UNM faculty curating a discussion-based photography exhibit

Now through Dec. 12, the exhibit titled “Vernacular in Place: Old and New Topographic Photography”, will be on view in the Van Deren Coke Gallery. The exhibit ties past and current photography styles together.

According to the University of New Mexico Art Museum website, “The first half of Vernacular in Place samples the canon of landscape photography as taught and collected at UNM by historian Beaumont Newhall and founding director of the Art Museum, Van Deren Coke, in the 1960s and 70s—decades when UNM was arguably the leading international center of photo history and studio photography.”

Featured artists include Lee Freidlander, Steve Fitch, Thomas Barrow, Lewis Baltz, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon and more.

For those interested in hearing more about the meaning behind the photos, a talk, “Meeting of the Minds—Vernacular in Place,” will be held on Friday, from noon until 1 p.m. at the UNM Art Museum. which will explain the exhibit and how it came together 

Curator of Education and Public Programs Traci Quinn coordinates all educational programming for the museum, including today’s event. She said the event will be casual, allowing audience members to hear from and speak with the event curators.

The talk is part of the informal lunchtime creative intervention and conversation series, “Meeting of the Minds,” surrounding artwork on view at the UNM Art Museum. Faculty, students, artists, curators and community members lead the series.

IFDM Director Miguel Gandert and Professor of Landscape Architecture Chris Wilson both studied photography at UNM during the 1970s and, as co-curators, will be speaking at the event.

Gandert said discussing photography, rather than simply viewing it, is a way of “giving an audience a way to get into the work. Photographs are also about ideas and putting together an exhibit helps a project become more educational.”

Wilson, who has also published a few articles surrounding photography, believes, “photography is art and a contribution to our intellectual discourse. So, discussing this photography will bring to the surface its role in changing conceptions of landscape from picturesque, rural and natural views to seeing and valuing the entire contemporary landscape.”

Quinn feels that hearing from the curators allows the audience to gain further insight into the exhibit, featured artists, photographic movements associated with the artists’ work and the history of photography. She said she hopes the audience gains a deeper understanding of the medium.

“It is great to bring new, fresh insights into the gallery space, and allowing curators to discuss their vision and role in the exhibition is one way to dig deeper into a topic.

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Elizabeth Sanchez is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Beth_A_Sanchez.