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Past exhibit highlights

LOUIS CARLOS BERNAL: Arizona Unseen, Color Photographs 1978 - 1988

Oct. 24-Dec. 9, 2016

images by Louis Carlos Bernal

The exhibit featured 48 previously unseen color photographs from the Bernal Archive at the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography. Curated by Ann Simmons-Myers. The the portraits and interiors made during the 1970s and 1980s provided an intimate historic view of Arizona migrant farm workers, along with Tucson and Douglas barrio life. Louis Carlos Bernal was head of photography at Pima Community College for seventeen years until his career was tragically cut short in October of 1989 by a bicycle accident while on his way to teach at the West Campus. Bernal is internationally recognized as an important photographer who captured the essence of Mexican American life. The exhibit celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of Bernal's birth.

Above images (left-right): 
untitled, Douglas, Arizona, 1979
untitled, El Mirage, Arizona, 1978
untitled, Douglas, Arizona, 1979
untitle, El Mirage, Arizona, 1978
Photographs from the Louis Carlos Bernal Archive at the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona ©Lisa Bernal Brethour and Katrina Bernal 2016

P.O.V.: Interpreting the Human Figure

Bailey Doogan, Judith Stewart, Tiffiney Yazzie, Luis Caballero, Vincent Desiderio, Keith McElroy

Oct. 22-Dec. 7, 2012

Bailey Doogan art Judith Stewart art Tiffiney Yazzi art

Luis Caballero art Vincent Desiderio art Keith McElroy art


Above images (top-bottom: Bailey Doogan, Self Exam in Nation (detail); Judith Stewart, Spiral (detail);Tiffiney Yazzie, Untitled III (detail); Luis Caballero, Untitled* (detail); Vincent Desiderio, Study for “A Pathetic Rumor of Freedom”* (detail); Keith McElroy, Untitled II (detail) The exhibition features the works of Bailey Doogan, Judith Stewart, Tiffiney Yazzie, Luis Caballero, Vincent Desiderio and Keith McElroy. In explaining his concept for this exhibition, Andres commented, “Because the human figure for both women and men have been over-objectified in the past, I wanted to achieve a fair view of the human figure as the subject of the art, not the object.” Each of the six artists accomplishes this with very different approaches, interpretations and points of view.

*Wilson P. Graham, artwork photography services

RETROSPECTIVE: George Welch

November 8, 2010 - January 28, 2011

Welch Image Welch Image

The exhibition, a compilation of twenty pieces, highlights the development of Welch's work throughout his 40-year career as artist and full-time faculty of PCC's visual arts department. Over the years he has been deeply committed to the development of community arts as an artist and professor at Pima Community College. Welch feels "There is greatness in giving, teaching and learning. This is how nature works--the interactivity keeps the roots fertile." He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions and has been awarded the 2006 Pima Community College Board of Governor's Award, the 2005 Congressional Recognition Art Award and the 2005 Tucson Pima Arts Council Art Educator Award.

Above images:
FIRE, 9/11, 2001, oil and acrylic, 64" x 54"
MONDO, 1991, oil and acrylic, 96" x 60"

Joseph DiGiorgio: Selections from the Dan Leach Collection

January 19 - March 5, 2010

DiGiorgio Image DiGiorgio Image

Tucson Visiting Artist Consortium lecture by Michael Walls, New York independent curator: February 3 at 7 p.m. in the Recital Hall

The exhibition features oil paintings and pastels of renowned American landscape artist Joseph DiGiorgio (1931-2000) selected from the extensive collection of Dan Leach (Tucson art collector). DiGiorgio started painting in the early 1950s and was strongly influenced by the broad strokes and grand gestural marks of the abstract expressionists. The unspoiled American landscape became the principal source of both his inspiration and imagery. He noted, "I feel the American landscape is an endangered species. It is all that we have as Americans, and I like to record it in a lyrical way, perhaps in a romantic way." His work has been described as a celebration of light and color.

Above images:
THE SOUTHWEST SERIES #17-86, 1986, oil pastel on Arches paper, 28 1/4” x 41”
THE VIRGINIA SERIES #83-10, 1983, oil on canvas (two panels),72” x 96” overall – framed

Natural Selections: Jim Waid Paintings

October 27 - December 5, 2008

Jim Waid Image 

This is the first Tucson exhibition in ten years for Waid whose work is regularly exhibited in galleries nationwide. Peter Briggs, Helen DeVitt Jones Curator of Art, Museum of Texas Tech University, has written the essay for this exhibition. Waid taught at Pima Community College from 1971 through 1980. The inspiration for his paintings first came after several trips to the desert with his class. He found himself transformed by the incredible range of forms; and the arroyos, hills and canyons around Tucson became a favorite subject for his large sensually colored paintings. In his artist statement Waid states, "Representing work from the last ten years, the nine paintings in this exhibit were selected to demonstrate the ongoing dialogue between the landscape, my sensibility, and the expressive possibilities of paint. The paintings are more or less abstracted; they are not illustrations, but rather enactments of the world around me. This compression of sensation leads to an acceleration of concentration, disarming the mind from its usual routine, allowing either a sharpening or opening. This gives the viewer a sense of entering the painting, not just looking at it."

Above images:
SUMMER TORCH, 2006 - acrylic on canvas, 60" x 40"
DAYBREAK, 2001 - acrylic on canvas, 84" x 132"

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