(Photo courtesy: Francesco Nonino)
Andrea Modica will present the Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Lecture in photography and photographic media at the Akron Art Museum on Thursday, Feb. 4, at 6:30 p.m.
Modica, who teaches at Drexel University in Philadelphia, has received many honors for her work, including a Fulbright-Hayes Research Grant, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2015 Knight Purchase Award for Photographic Media. Her visit coincides with the exhibition of her work in “Andrea Modica: Extended Moments” at the Akron Art Museum through Feb. 21.
Chief Curator Janice Driesbach said, “Hosting Andrea Modica to speak during the course of her exhibition provides an uncommon opportunity for visitors to learn more about her artistry and creative process. As well, the Fred and Ruth Bidwell Lecture program provides for the visiting artist to work with photography students at the University of Akron’s Mary Schiller Myers School of Art, further enhancing the impact of their visit on our community.”
Noted for her meticulous craftsmanship and evocative narratives, Modica uses traditional processes — an 8- by 10-inch view camera and platinum palladium contact printing — to achieve the lush tones that characterize her images. She is able to attain an enhanced understanding of her subjects because the set-up time and the physicality of the view camera require sustained attention. This quality is heightened by her practice of working in series, which have included explorations of skulls from a psychiatric hospital grounds, rural families in New York and Colorado, teenage best friends and landscapes.
“Andrea Modica is exceptional in her use of traditional processes to create contemporary narratives,” commented Driesbach. “Her photographs are beautifully composed and often use unexpected approaches or subjects. Modica’s photographs of teenage best friends are insightful studies of relationships. A photograph of the hands of a mother pinning her son’s slacks records an ordinary moment in an extraordinary way.”
The Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Lecture is an annual guest lectureship in photography and photographic media at the Akron Art Museum that is free and open to the public. The Bidwell Lecture also supports a program of educational enrichment for University of Akron Mary Schiller Myers School of Art students through workshops or critiques of student work during the artist’s visit.
For info, visit www.akronartmuseum.org.
