Jolene Monheim

Photography

I was raised in Missoula, Montana, and I’ve lived throughout the western United States, Alaska, and Mexico before returning to Missoula in 1976 to study art at the University of Montana. After beginning in fine arts, I earned a degree in physical therapy and went on to establish a private practice in Great Falls, Montana, where I worked for 19 years. In 2003, I sold the practice to devote myself fully to my lifelong passion—the visual arts.

I studied fine arts for two years with a focus on painting, and that foundation continues to shape my photography—especially in its sensitivity to light, composition, and aesthetic detail. What began as photographing subjects for use as painting references gradually grew into a profound love for photography itself as a medium offering even greater possibilities for expression.

In 2005, I discovered underwater photography and was immediately captivated by its world of movement, light, and form. Since then, one focus of my work has centered on dancers immersed in water—using only my Canon cameras, Aquatec camera housing, and Photoshop to create images that explore beauty, reflection, harmony, and the profound relationship between body and environment. Dancers, with their extraordinary ability to communicate through movement, have become my primary collaborators. Together, we shape images that honor both their art and mine, revealing the fluid, sculptural possibilities of the human form underwater.

In 2012, my husband and I moved to Medford, Oregon, drawn by the promise of a longer growing season to cultivate a beautiful garden, and the opportunity to engage more deeply with the region’s rich cultural life. That garden soon became a source of inspiration for my still life photography, which draws on the traditions of the 17th-century Dutch Masters in its attention to light, texture, and symbolic detail. Each still life is composed of flowers from my garden, created as a love letter to their fleeting beauty.

Across these varied practices—painting, underwater photography, and still life studies—my work seeks to reveal the threads of beauty, impermanence, and interconnectedness that shape both the natural world and the human spirit.