Artist Bio
Tori Gagne was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She holds a BFA in Fine Art Photography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Her love of photography began in grade school working with a pinhole camera and developing film in the darkroom in her family home. She was deeply influenced by her mother and brother who were both professional photographers. Her retired off-the-track thoroughbred, Glacier Point, has led her into the magical world of the horse and to devote much of her work to equine subjects. Tori has a special affinity for wild horses and is happiest on a dirt road in the western states seeking herds to photograph. Her photography also takes her to wild horse sanctuaries in the United States as well as locations around the world.
Through her imagery, Tori hopes to educate and inspire others to take an interest in the plight of wild horses. Pressure from ranching, politics, invasive plant species, mineral and water rights, land development and conservation continues to threaten their freedom on our shared public lands.
Tori strives to create expressive images that find grace within small details. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and has received international awards for her work. Her photographs are held in private collections including Aspen, Bozeman, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Park City, Red Lodge, MT., Santa Fe, Santa Barbara, Snowmass, St Paul, Sun Valley, Nashville, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Pennsylvania, Wayzata MN, Whitefish,MT., Montreal, Toronto, Queensland, Athens and others.
The artist currently resides in her hometown of Orono, MN.
10% of the proceeds from Tori’s equine work is donated to organizations involved in protecting wild horse populations in the western U.S.
My off-the-track thoroughbred, Glacier Point, is a grandson of Secretariat and mostly retired, but where I get my 'horse fix' on a regular basis.
Recent Exhibitions and Awards
Solo Exhibitions
2023-’24 (upcoming) exhibition Minneapolis International Airport
2022 Art Santa Fe
2017-2018 Lipton Fine Arts Ketchum, Idaho ‘Art of Equus’ Contemporary Photographs
Group Exhibitions
2023 Radius Gallery Missoula, MT. Holiday Small Print Exhibition and Sale
2023 Texas Photographic Society Members Show , January 19-March 11. Center for Contemporary Art Abilene, TX. Juried by Keith Carter
2022 Save Our Wild Horse and Wild Life on America’s Western Lands Wasington, DC.
2022 Winter group show Burnet Fine Art and Advisory Wayzata, MN
2022 LA Art Fair January
2021 Gallerie Valid Photo Awards Show Barcelona December
2021 Praxis Gallery Animal Beings Juried by Laura Valenti
2021 SE Center for Photography Fauna Juried by Carol Erb
2020 Fresh a Summer Selection Burnet Fine Fine Art and Advisory Wayzata, MN 2020 Minnesota State Fair Art Fair St Paul, MN
2019 Studio Gallerie B&B Paris, France Group Show Elise Prudhomme Juror
2019 A Smith Gallery Johnson City, TX ‘Botanical’ Wendi Schneider Juror
2019 Julia Margaret Cameron Awards Show Barcelona, Galerie Valid Foto 2019 Let's Go 2 Burnet Fine Art and Advisory Wayzata, MN
Awards
2023 Julia Margaret Cameron Awards Honorable Mention Fine Art Series
2023 reFocus Awards Awards Nominee for Landscape and Wild Life Categories
2022 International Color Awards Honorable Mention and 5 Nominations
2021 Black and White Spider Awards Nominee In Fine Art, Wild Life Categories
2021 Julia Margaret Cameron Awards 2nd Place Culture and Daily Life Plus 3 Honorable Mentions in Nature People and Open Theme
2021 Siena Creative Photography Awards Short List for images from Songs of the Trees Series
2021 International Color Awards Honorable Mention in Wildlife and Americana Categories with several other images receiving nominations.
2020 Julia Margaret Cameron Awards Honorable Mention in Alternative Process, Fine Art , Nature and Open Theme categories for Wild Horse and Tree Series. Elizabeth Avedon Juror
2019 Julia Margaret Cameron Awards Honorable Mention Elizabeth Biondi juror
2019 Feature Shoot grant awarded for work with wild horse photography at Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary and Conservation
