Louanne Watley, documentary photographer, poet, and artist based in Chapel Hill, N.C., spent her childhood in Danville, Kentucky. Watley's initial career was in nursing, working at various hospitals in North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky from 1959-1982. She also received an A.B. in Religion from Duke University in 1970. After her career in nursing and study at Duke University, she discovered poetry and photography. She began taking art classes at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1979 and continues to take photography and other art classes at The University of North Carolina and Duke University. She has also taken master classes with notable photographers such as Keith Carter, Bruce Davidson, Sally Mann, and Emmet Gowin. Her work has been featured in solo, group, and juried shows at galleries and museums primarily in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, N.C., as well as Nashville, New Orleans, and other cities in North Carolina and Kentucky. She has received numerous awards at these juried shows. Watley's journalistic photos have been published in North Carolina Literary Review and The Sun and her editorial photography has been featured in articles and on the covers of academic and art journals. Her portfolios have also been published in artbooks and journals.
From the guide to the Louanne Watley photographs, 1961, 1985, 1994-2010 and undated, bulk 2000-2010, (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)
