Peg Richie Fredi, a native of East Tennessee, was raised in a small rural community where a love of the natural environment was nurtured by her parents. She trained as a concert pianist, however, being a naturalist at heart, she received degrees from the University of Tennessee in Biology and Chemistry and began a career as a research chemist at UT Medical Center in Memphis, TN. She continued her education in the medical field and worked with the first liver transplant team in Memphis and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the City of Memphis Hospital.

After taking time off to have four children, she was drawn back into the arts and began taking classes in photography where she discovered and was fascinated by historical alternative processes. The prize for a national competition win was a workshop of her choice and choosing to go to Maine, she met and was influenced by many renowned photographers who gave encouragement to her fledgling dreams of becoming an artist.

With encouragement from her family and friends, and a recommendation from Christopher James, author of The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, she was accepted and graduated from the Art Institute of Boston’s Master of Fine Arts program. While in graduate school, she learned to incorporate her love of nature, philosophy, psychology, and social conditions with art and photography.

Peg teaches photography at Nashville State Community College and lives on a small farm in Brentwood, TN, where she also enjoys hiking, whitewater canoeing, gardening, camping, and rock climbing with her family.