Two photography exhibitions at UNT on the Square show life on the prairie and in the horse industry

Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - 14:35
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What: Diane Williams: Life on the Blackland Prairie, an exhibition of photographs of rural life in the agricultural region that runs from San Antonio to the Texas-Oklahoma border, and Bankston, Shugart and Stryker: Horse Country Photographers, an exhibition of photos that depict the Quarter Horse ranching industry in North Texas

When: June 16 (Monday) - July 19 (Saturday)

Where: UNT on the Square, 109 N. Elm St., Denton

Cost: Free

What else: A reception for the Blackland Prairie exhibition will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. June 16 (Monday) at UNT on the Square. A reception for Horse County will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. June 19 (Thursday) at UNT on the Square.

DENTON, Texas (UNT) – Images of rural life in Texas will be on display in two University of North Texas exhibitions running June 16 (Monday) - July 19 (Saturday) at UNT on the Square.

The exhibitions are Diane Williams: Life on the Blackland Prairie, which features photographs of rural landscapes of that area, and Bankston, Shugart and Stryker: Horse Country Photographers, which depicts life in the Quarter Horse industry. The exhibitions are sponsored by the UNT Institute for the Advancement of the Arts and the UNT Libraries Special Collections.

A reception for Blackland Prairie will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. June 16 (Monday) at UNT on the Square. Williams, an architectural historian based in Santa Fe, N.M., is expected to attend the reception. A reception for Horse County will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. June 19 (Thursday) at UNT on the Square.

Williams documented buildings and landscapes of the Blackland Prairie, the agricultural region that runs from the San Antonio area to the Texas-Oklahoma border.

Williams photographed buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

"My interest was trying to convey a sense of time and place, selecting buildings that were little changed on the exterior, with the idea that if people who lived at the time were to return, they would recognize the buildings," she said.

Williams' black and white gelatin silver photographs were taken with a large format 4x5 camera. She prints the images on fiber-based photographic paper using traditional, wet darkroom methods.

Williams worked on the project thanks in part to a 2002 Cecilia Steinfeldt Fellowship for Research in the Arts and Material Culture from the Texas State Historical Association.

"I hope visitors will appreciate the images themselves," she said. "And perhaps the photographs will spur people to look at older buildings in their communities differently."

Bankston, Shugart and Stryker: Horse Country Photographers focuses on the Quarter Horse ranching industry in the North Texas region. The images were shot by Ray Bankston, Don Shugart and John Stryker and archived in the UNT Libraries.

"These collections document the people, places and most importantly, the horses who have built this multi-million dollar industry," said Morgan Gieringer, head of Special Collections for UNT Libraries.

The gallery is open 9 a.m. - noon and 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday, with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Thursdays; and 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturdays. It is closed on Sundays.

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