Adair Hinds is originally from Detroit, Michigan and lives in Atlantic Beach, Florida where there is enough light to print from the sun. Adair studied painting, photography, and psychology at Central Michigan University where he managed the darkroom, worked at the university art gallery, and was a research assistant in the psychology department. He credits his formative years at CMU as instrumental in establishing his passion for both nature and human nature. Adair continued his studies at the graduate level earning a master’s degree in art therapy from Wayne State University in Detroit and studying art therapy and clinical psychology at the doctoral level in Seattle, Washington.
Adair began his career as a high school art teacher in southeast Michigan. He started a photography program with 17 students who would board a bus in the morning to go use the darkroom at another school. Over the next several years, the program grew to over 400 students studying photography annually with Adair and the district built both a digital and traditional darkroom to support the program. In his final year teaching in Michigan his students earned more national awards in photography than any other high school in the country.
After teaching high school art, Adair was recruited to help private schools with strategic planning and branding as an administrator. He served in various roles as consultant, dean of an art and design college, and head of an independent school. After serving more than a decade in administration removing obstacles for teachers and students, he returned to his roots mentoring high school artists and started Mountains to Sea Studio.
The purpose of Mountains to Sea Studio is to connect people with nature. Stylistically, Adair is a minimalist, which is why he loves pinhole photography and abstract painting. Without lenses to distort reality, the experience of the viewer is pure with an infinite depth of field. In the field, Adair backpacks and kayaks with his pinhole camera and sketchbook. In the studio, Adair recreates the inner experience of being deep in nature with paint on canvas.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Upper Peninsula, Michigan
