Exhibition Review Revised

Ernest H. Brooks II (image source) 

From June 5, 2021 - January 16, 2022 the Sangre De Cristo Arts Center will be featuring a photography exhibit entitled Vital Waters. The exhibit features artists Ansel Adams, Ernest Brooks II, Dorothy Kerper Monnelly, Scott Campbell, Chuck Davis, Ryujie, Camille Lenore, and Robin V Robinson. Along the way you will experience two separate exhibits. One is a short exhibit about the Great Flood of 1921 where some anonymous photographers captured photos of the 1921 Arkansas River Valley flood. The other is an Ansel Adams teaching card section. It is curated by Jeanne Falk Adams, daughter in law to Ansel Adams.

When you first buy tickets to the exhibit the museum workers kindly direct you to start on the third floor and work your way down. This was a much appreciated suggestion. You can grab an elevator or just take the short walk up a winding staircase while enjoying a few paintings along the way. 

The first part of the exhibit featured the artists listed above who were sharing their love for the environment through waterscapes and their experiences living in a coastal region. There were also some examples of cameras that Ansel Adams was working with located throughout the floor. It was organized by subject matter: ice formations, waterfalls, sea life, sea plants, etc. The artist's pictures and bios were conveniently grouped together at the very start so you could refer back to them easily if you had questions. After working your way through the top floor you wind your way down to level two and discover the Great Flood of 1921 documents and photography. There were charts and timelines that took you through the events of the terrible day backed up by many photos that documented the tragedy. The final stop in this part of the photography exhibit was the Ansel Adams teaching section that had a very informative museum guide helping answer questions. Polaroid had produced large teaching panels to aid Ansel Adams in his teaching and writing endeavors. In the center of it all were two giant metal carrying cases for transporting the panels. 

This photography exhibition was well organized with an easy to navigate layout. The museum guides were friendly and helpful which added warmth to the experience. There was ample space to spread out, and it was set up in such a way that you could start anywhere and never lose your place. This would be helpful if there was a lot of foot traffic (there wasn’t). The thematic grouping at the main exhibit was a nice touch and I really took advantage of the bios being listed at the beginning. The museum guide on the second floor was super helpful and friendly. He was eager to point out the timeline chart of the Great Flood and we debated whether or not some of the structures were still around town. I especially enjoyed the Ansel Adams teaching aid panels. They had a lot of insight into the photographer's process which I found really interesting. 

If you enjoy photography, especially the landscapes of Ansel Adams, then this exhibit is a must see, but I think everyone would enjoy getting out to see one of America's most notorious landscape photographers. Ansel Adams is just the tip of the iceberg too. There's seven other wonderful photographers in the Vital Waters Exhibit.   It’s a poetic environmental ode to the most important resource on the planet, water.