(October 28, 2014)

Poet of the Ordinary: Photographs by Keith Carter opens at Meadows; Carter in Residence as Attaway Fellow

SHREVEPORT, LA — The Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College will host Poet of the Ordinary: Photographs by Keith Carter Saturday, November 8, through Saturday, January 31, 2015.

This exhibition brings together 60 photographs that represent the range and development of Carter's work since the 1970s. Lauded as "a transcendent realist" and "a poet of the ordinary," internationally acclaimed photographer Carter uses light and chemistry to reveal hidden meanings in the real world. Drawing from the nature of animals, popular culture, folklore, and religion, his pictures explore relationships that are timeless, enigmatic, and mythological.

"I think there is an element of magic in photography — light, chemistry, precious metals — a certain alchemy," said Carter. "You can wield a camera like a magic wand almost. Murmur the right words and you can conjure up proof of a dream. I believe in wonder. I look for it in my life every day; I find it in the most ordinary things."

Carter will meet with classes and student photography groups in the region during his residency. A free artist's reception will be held for the public on Saturday, November 8, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Carter will give a gallery talk at 6 p.m.

Keith Carter holds the endowed Walles Chair of Visual and Performing Arts at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, and among his many honors are the Texas Medal of Arts Award, the Lange-Taylor Prize from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, and the Regent's Professor Award from the Texas State University System. His previous books include Fireflies (2009), Opera Nuda (2005), Holding Venus (2000), Bones (1996), Heaven of Animals (1995), Mojo (1992), The Blue Man (1990), From Uncertain to Blue (1988), A Certain Alchemy (2008), Ezekiel's Horse (2000) and Keith Carter Photographs: Twenty-Five Years (1997).

In addition to his large archive at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University-San Marcos, Carter's work is included in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the George Eastman House.

This exhibition originates from the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University-San Marcos, which houses the world's largest Keith Carter collection with over twelve hundred images. Exhibition Tour management by Photographic Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California.

Carter's exhibition is sponsored by the Friends of the Algur Meadows Museum and supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council.

Funded by and named for Douglas and Marion Attaway, with matching funds from the State of Louisiana, the Attaway Professorships in Civic Culture are awarded to intellectuals who have made notable contributions to the public discussion of ideas. They present themselves not as academics who occasionally have public roles but as public thinkers and gifted communicators whose foremost interest is civic culture. The College reserves the title "Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture" for those whose work is known beyond the bounds of the academy and who have a national reputation in their fields.

The Meadows Museum of Art is located on the campus of Centenary College of Louisiana at 2911 Centenary Boulevard in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Museum is free and open to the public Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m.— 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 12 p.m.— 4 p.m. For more information or to schedule field trips, call the Museum at 318.869.5040.