Rural American life celebrated in Bidwell Photography Lecture Oct. 17

Photographer Chris Verene has been making documentary photographs about his family's rural Illinois hometown of Galesburg for the past three decades. The simple color images, accompanied by handwritten text, are understated and reflect a plain yet beautiful side of American life that might otherwise pass by uncelebrated.

On Thursday, Oct. 17, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Akron Art Museum, Verene will share many of those photographs and talk about his work. The free lecture is part of The University of Akron's Fred and Laura Bidwell Photography Lecture Series, which brings prominent photographers to Akron each year. In addition to the lecture, Verene will spend a day working closely with students in UA's Mary Schiller Myers School of Art.
 
The lecture is free but tickets are required. To reserve tickets, visit the Akron Art Museum online or call the museum at 330-376-9185.
 
Verene's work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Musuem of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Walker Art Center, and others.
 
The Akron Art Museum is at One South High Street in downtown Akron.
 
For more information on The University of Akron's Bidwell Photography Lecture Series, contact UA's Myers School of Art at 330-972-6030.

Media contacts: Cyndee Snider (UA), 330-972-5196 or cyndee@uakron.edu, or Alison Caplan (Akron Art Museum), 330-376-9186, ext. 230, or acaplan@akronartmuseum.org.