Continuing Education + Community Outreach

Courses  Digital Color | Digital Photo Imaging I | Image, Narrative, & Sequence | Image, Narrative, and Sequence | Photo: Alternative Processes | Visual Organization & Media

Professor of Photography and Digital Imaging at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Toles has contributed in her field as an arts educator for over two decades. Recognized for her development of experimental processes related to high-voltage photographic imagery, she is an inventive contributor in her field. Her work can be located in collections nationally, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, First National Collection in Chicago, State of Illinois, State of Florida. Her work has been published in the US, Japan and Germany. Exhibitions include the Corcoran Gallery, Washington D.C, Boston Photographic Resource Center, SPACES Gallery, MOCA-Cleveland, and the Kohler, Akron, Cleveland, Columbus, and Grand Rapids Art Museums. Current work engages digital print technologies with early nineteenth century photography and optics, often combining photographic images with sculptural components. She creates digital negatives from an assortment of optical equipment and inventions, coupling these with unique alternative processes for both chemical and digital output. Inspired by her experiences in Provence, heart of photography’s early inventions, with a love of art, science, and critical thinking, she is an alchemist among photographers, with a desire to engage the multidisciplinary scope and interconnections inherent in this media.

Prof. Toles is a recipient of Ohio, Florida and Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships and National Endowment for the Humanities project grant. She represented the state of Ohio as an Artist in Residence at Cimelice, in the Czech Republic.

Degree BFA in Photography and Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art, and MFA degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.