Friday, November 11, 2016

[184] Award-winning photographer Adams to create MTSU archive of his Appalachian images


Kentucky native to discuss gift in Nov. 17 public lecture at MTSU 

         
Adams, whose friendship with MTSU professor Tom Jimison led to the creation of the archive, will provide a significant portion of his photographic collection to the Baldwin Photographic Gallery in the College of Media and Entertainment.

Adams will discuss the gift during his appearance on the MTSU campus at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, for a lecture on his career and works. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Room 221 of the Ned McWherter Learning Resource Center, 1558 Military Memorial.

The Eastern Kentucky native will allow MTSU to keep part of the proceeds from sales of prints of his compelling portfolio of powerful images created from more than four decades of visiting, photographing and collaborating with families in Appalachia.

 “An artist of the magnitude of Shelby Lee Adams will raise the stature of the Baldwin gallery and raise the consciousness of students and scholars looking to understand the conditions and quality of life in Appalachia,” said MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee.

 “We are honored that Mr. Adams has entrusted our university to ensure the legacy of his work and allow it to educate and inform our students and our communities,” McPhee said.

Adams met Jimison in 1980, when Jimison asked the photographer to exhibit his work at the University of Dayton, where Jimison was teaching. “It was my first one-person exhibition,” Adams recalled. “We became fast friends and we have continued our relationship.”

Also, it made sense for MTSU to house the archive, Adams said, because of the “proximity of MTSU to the people in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky I have photographed and the fact the people I have photographed will receive a portion of the print sales.

 “They will also be able to come to the archive and enjoy the photographs — and receive digital photocopies of my work.”

A selection of Adams’ work can be found at a special exhibit in the Baldwin gallery that opened Oct. 24 and will run through Jan. 19. The gallery, located on the second floor of the Bragg Media and Entertainment Building, is free and open to the public. Check baldwinphotogallery.com for hours.

A Kirkus review of a book of Adams’ 1993 work, “Appalachian Portraits,” described his photographs as “frank, unsentimental but often affectionate.” His photographs, the review said, show the effects of poverty but also “a resilience and grace….

“These black-and-white photographs of families gathered on the porches or in the crowded rooms of their hardscrabble, venerable homes show a remarkable crispness of detail.”
           
Adams, 66, graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1974 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, then earned master’s degrees in photography from the University of Iowa in 1975 and a Master of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of the Arts in 1989.

He was one of seven photographers selected by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1978 to collectively make images in Kentucky for a publication, “Appalachia: A Self-Portrait” and he received an NEA fellowship in 1992.

In 1989, he was selected for the Massachusetts Artist Fellowship Program and, from 1989 to 1992, earned artist support grants from Polaroid Corp. He received the Guggenheim Photography Fellowship in 2010.

Adams said his perspective was shaped by growing up in Appalachia during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” program.

“Many of the media representations of the people of the mountains of Eastern Kentucky were disappointing or embarrassing,” he said. “I decided then to dedicate my life to photographing the people of the mountains in a way that was both honest and accepted by the subjects.”

A special limited-edition print of the photograph “The Brothers Praying” (1993) will be offered to initiate the archive’s funding. The printing of 12 images will be offered for sale by MTSU. The negative will be permanently retired after this printing.

The Baldwin gallery, part of the Department of Electronic Media Communication, is named for Professor Emeritus Harold Baldwin, who established MTSU’s photography program in 1959 and established the gallery five years later to expose the university community to work by leading photographers. Jimison has curated the gallery since 1991.

The gallery, renamed in 1996 to honor Baldwin, grew from a hallway in the MTSU Ned McWherter Learning Resource Center to a 1,300-square-foot facility in 2014 with museum-quality lighting in the Bragg building, thanks to a $100,000 gift from Baldwin to enhance the facility.

For off-campus visitors interested in the Adams lecture and/or visiting the gallery, a searchable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap. Those visiting the Baldwin gallery during normal business hours should obtain a special one-day permit from MTSU’s Office of Parking and Transportation at http://www.mtsu.edu/parking/visit.php.

The College of Media and Entertainment, first established as a department in 1972, then elevated to school and finally college status by 1989, has focused on preparing students to perform every facet of communicating news and information within their specialties: journalism, electronic media and the recording industry.

For more information about the college, visit http://mtsu.edu/media/.
Kentucky native to discuss gift in Nov. 17 public lecture at MTSU 

         
Adams, whose friendship with MTSU professor Tom Jimison led to the creation of the archive, will provide a significant portion of his photographic collection to the Baldwin Photographic Gallery in the College of Media and Entertainment.

Adams will discuss the gift during his appearance on the MTSU campus at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, for a lecture on his career and works. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Room 221 of the Ned McWherter Learning Resource Center, 1558 Military Memorial.

The Eastern Kentucky native will allow MTSU to keep part of the proceeds from sales of prints of his compelling portfolio of powerful images created from more than four decades of visiting, photographing and collaborating with families in Appalachia.

 “An artist of the magnitude of Shelby Lee Adams will raise the stature of the Baldwin gallery and raise the consciousness of students and scholars looking to understand the conditions and quality of life in Appalachia,” said MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee.

 “We are honored that Mr. Adams has entrusted our university to ensure the legacy of his work and allow it to educate and inform our students and our communities,” McPhee said.

Adams met Jimison in 1980, when Jimison asked the photographer to exhibit his work at the University of Dayton, where Jimison was teaching. “It was my first one-person exhibition,” Adams recalled. “We became fast friends and we have continued our relationship.”

Also, it made sense for MTSU to house the archive, Adams said, because of the “proximity of MTSU to the people in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky I have photographed and the fact the people I have photographed will receive a portion of the print sales.

 “They will also be able to come to the archive and enjoy the photographs — and receive digital photocopies of my work.”

A selection of Adams’ work can be found at a special exhibit in the Baldwin gallery that opened Oct. 24 and will run through Jan. 19. The gallery, located on the second floor of the Bragg Media and Entertainment Building, is free and open to the public. Check baldwinphotogallery.com for hours.

A Kirkus review of a book of Adams’ 1993 work, “Appalachian Portraits,” described his photographs as “frank, unsentimental but often affectionate.” His photographs, the review said, show the effects of poverty but also “a resilience and grace….

“These black-and-white photographs of families gathered on the porches or in the crowded rooms of their hardscrabble, venerable homes show a remarkable crispness of detail.”
           
Adams, 66, graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1974 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, then earned master’s degrees in photography from the University of Iowa in 1975 and a Master of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of the Arts in 1989.

He was one of seven photographers selected by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1978 to collectively make images in Kentucky for a publication, “Appalachia: A Self-Portrait” and he received an NEA fellowship in 1992.

In 1989, he was selected for the Massachusetts Artist Fellowship Program and, from 1989 to 1992, earned artist support grants from Polaroid Corp. He received the Guggenheim Photography Fellowship in 2010.

Adams said his perspective was shaped by growing up in Appalachia during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” program.

“Many of the media representations of the people of the mountains of Eastern Kentucky were disappointing or embarrassing,” he said. “I decided then to dedicate my life to photographing the people of the mountains in a way that was both honest and accepted by the subjects.”

A special limited-edition print of the photograph “The Brothers Praying” (1993) will be offered to initiate the archive’s funding. The printing of 12 images will be offered for sale by MTSU. The negative will be permanently retired after this printing.

The Baldwin gallery, part of the Department of Electronic Media Communication, is named for Professor Emeritus Harold Baldwin, who established MTSU’s photography program in 1959 and established the gallery five years later to expose the university community to work by leading photographers. Jimison has curated the gallery since 1991.

The gallery, renamed in 1996 to honor Baldwin, grew from a hallway in the MTSU Ned McWherter Learning Resource Center to a 1,300-square-foot facility in 2014 with museum-quality lighting in the Bragg building, thanks to a $100,000 gift from Baldwin to enhance the facility.

For off-campus visitors interested in the Adams lecture and/or visiting the gallery, a searchable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap. Those visiting the Baldwin gallery during normal business hours should obtain a special one-day permit from MTSU’s Office of Parking and Transportation at http://www.mtsu.edu/parking/visit.php.

The College of Media and Entertainment, first established as a department in 1972, then elevated to school and finally college status by 1989, has focused on preparing students to perform every facet of communicating news and information within their specialties: journalism, electronic media and the recording industry.


For more information about the college, visit http://mtsu.edu/media/.

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