I wonder if there is a way to describe the reflection of the sun on the head of a pin? To this end, the photographs on this site are documentary. They attempt to be sympathetic and incisive studies of the commonplace–from outside in to inside out. My hope is that they are truthful realizations of memory, of spirit and perception.
Jan is recognized by leading professional organizations and publications worldwide for his contributions to both design and photography. He has participated in numerous solo and group shows and his work is in corporate and private art collections. Jan's work is also in the permanent collections of The Library of Congress, Washington, DC, the Graphic Design Collection of the National Design Archive at Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, USA, and the Museum of Applied Arts in Brno, Czech Republic.
Jan was an adjunct professor in the graphic design department at The University of the Arts, Philadelphia (formerly the Philadelphia College of Art) for 35 years. Many of the courses Jan taught involved the development of experimental curricula.
Jan studied at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, holds a BFA with honors in graphic design and photography from the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts), and an MJ in journalism and communication theory from Temple University, School of Communications and Theater.
From Wind Challenge 1 at Fleisher Art Memorial - 2017
Outside In
Remember what you have seen,
Because everything forgotten
Returns to the circling winds.1
My images are about recollections of the natural world — post impressions.
My most recent images are, put simply, photographs of drawings. Each drawing becomes the basis for each set-up environment. By freezing the drawing in time and space — with light that goes beyond a purely descriptive scheme — I create an alternative view that attempts to expand the base media.
I am intrigued with the environment in which a work of art exists. It resides in a certain space, lighted in a certain way — which all contribute to the way it’s perceived. I am, by arranging and lighting the drawings, controlling that environment to a certain degree.
These works attempt to blur the lines between media, between representation and abstraction, and between taking and making.
The drawings are discarded and the end result is a photographic print — prepared without digital manipulation.
1. Least Heat-Moon, William (1982). Blue Highways, A Journey Into America (Lines from a Navajo Wind Chant found on the endpage) New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company
AKA
Brandywine Realty Trust and AKA purchased Almquist’s work for Philadelphia's newest ultra-luxury furnished hotel and apartment residences, AKA University City. The interiors were designed by renowned architects, Asfour Guzy Architects.
healing on the home front
In the US, roughly 12 million people require some form of home health care, with costs surpassing $72.2 billion. However, the quiet, daily heroism that happens in the homes of chronic patients often goes unseen and unheard. As part of aajdesign’s identity transition for Bayada Home Health Care, we conceptualized and initiated a project that provides an insider view of what happens when healing takes place in the comfort and dignity of home.
Photographer and aajdesign Principal Jan C. Almquist and writer Ann de Forest traveled to 24 homes — of patients and their caregivers. The result is a stunning book of portraits, profiles, and documentary photographs that reveal the care and dedication that enable each patient to live their most fulfilled life.