorite destination of mine due to its diverse community and rich history of natural springs. In 2026, I was in there in residency at Dairy Hollow Artist Colony for ten days.

Inquire
Collect Now

Eureka Springs - Ford

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 16x20 inches
Edition
Edition of 15
Price
$820

Eureka Springs, Arkansas is a favorite destination of mine due to its diverse community and rich history of natural springs. In 2026, I was in there in residency at Dairy Hollow Artist Colony for ten days.

Inquire
Collect Now