FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 14, 2002      File # 251
Contact: Diane Roby/RED Communications, (415) 931-LENS (931-5367) , reddroby@earthlink.net

The 2002 Green Music Festival Presents Best Examples of Ansel Adams' Art in
Centennial Exhibition at University Art Department Gallery, July 11-August 18

The 2002 Green Music Festival at Sonoma State University, a summer celebration of music, arts and ideas, presents the Ansel Adams Centennial Exhibition in the University Art Gallery from July 11 through August 18.

Curated by long-time Ansel Adams associates Mary Street Alinder and Jim Alinder of Gualala, the Ansel Adams Centennial Exhibition brings together more than 70 original prints from the master photographer, selected as the very best examples of his art. The selection includes many of Adams' best-known images, as well as less familiar views of Northern California and Sonoma County.

The Ansel Adams Centennial Exhibition is open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays, July 11 through August 18. Reservations, tickets and information are available by calling toll-free (866) 54-ANSEL (866-542-6735), or online at www.greenmusicfestival.org.

THE EXHIBITION
The Ansel Adams Centennial Exhibition commemorates the centennial of Ansel Adams' birth in San Francisco in 1902, and honors the life and achievements of the influential photographer and passionate environmentalist. The exhibition takes viewers through a chronological tour of Adams' artistry, tracing the evolution of his aesthetic point of view and his mastery of photographic techniques.

The exhibition addresses the relationship between Adams' art and his efforts to protect and preserve the natural landscape, and his special connection to Northern California and Sonoma County. Stellar works on display include Adams' first visualized photograph, Monolith; the elegant five-print Surf Sequence, photographed along the San Mateo County coast; and some of his most popular images, such as Clearing Winter Storm and Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, which receives special attention in the exhibition. On view are images of Yosemite, the Sierra Nevada, the U.S. National Parks, and the California coast.

Central to the exhibition are rarely seen photographs by Adams of Sonoma County, one of the photographer's favorite places. Ansel Adams spent much time in the local area, especially in the 1960s (he owned a small piece of land on the county 's west edge), and he came to know the unique and wild nature of the Sonoma Coast.

All of Adams' photographs in the exhibition are signed originals that he produced personally in his darkroom.
The exhibition provides insight into how Adams worked with his negatives in the darkroom to achieve an image that could convey the emotional power of the scene as he felt it, and the qualities he desired in the final print. Also in the exhibition are photographs of Ansel Adams, a photograph by Edward Weston of Adams' darkroom in Yosemite, and Adams' well-worn Stetson hat.

Ansel Adams (1902-1984) is recognized as one of the finest and most influential American artists of the 20th century. He was a central figure in American photographic history, particularly as a photographer of nature's grandeur, and his images helped drive a national movement to protect the natural environment.

As a fourteen-year-old in 1916, the young Adams auspiciously received his first camera on a family trip to Yosemite, a place he continuously recorded with his lens and with which he would come to be identified. Trained as a concert pianist, Adams finally chose a profession in photography, and rose to prominence as a photographer and an advocate for acceptance of photography as a valid art form.

In addition to his prodigious output of masterpieces, Adams shared all he knew about his craft by writing books and teaching workshops, until just before his death in 1984. His enormous sensitivity to the natural landscape did not stop in the darkroom, but overflowed into political action as he worked energetically to protect the nation's wild places, serving on the board of directors of the Sierra Club (1934-1971), counseling presidents, and acting as a key activist for important environmental issues.

Exhibition curators Mary Street Alinder and Jim Alinder are experts on Adams? photography and worked closely with him during the latter part of his life and career. They have curated several exhibitions of Adams' work, including a major exhibition at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco, and a 1982 exhibition honoring Adams? 80th birthday at the Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art and the California Academy of Sciences.

Mary Street Alinder was Adams? chief of staff for the last five years of his life and authored the definitive Ansel Adams: A Biography. She assisted Adams in writing his autobiography (a New York Times bestseller), completing the text after Adams? death in 1984, and selecting the 227 illustrations from among his 40,000 negatives.

She has lectured on Adams at museums and universities around the world. Jim Alinder, a fine art photographer, was a university professor of photography and served for eleven years as Executive Director of The Friends of Photography (an organization founded by Ansel Adams) in Carmel and San Francisco. He is the author or editor of more than thirty photography books.

Mary and Jim Alinder have lived at Sea Ranch in Sonoma County since 1990, and own the Alinder Gallery in Gualala, which is devoted exclusively to fine art photography.

Underwriters for the Ansel Adams Centennial Exhibition include The Press Democrat's Celebrate Community program and Buena Vista Winery.

INFORMATION AND TICKETS
The Ansel Adams Centennial Exhibition is open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays, July 11 - August 18. Exhibition hours are Tuesday-Wednesday, 12 noon to 6 p.m.; and Thursday-Sunday, 12 noon to 8 p.m. (closed Mondays).

The Sonoma State University Art Gallery is located in the Art Building next to parking lot A on the campus of Sonoma State University at 1801 E. Cotati Ave. in Rohnert Park, 40 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Reservations and advance tickets are recommended. Advance tickets are $8 adults / $6 seniors & students and can be purchased from City Box Office by calling toll-free (866) 54-ANSEL (542-6735), or online at www.greenmusicfestival.org. Advance tickets include free campus parking and express entrance to the exhibition.

When available, tickets may be purchased at the door, on a space-available basis, for $10 adults / $8 seniors & students. Additional information is available at www.greenmusicfestival.org.

The Green Music Festival, now in its third year, presents a summer full of programs organized around the central theme "On Common Ground: Evolving Landscapes in Music, Arts and Ideas." Under the leadership of artistic director Jeffrey Kahane, the 2002 Green Music Festival also presents concerts, lectures, and children's programs. The Festival is expected to eventually attract more than 80,000 patrons every summer to a wide range of events.

Once built, the planned Donald & Maureen Green Music Center at Sonoma State University will become the permanent home for the Green Music Festival.

For tickets and information, call (866) 54-ANSEL or visit www.greenmusicfestival.org.

NOTE: Photograph of Ansel Adams, above, was taken by Jim Alinder in 1984.