SJIMA Celebrates Earth Day with Fragile Waters Exhibit

Opening, April 23, San Juan Islands Museum of Art

— from Anne Sheridan / photokunst, SJIMA PR Coordinator —

Ansel Adams: © courtesy the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust

The San Juan Islands Museum of Art celebrates the marine environment on Earth Day weekend with the opening of FRAGILE WATERS, its Spring / Summer exhibition.

FRAGILE WATERS is a powerful aesthetic and environmental statement, blending inspiring black-and-white photography by three renowned photographers and lifelong environmentalists: Ansel Adams, Ernest H. Brooks II, and Dorothy Kerper Monnelly.

Opening events on Earth Day weekend in and around Friday Harbor:

• Landscape Photography Walk: “Seeing with the Inner Eye”, Dorothy Kerper Monnelly
  Saturday, April 23, 10 am, location TBA, Tickets: $30 available at SJIMA or online at sjima.org
• Museum Gallery Walk, Ernest H. Brooks II
  Sat., April 23, 2 pm, SJIMA, Free to ticket holders and members
• Book Signing, Dorothy Kerper Monnelly
  Sat., April 23, 3 pm, SJIMA
• Art As A Voice Lecture “Ansel Adams: Artist and Conservationist” Michael Adams, MD
  (Ansel Adams’ son) Sat., April 23, 7:30 pm, Brickworks, Tickets: $20 non-members, $15 members, $10 students, Available at SJIMA or online at sjima.org. Remaining tickets will be available at the door.

The exhibition is further supported by educational programs focused on relevant global as well as Salish Sea issues. The exhibition and its related programs will provide learning opportunities for a wide audience of all ages through Labor Day.

FRAGILE WATERS is a powerful aesthetic and environmental statement, blending inspiring black-and-white photography by three renowned photographers; Ansel Adams, Ernest H. Brooks II, and Dorothy Kerper Monnelly, who feel a deep reverence for the marine environment and understand the integrity of place.

Water is essential to all life we know. Yet our oceans, rivers, lakes and other sources of water are in crisis.

Extreme weather events, aquifer depletion, toxic contaminants, fracking, pollution, spills, ocean acidification, floods, desertification, and the impact of rising seawater, are just a few of the urgent issues that confront us. The FRAGILE WATERS exhibition was born out of these concerns.

The 117 black-and-white photographs present a powerful collective statement. In technique and time these photographers span a century. These artists communicate the beauty and vitality of water, focusing on nature and engage the viewer in affirming the intrinsic aesthetic, emotional and essential life value of water.

Ansel Adams laid a foundation for his legendary technical mastery, as he traveled burdened with a cumbersome 8 x 10 camera and glass plate negatives, in pursuit of unspoiled nature. Adams pre-visualized images, expertly crafting elegant iconic landscapes where he intensified and purified the experience of natural beauty, capturing the sublime magnificence of wilderness. His work has been used to persuade lawmakers time and time again to preserve special environments, and create parks for a permanent public legacy.

Ernest H. Brooks II is one of the foremost underwater photographers and a trailblazer in the development of underwater photographic equipment and technique. Brooks has chronicled a wilderness unknown to most of us, including more recently, capturing infrared images of light on eerily calving Antarctica icebergs. He remains a tremendous voice for oceanic exploration, and an advocate for the preservation of critical marine environments.

Dorothy Kerper Monnelly’s intimate portrayal of the beauty of conserved marshland in Massachusetts takes on greater importance as swamps and marshes increasingly vanish in the face of urban development.

She has played a key role in the protection of these vulnerable wetlands. Monnelly still forays
through the marshes to catch the magic of dawn, but also explores coastal landscapes across the continent in all seasons.

These three artists demonstrate the beauty of and reverence for the nature that inspires them.
FRAGILE WATERS was curated by Jeanne Falk Adams, former CEO of the Ansel Adams Gallery, and daughter-in-law of Ansel. Her expertise in the field has made her a much-sought-after reviewer, juror, and lecturer. Adams’ long involvement in environmental issues has convinced her that aesthetics, and black-and-white photography in particular, can alert, inspire, communicate, and motivate. Her goal was to inspire and engage visitors in dialogue and offer direct opportunities for advocacy and involvement.

Photokunst LLC in Friday Harbor, developed FRAGILE WATERS, and is honored to represent and travel this vitally important exhibition.