Ramey Newell is an American-Canadian filmmaker, photographer, and multidisciplinary artist who splits her time between British Columbia and Oregon. Her moving image work has been screened at film festivals and in galleries, museums and other art spaces throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia, including: the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; Alchemy Moving Image Festival in Hawick, Scotland; Mountainfilm in Telluride, Colorado; Antimatter in Victoria, Canada; and many others. Ramey’s experimental and documentary films have also earned accolades such as the Jury’s Stellar Award (Grand Prize) at Black Maria Film Festival (2018), Best Director at Mirror Mountain Film Festival (2017), and Director’s Choice at Thomas Edison Film Festival (2021). Her photographic work has been exhibited at venues such as The Polygon Gallery in Vancouver, Canada, and the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY.
Ramey holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography (High Honors) from New Mexico State University, where her thesis project was granted the President’s Award for Excellence. She later completed a Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Practices and a Certificate in College Teaching from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Art from the University of British Columbia. Ramey was also a 2016 Flaherty Seminar Fellow, a 2019 IWFF Filmmaker Fellow and Independent Imaging Film Farm participant, a 2021 Jackson Wild Summit Fellow and Whistler Film Festival Doc Lab participant, and the winner of the 2022 Symbiosis competition at Imagine Science Film Festival. She currently teaches film studies, video production, and documentary film at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus.
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Ramey gained an early appreciation for open spaces, forests, and mountains that has persisted throughout her adult life and permeates much of her creative work. When she’s not making art, she enjoys hiking in deserts and high country, rock climbing, playing tennis, gardening, and traveling with her partner and their spotty dogs.
If you’d like more information on licensing, screening, exhibition, or hiring Ramey for assignment work, please don’t hesitate to send an email.
Artist's CV Summary
Recent + Upcoming Screenings and Exhibitions
2023
- Gallery 44, Surface, Sample, Site (group exhibition) — Toronto, ON (Canada): Manifest Obscura
- Onion City Film Festival — Chicago, IL (USA): interference pattern
2022
- Imagine Science Film Festival — New York, NY (USA): interference pattern — Winner, Jury Prize
- CROSSROADS — San Francisco, CA (USA): irradiance
- New York Hall of Science, Landscapes of Material and Mind, a SciArt Exhibition (group) — Queens, NY (USA): Manifest Obscura
2021
- Thomas Edison Film Festival — Nationwide Tour (USA): Wolf Call — Director’s Choice Award
- Kamloops Museum and Archives — Kamloops, BC (Canada): Manifest Obscura
- XXIV Rencontres Internationales Traverse — Toulouse (France): irradiance
- The Green Channel — Canada (https://thegreenchannel.tv/): Wolf Call and Insecta
2020
- Antimatter [Media Art] – Victoria, BC (Canada): irradiance
- Somerville Toy Camera Festival – Somerville, Massachusetts (USA)
- WNDX Festival of Moving Image, Cabin Fever – Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada): Insecta
2019
- Cineworks, Uncertainty Principles (2-person screening with Erin Espelie) – Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada)
- Deluge Contemporary Art Gallery, Manifest Obscura (solo exhibition) – Victoria, British Columbia (Canada)
- Eugene Environmental Film Festival – Eugene, Oregon (USA): Wolf Call
- Imagine Science Films/Labocine, A Modern Bestiary (curated program) – Labocine.com (online): Insecta
- Mountainfilm on Tour: Wolf Call
- Our Lady of the Snows Center, Alta, Utah (USA)
- Rialto Theater, Loveland, Colorado (USA)
- Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA): Wolf Call
- Wild and Scenic Film Festival – Nevada City, California (USA): Wolf Call
2018
- Access Gallery, Workhorse, Show Pony (auction) – Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada)
- Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival – Hawick (Scotland, UK): Insecta
- Antimatter [Media Art] / Deluge Contemporary Art Gallery, Framing Nature (group exhibition) – Victoria, British Columbia (Canada): Insecta
- Black Maria Film Festival Premiere – Hoboken Historical Museum, New Jersey (USA): Insecta – Jury’s Stellar Award
- Black Maria Film Festival Tour: Insecta
- National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (USA)
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (USA)
- Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA (USA)
- Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Long Beach Township, NJ (USA)
- Richey Suncoast Theatre, Port Richey, FL (USA)
- Florida Southwestern State College, Fort Meyers, FL (USA)
- Counterpath Gallery, An Evening with Christian Bök and Sommer Browning (curated program) – Denver, Colorado (USA): Insecta
- DocuWest Documentary Film Festival – Denver, Colorado (USA): Wolf Call
- Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Shores (group exhibition) – Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada)
- Mountainfilm – Telluride, Colorado (USA): Wolf Call
- Mountainfilm on Tour: Wolf Call
- Colorado State University, Pueblo, Colorado (USA)
- Marina Park Amphitheater, Watercolor, Florida (USA)
- PIX FILM Gallery, Scaling the Insect (curated program) – Toronto, Ontario (Canada): Insecta
- Plas Glyn-y-Weddw Arts Centre, Borders (group exhibition) – Llanbedrog (Wales, UK): Insecta
- Polygon Gallery, The Lind Prize (group exhibition) – North Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada): Manifest Obscura
- The Bakery, Material Universe (curated program) – Atlanta , Georgia (USA): Insecta
- Top Dog Film Festival – Australia (nationwide tour): Wolf Call
- UBC Audain Art Centre Gallery, Some Kind of Darkness (group exhibition) – Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada): Manifest Obscura
2017
- Mirror Mountain Film Festival – Ottawa, Ontario (Canada): Insecta – Best Director
- SCINEMA International Science Film Festival – Australia (nationwide tour): Insecta
- SF International Festival of Short Films – San Francisco, California (USA): Insecta
SELECT AWARDS, GRANTS, RESIDENCIES + FELLOWSHIPS
- Jury’s Award winner, Symbiosis Film Competition at Imagine Science Film Festival – New York, NY (USA), 2022
- Whistler Film Festival Doc Lab – Whistler, B.C. (Canada), 2021-2022
- Jackson Wild Summit Fellowship – Jackson Hole, WY (USA), 2021
- Empire of Dirt Artist Residency – Creston, B.C. (Canada), 2021
- Director’s Choice Award (Wolf Call at Thomas Edison Film Festival) – Hoboken, New Jersey (USA), 2021
- Media Arts Research and Creation grant recipient – Canada Council for the Arts, 2020
- Arts Across Canada grant recipient – Canada Council for the Arts, 2019
- Independent Imaging “Film Farm” – Mount Forest, Ontario (Canada), 2019
- IWFF Filmmaker Fellowship – Missoula, Montana (USA), 2019
- Jury’s Stellar Award (Insecta at Black Maria Film Festival) – Hoboken, New Jersey (USA), 2018
- B.C. Binning Memorial Fellowship (UBC) – Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), 2018
- Honorable Mention: Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize (Polygon Gallery) – North Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), 2018
- Best Director (Insecta at Mirror Mountain Film Festival) – Ottawa, Ontario (Canada), 2017
- PROP Foundation Artist Grant – Missoula, Montana (USA), 2016
- Flaherty Seminar Fellowship – Hamilton, New York (USA), 2016
- Society for Photographic Education Award – Southwest US Region (USA), 2014
- President’s Award for Artistic Excellence (NMSU Juried Student Show) – Las Cruces, New Mexico (USA), 2014
- James Alan Cox Scholarship for Photography – Austin, Texas (USA), 2011
- Cary Herz Scholarship for Photography – New Mexico (USA), 2011
PRESS + MEDIA
“One Scientist. One Filmmaker. One week to make a film.” Science Sandbox, February 2023
“Meet the Filmmaker” (interview), Thomas Edison Film Festival, May 2021
“Culture of Contamination”, SciArt Magazine (New York, USA), Volume 43, December 2020
On-Screen from Labocine: “Insecta,” from the March 2019 issue, “A Modern Bestiary” — Allison Palenske, SciArt Magazine (New York, USA), Volume 36, April 2019
Eyes on Conservation Podcast, “The Wolves of Denali” (Episode 183), August 22, 2019
EDUCATION
- University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
- Master of Fine Arts • Visual Art
- B.C. Binning Memorial Fellowship
- University of Colorado at Boulder (Boulder, Colorado, USA)
- Graduate Certificate • Interdisciplinary Documentary Media Practices
- Certificate in College Teaching • Graduate Teaching Program
- Full tuition waiver and merit grant
- New Mexico State University (Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (High Honors) • Photography • Journalism/Mass Comm. (minor)
- Received 8 merit-based scholarships
