Contact: Ray Ladd
(805) 756-7432
rladd@calpoly.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Natural Light and Italian Piazza" Exhibit
on Display
In Performing Arts Center Through Nov. 30
SAN LUIS OBISPO -- An international exhibition of photographs
documenting the dynamics of natural light, architecture and people in
Italian town plazas is on display in the Performing Arts Center on the
Cal Poly campus through Nov. 30.
"Natural Light and the Italian Piazza" is the work of Cal Poly
Architecture Professor Emeritus Sandra Davis Lakeman. More than 160 of
her images are displayed in a series of installations in the lobbies on
all four levels of the Performing Arts Center.
The exhibition will be open to the public in a series of receptions and
special events. The first showing will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 6, when
the exhibit will be part of San Luis Obispo's free, monthly Art After
Dark event. The photographs also will be available for viewing by ticket
holders attending other events in the center.
"Whether as a clear green light coming through fresh young olive
leaves,
or transferring its rays through crackling thin ice breaking over
freshly planted winter wheat, light is the subject," Lakeman said.
"Light and the physical landscape or light and architectural form
are
frequently captured 'contra la luce,' shooting into the light. This
assures that light is seen as an entity, not the form and then the
effect of the light, but actual light."
Themes of time and timelessness, permanence and impermanence run through
the photographs, which were taken over a 12-year period in Siena's
Piazza del Campo and other locations in Tuscany.
"To improve the quality of our lives, our sight, our photography
or
building designs, we must make a conscious effort to become aware of
light," Lakeman said. "For designers and architects it is important
to
think and to design with light foremost in their minds." The first
exhibition of the work was in the town hall of Siena in 1992. The
Portland, Ore., Chapter of the American Institute of Architects
sponsored a showing in that city, the exhibit's largest showing.
“The stupendous photographs, exhibited for over a month, have enchanted
the visiting public with their originality and accomplishment," an
Italian reviewer said. "The exhibition is a striking success... a
precious jewel... putting the piazza in relation to the play of natural
light and shadow.... The result: a series of evocative images forming
an
exhibition unique in the world." Architecture scholar and critic
Kenneth Frampton called the images "both aesthetically beautiful
and
extremely instructive.”
Harvard University's William M.C. Lam, a specialist in designing with
light, said, "The collection should appeal to a very wide audience
and
communicate an awareness of natural light and its properties.”
Additional dates of special events during which the exhibit will be open
to the public -- most at no charge -- include:
- Sept. 3 and Nov. 5 from 6 to 9 p.m. as part of Art After Dark.
- Sept. 17, 5-8 p.m., an "I Madonnari" artists and donors reception
sponsored by the California Central Coast Chapter of the American
Institute of Architects and the College of Architecture and
Environmental Design.
- Oct. 13, a Cal Poly Continuing Education Program lecture and tour.
- Dates yet to be announced in conjunction with the College of
Architecture and Environmental Design's annual Hearst Lecture Series and
for the showing of the film "Woman's Story" by Gary Conway.
Lakeman, who has practiced architecture since 1956, joined the Cal Poly
faculty in 1981. She received a Master of Architecture degree in 1977
from the University of Oregon and is a registered architect in Oregon.
Lakeman's photographic work was supported by grants from the Graham
Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, the Skaggs Foundation,
the National Endowment for the Arts, Siena's town council and Cal Poly.
Local support was provided by the California Central Coast Chapter of
the American Institute of Architects, Robert Richmond, Rob Rossi, Beth
Law, Tim Woodle, the Tackle Warehouse, and several Cal Poly architecture
and art and design students.
A pamphlet with information about the exhibition catalog, posters and
cards will be available at the Performing Arts Center. For the latest
information or to arrange private tours for groups and organizations,
receptions or lectures during the exhibition, go to
www.sandralakeman.com on the Web.
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NOTE TO EDITORS: For representative photos from the exhibition, contact
Sandra Lakeman at (805) 541-3223 or slakeman@calpoly.edu.