fall 1996 - summer 1997 exhibition program

PRC Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition
September 19 – November 6, 1996
This celebratory exhibition was a feast of images that featured many of the artists who participated in the Center's programs throughout past years. Many of the prints were included in the Twentieth Anniversary Benefit Auction held on November 6, 1996. Works from over 175 photographers were included.

Anxious Libraries: Photography and the Fate of Reading
November 22 – January 31, 1997
The exhibition presented the work of 11 artists, each of whom examined contemporary concerns about the electronic word; the anxieties of computer-based technologies, in regards to literacy; the fate and direction of traditional print culture; and the future of the library. The exhibition was curated by the PRC's Robert Seydel and included works from Jerry Beck, Gillian Brown, Ron DiRito, Mark Alice Durant, Emmet Gowin, Rick McKee Hock, Maria Martinez-Canas, Susan Meiselas, Abelardo Morell, Clarissa Sligh, and Michael Spano. For the special online component to this exhibition, please click here.

Le Lecteur (The Reader): Selected Works by John O'Reilly
November 22 – January 31, 1997
Le Lecteur was an exhibition comprised of over forty works by the Worcester-based photographer John O'Reilly. Through collage, O'Reilly “moved” within a personal fantasy world of famous artists and writers by photographically inserting himself into historical images. The exhibition was presented in conjunction with the group exhibition Anxious Libraries: Photography and Fate of Reading and was curated by the PRC's Robert Seydel.

1997 PRC Members' Exhibition
February 14 – March 9, 1997
This diverse exhibition included imaginative mixed-media constructions and alternative processes, in addition to portraiture, landscape and abstraction. Jurors Catherine Edelman, owner of Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago, and Robert Seydel, PRC Curator, selected the work of 27 artists from around the country including David Zadig, David Prifti, Robin Radin, Judy Ellis Glickman, Michael Hintlian, Liz Linder, Michele McDonald, Laura Blacklow, Jesseca Ferguson, Edward Pardee, Bonnie Porter, Jo Sandman, Phyllis Crowley, Michael Silver, Christian Dailey, Kane Stewart, Marnie Crawford Samuelson, Laura Pickett Calfee, Kristen Capp, Victoria Gewirz, Thomas Hagar, Areezo Moseni, Sonja Rodrigue, Ellen Shershaw, Sam Sweezy, Wayne Welke, and Christopher Williams. For more information on the PRC's juried exhibition and becoming a member of the PRC, please click here.

Forgotten Photographs: Works from the Collection of Rodger Kingston
March 21– April 23, 1997
This exhibition, comprised of work by little-known and anonymous photographers and revealed how the photographic medium has been shaped by the millions of consumers as well as countless amateur and professional photographers. Nearly 100 daguerreotypes and snapshots were selected based on Kingston's personal taste rather than the guidelines of traditional photographic history.

Extended Play: Between Rock and an Art Space
May 9 – August 17, 1997
This was a festival of exhibits and special events that explored how photography has gone in hand with rock-and-roll. Works included photographs, video, fashion design and works on paper by Willie Alexander, Laurie Anderson, Peter Blegvad, John Cohen, Kevin Coyne, Chris Cutler, Kim Gordon, Mike Gordon, Tony Levin, Eric Meza, Lou Reed, Vernon Reid, Patti Smith, and Sandra Stark. Then PRC Executive Director John P. Jacob curated the series.

The Velvet Years, 1965-67: Warhol's Factory, Photographs by Stephen Shore
May 9 – July 6, 1997
Organized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, the photographs depicted scenes at Warhol's factory from 1965 to 1967, a time when Warhol was emerging as a prominent visual artist and filmmaker. Among the regulars at the factory during those years was the band Velvet Underground, who Warhol promoted and showcased.

Velvet Rarities: From the Collection of Jay Reeg
May 9 – July 6, 1997
This exhibition presented a variety of objects and ephemera related to the Velvet Underground assembled by Massachusetts-based collector Jay Reeg. The small exhibition showed rare photographs, posters, album covers, and other materials pertaining to the band, and to their musical successors such as Willie Alexander and Patti Smith.

Picture and Sound: Music Photography by Kathy Chapman, Michael Greco, B.C. Kagan and Phil in Phlash
July 18 – August 17, 1997
In the 1970s, Boston was one of the country's intense breeding grounds for punk and new wave music. This exhibition reunited four photographers who were critical in documenting that scene in four very different styles. The show included Kathy Chapman's documents of the interior lives and living spaces of musicians and their audiences; Michael Grecco's moody studio portraits, using elaborate props and complex lighting; B.C. Kagan's backstage portraits, showing musicians in their working environment; and Phil in Plash's photographs of live music, depicting the interaction of music and their fans. The exhibition presented new as well as older work by the artists, covering changes in the music industry from the mid 70s to the present.

Being There: Photographs by Billie Perry and Karen Whitford
May 9 – August 17, 1997
Presented simultaneously with Picture and Sound, this exhibition presented an Aerosmith family album, a look at the music industry from “inside the bus.” Perry and Whitford are married to Aerosmith guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, and photographically documented the private lives of their musical families for years. This first exhibition of their work together showed the intimacy of the group as they work and play together, and documents their interaction, as well as numerous other personages in the music world and entertainment industries.