Reviews
“Monnelly beautifully captures the spacious tranquility of her subject in images of a single oak leaf lying on a round mass of rough grasses near the rippling stillness of a tidal stream…. But her eye extends beyond nature documentation to more painterly, abstract visions: the grainy rhythms of wave-washed sand at Crane Beach and huge tree shadows falling across partly melted and powdery snow.” –Publisher’s Weekly, Book Review
“As a native of Ipswich, Massachusetts, Monnelly executes her work with a familiarity and grace evocative of Ansel Adams.” –Barnes and Noble, Book Review
”Dorothy Kerper Monnelly has carved out a unique niche for herself, what might be called ethical landscape photography."
"Monnelly has a rare sense and perception of what I think of as the thoroughness of place, knowing the Great Marsh and its nuances intimately…”
"There is a difference between being clever and being great. This body of work transcends technique…she helps us to see, inspires us, and encourages us to find joy in our own environment…" –Jeanne Falk Adams, Curator, CEO (ret.) Ansel Adams Gallery
"You are the Ansel Adams of the wetlands. You are the peer of Frans Lanting, the Ansel Adams of the tropical forest." –Edward. O. Wilson, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University
“Prints by Monnelly, hung together, feature similar radiating patterns seen in kelp and sand, for example. Swirls of foam …, which call to mind a black-and-white interpretation of van Gogh's Starry Night. … Her series of ice patterns illuminates the fragility and ephemeral life of the thin layer of ice briefly visible before it's covered by snow.” –Tampa Bay News, Lennie Bennett, Times Art Critic
“Monnelly's nuanced studies of the sprawling marshlands along the Massachusetts coast also get their moment in the sun, working together in a way that gives each successive glimpse of creeping tides, stranded islands of pine and textured expanses of wind- and water-blown salt-marsh grasses a noticeably cumulative impact. In "Stillness at Dawn," "Long and Hog Islands, Moonrise" and "Great Blue Heron, Sunrise," in particular, the water, mist and landscape forms combine to create a world that seems timeless and primeval.” —Mark St. John Erickson, Daily Press
“The depth of field in Monnelly’s photos, coupled with the captured detail – a great blue heron skimming across the marsh, early-morning mist smoking from the water; the droplets on a lily pad, marsh grass reflected in the calm water, towering; the interplay of stone shape and shadow; swirling, psychedelic air pockets of white against a background of black ice – attract the viewer with natural beauty and then grab hold, as if on the cusp of explaining or a least glimpsing creation.” –Dan Mac Alpine, Ipswich Chronicle
"She has captured this world in imagery as indelible as that of any landscape photographer working today…With patience and sensitivity, in panaroma and close-up, Monnelly has crafted an exquisite portrait of an underappreciated world." –Doug Stewart, Writer for Smithsonian, Time and other magazines
"Your sense of landscape, the way you frame and bring it back to us, is remarkable. The contours in every photograph- that's what engages the eye. Curve and whorl of dune, sweep and dance of grasses, islands, in the fog… And the reflections and shadows are remarkable…Now I know this place" –Carl Little, Author and poet, reviews and articles in Art in America and Art New England
“Monnelly's nuanced studies also get their moment in the sun, working together in a way that gives each successive glimpse of creeping tides, stranded islands of pine and textured expanses of wind-and-water-blown salt-marsh grasses a noticeably cumulative impact. –John Erickson, Daily Press, reviewing Fragile Waters at The Mariner’s Museum
"Your photos are just lovely, and the marshes are a noble subject" –John Updike, Author
“I particularly appreciate the way Ms. Monnelly was able to articulate how, through her experiences with documenting and fighting to protect the marshlands, she made the connection between her earlier philosophy studies and the reality of what we’re faced with losing today… It’s really amazing how powerful a tool–in addition to existing as a beautiful tribute to our natural resources–landscape photography like this can be.” –Alex Nicholis Koon, Executive Director, Massillon Museum