ABOUT

“I seek to create work that stirs an awakening, rouses an exhilaration, or conjures a memory.”

Collette LaRue (b. 1963) is a photographer based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. After raising four children and transitioning out of a communications career, she called upon her childhood aspirations to reimagine her life. LaRue is in pursuit of a dual degree program at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in Photography and Spanish.

Living at the edge of Great Lakes waters, LaRue captures the lush sensations, creature inhabitants and delicate flora fostered by the cool climes. Additionally, she seeks photographic themes where knowledge of the Spanish language and various cultures inform her sensibilities and aesthetic approach.

In Aug, 2023, LaRue curated and hosted her solo exhibition Watermarks, a visual study of the conservation history of the Green Bay Estuary. In 2022-23, she participated as artist and coordinator for The Flow Project, an initiative that unites University of Wisconsin student artists and faculty water specialists. Her current long term projects include a photographic survey of Green Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), the largest freshwater estuary in the world, and a collaborative visual study of interlanguage theory.

 In 2021, LaRue presented her first solo exhibition, Conservation Works. Additionally she has exhibited at The Griffin Museum of Photography, The Trout Museum of Art, newARTSpace, UW-Madison, and Lenscratch, among others.

LaRue is a recipient of University of Wisconsin–Green Bay Cofrin Research Grants in 2020 and 2021, and the Jerry Dell Award in 2022.