About Us
Photoworks is a vibrant and unique resource for photographers. Our philosophy is simple: Creative dialogue with fellow photographers, an intimate learning environment, and outstanding faculty are the ingredients for creative growth.
Our Mission
Fifty years ago, in a derelict building hidden among the abandoned amusement park rides of Glen Echo Park, four young photographers founded Photoworks with little more than a shared passion for the daily work of seeing, shooting, and printing images of lasting beauty and artistic integrity. The day-to-day collaboration, creative dialogue, and informal mentoring that led those artists to successful careers as fine art and commercial photographers established the values of experimentation and collegiality that define Photoworks today.
Offering a diverse combination of educational programs, gallery exhibitions, and community initiatives, Photoworks is a vibrant and unique resource for student and professional photographers – an arts community in the very best sense of the word.
Meet Our Team
Karen Keating
Executive Director
Earning an MFA in photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Karen combines teaching photography at the Field School, directing and teaching at Photoworks and practicing fine art photography in the documentary style.
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Gayle Rothschild
Board President
Gayle Rothschild is an award winning photographer and educator. Gayle’s career as a fine art photographer began as a student at Photoworks in 1978. She earned an MFA degree from the University of Maryland and began her teaching career at Photoworks in 1983. She has been Exhibitions Director of Photoworks Gallery since 2003.
Gayle's work is found in the collections of the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas and the Corcoran Museum of Art, Washington, DC, as well as in many private collections. She has exhibited nationally in numerous group and solo exhibitions. Winner of the Park View Artist Award 2019 in the GEPPAC Labor Day Art Show.
Amy Walker
Treasurer
Amy recently retired as the Director of Finance and Operations at The Siena School in Silver Spring, MD. In addition to her long career in business and finance, Amy worked as an event and portrait photographer after completing the professional program at The Washington School of Photography in 2003.
Liana Bernstein
Social Media Coordinator
Past photography student of Photoworks' Executive Director Karen Keating, Liana hails from Arlington, VA. As Social Media Coordinator she is passionate about creating engaging and thoughtfully-crafted social content. She is a mixed-media artist and yoga teacher.
Sophie McDowell
Marketing Director
Sophie is from Washington, D.C. and currently resides in Central Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She leads communication, marketing, and volunteer efforts at Photoworks. She is a woodcut printmaker and singer-songwriter.
Mac Cosgrove-Davies
Handmade Photo Lead
Mac teaches Historic Photo Processes at Photoworks and runs the Handmade Photo Group that meets on Monday nights. Mac is a self-taught photographer who since 1978 has been practicing historic photographic processes including gum bichromate, cyanotype, VanDyke, palladium, oil printing, and carbon printing. Mac’s images are inspired by his extensive travel to developing countries as well as everyday life in Arlington, VA and elsewhere.
Carolina Zumaran-Jones
Board Member
Carolina retired from a 45-year career in the fields of international education, cultural exchanges and corporate fundraising. She worked overseas for international organizations including USAID, USIS, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, as well as Washington, D.C. based non-profit organizations such as the American Association of Community Colleges, Center for Policy Alternatives and the League of Women Voters. More recently, she served for three terms as Council member at the Village of Friendship Heights in Chevy Chase, MD
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Donnamaria Jones
Board Member
Donnamaria is a published, award-winning portrait photographer based in the Washington DC-Maryland-Virginia area and has exhibited both locally and internationally. She joined the military in 1983 and has served both in the United States Army and Air Force for a combined total of 28 years.
Donnamaria has loved photography since childhood. From her early days in the military, she photographed family, friends, and colleagues just as a hobby. In 2012, she opened her first studio part time, and in 2014, she committed to the full time operation of Circa Life Images Studio.
Sebastian Hesse Kastien
Board Member
Sebastian has been a (photo) journalist for over 35 years. In addition to his job in the news business he continuously works on long term documentary projects. Sebastian has published four photo books and his images have been in newspapers and magazines. For some time now he has worked with historic photographic processes.
On his own work: I'm less interested in single images and putting photographs on a wall. I prefer storytelling with images and making them accessible in books. Photo books are the most democratic way to share photographic work: affordable, sustainable and accessible everywhere!
Scott Davis
Board Member
A Washington, DC based large format photographer specializing in the DC streetscape, portraiture and the human figure, working in antique and historic processes. I offer classes in large format photography, platinum/palladium printing, gum bichromate printing, portraiture, studio lighting and photographing the human figure.
Chip Kahn
Board Member
Chip does street photography in his free time and his work has been displayed in a number of juried exhibitions. He also has had solo shows at Photoworks at Glen Echo in Maryland and Studio A in Washington, DC. Professionally, he is President and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals. Prior to joining the Federation, he spent many years serving as a professional staffer in the US Senate and House of Representatives and working for the health insurance industry. In his forty-plus year career in Washington he has played a role in much of the federal health care delivery and financing policymaking over that time.
Photoworks at Glen Echo Park is supported in part by funding from the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County, the Department of Commerce Maryland State Arts Council, and from patrons of Photoworks. If you would like to make a donation to support Photoworks please visit this link.
