NW District - Edward S. Curtis at Whatcom Museum

Mingled Visions:

Edward S. Curtis at the Whatcom Museum

PPW Northwest District and Bellingham Photographers 

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Time:  6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Where: Whatcom Museum Lightcatcher Building, 205 Flora Street, Bellingham, WA 98225

Cost:    $5 for PPW members, $10 for non-member guests

One of the most prominent photographers to work in the American West was Edward S. Curtis. Currently, a collection of 40 of his original photogravures are on exhibit at the Whatcom Museum of Art in Bellingham  in the show: Mingled Visions: Images from The North American Indian.

We've arrange a special evening for PPW members and guests to view this collection on Thursday evening, April 9 from 6:30  to 8 p.m.  Docents will to talk with our group about the works and to answer questions.  After the presentation, you can view the works more closely on your own.

Afterwards, you're invited to mingle with PPW members around the corner at the Temple Bar to continue the discussion over a drink or small bite.

Hope you'll join us for this special opportunity.  Cost for the evening is $5 for PPW members, $10 for non-members.  Please let Cheryl Crooks know by April 2 if you can attend so that the museum will know how many to expect.

Here's some additional information about the exhibit and a related, upcoming event with New York Times columnist Timothy Egan, later in April. I think you'll enjoy and learn from both!

Mingled Visions features 40 original photogravures from Edward S. Curtis' epic work, The North American Indian, including one of Curtis' earliest images taken in 1895 of Princess Angeline, the elderly daughter of Chief Sealth. The portrait won the top prize in a photographic contest and helped launch his photo-graphic career, ultimately leading to his mission to document and celebrate the vanishing heritage of Native American people. He spent three decades documenting more than 80 tribes west of the Mississippi, producing more than 40,000 images and thousands of pages of text. A definitive project of the American West, The North American Indianwas published in 20 volumes from 1907 to 1930.

As the signature event of the exhibition Mingled Visions: Images from The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis, The Whatcom Museum is partnering with Bellingham Public Library and Village Books to host a speaking engagement by author Timothy Egan at the Mount Baker Theatre. Egan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, popular New York Times columnist, National Book Award-winning author, and veteran chronicler of the West. His most recent book, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward S. Curtis, is a riveting biography of the famous North American Indian photographer. It was named one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly and was awarded the 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Funded in part by the Friends of the Library.