Experimental photography exhibit by Alabama artist opens at MSU

Contact: Sasha Steinberg

“Pinned” and other recent works by Birmingham Southern College associate art professor and photographer Pamela Venz are on display through Oct. 30 in MSU’s Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery.

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Images by Alabama photographer Pamela Venz are on display through Oct. 30 at Mississippi State.

Titled “Looking Back to Go Forward,” the exhibition at the university’s Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery is free and open to all.

The gallery adjoins the Barnes and Noble Bookstore at 75 B.S. Hood Dr.

Focusing on such personal concepts as family and place, works of the Birmingham-Southern College associate art professor explore 19th century photography processes, as well as creations produced by X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging.

“Venz’s recent pieces are called alternative processes because the techniques are non-tradition to the digital age of photography,” said Lori Neuenfeldt.

As the MSU art department’s coordinator for gallery and outreach programs explained, “When photography first was introduced in the 19th century, photographers used cyanotype, Van Dyke and tintype, typical to how one envisions Civil War era images.

“Often utilized today by artists because of the creative potential and ability to connect with the past, alternative processes have a haunting presence and can be manipulated into powerful imagery,” she said.

In addition to the art department, the exhibit is supported by a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission through the National Endowment for the Arts.

Part of the College of Architecture, Art and Design, the art department is home to the Magnolia State’s largest undergraduate studio art program. It offers a bachelor of fine arts degree, with concentrations in graphic design, photography and fine art (ceramics, drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture).

Complete information about the academic units is found at caad.msstate.edu, facebook.com/CAADatMSU and twitter.com/CAADatMSU.

The Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery is one of the several departmental venues that regularly features traveling exhibits, student shows, and group and solo exhibitions by professional artists. Exhibit hours for the gallery are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, as well as by appointment. For more, visit bit.ly/MSUArtGalleriesFB.

Additional gallery information is available from Neuenfeldt at 662-325-2973 or LNeuenfeldt@caad.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.

Thursday, September 24, 2015 - 1:05 pm