GREENVILLE — Internationally recognized photographer and educator Sam Wang is the juror for the upcoming photographic exhibition at ECU.
Sponsored by the ECU School of Art and Design, the image exhibition will open with a lecture by Wang at 5 p.m. Jan. 24 in the Speight Auditorium, with an opening reception honoring the artists following in the Wellington Gray Gallery, all in the Jenkins Fine Arts Center.
Wang chose 80 works by 67 artists from 20 states to be included in the show. Images cover a range of photographic processes, including digital imaging, traditional black and white photography, antiquarian and alternative processes.
He awarded five $1,000 prizes each to Brit Erving of Arlington, Texas; Gregg Kemp of Durham; David Simonton of Raleigh; Robert Sulkin of Roanoke, Va.; and Raphael Warshaw of Fairfax, Va.
“The first Photography and Digital Image Exhibition in the Wellington B. Gray Gallery was organized by Gil Leebrick, director, and held in February 1997. The … juror, Olivia Parker, chose a show that was ecumenical in its diversity of photo-based media,” said Tom Braswell, interim gallery director. “In keeping with that tradition, this year’s show is an overview of the pluralism of practice in contemporary photographic art.”
Wang was born in Beijing, China, in 1939 and came to the U.S. to attend Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in art and later attended the University of Iowa, earning a Master of Fine Arts in 1966. From then until 2006, he taught at Clemson University, retiring from there.
At Clemson, he established the Digital Production Arts program to prepare students for careers in digital animation. His work as an artist covers most formats and processes in photography, both black and white and alternative processes, and he was an early experimenter with digital imaging in the 1980s.
In 2010, “Sam Wang: Four Decades of Photographic Exploration,” was released, documenting his career of art photography and innovation. In 2012, he received the Elizabeth O’Neil Verner Award given by the governor and the South Carolina Arts Commission for service in the arts.
Eighth Photographic Image Biennial Exhibition
Jan. 24-Feb. 23
5 p.m. Jan. 24, lecture by Sam Wang, Speight Auditorium
Wellington B. Gray Gallery
ECU School of Art and Design
Jenkins Fine Arts Center, off Fifth and Jarvis streets, Greenville
Free to public
252-328-6336 or ecu.ecu/art