An exhibit highlighting the work of Arkansas photographer Mike Disfarmer will be on display in the main concourse of the Hot Springs Convention Center late next month as part of Arts & The Park, along with a workshop showing how to take photos in Disfarmer's distinctive style.
"Mike Disfarmer (was) a renowned Arkansas photographer that, like many artists (was) maybe not fully appreciated in his lifetime. As part of Arts & The Park this year, the theme is called 'Creative Roots' and it's just drawing inspiration, all the different elements of the festival this year, we're asking artists to draw inspiration from either their own ancestral roots or from out state," Mary Zunick, cultural affairs manager for Visit Hot Springs, said.
"And so Mike Disfarmer, having lived in Arkansas for so many years and having this incredible collection of photographs that was his life's work seemed the appropriate way to honor our Arkansas roots with this photography exhibit," Zunick said.
Disfarmer was a photographer from the 1910s until the 1950s, she said, noting his photos "just capture such a window of time in our Arkansas history and he just had an incredible style and way of capturing the essence of individuals in the photos."
Teaching how to capture photos in the style of Disfarmer will be Don House, another Arkansas-based photographer.
House, from northwest Arkansas, is going to do a photography workshop, "so people who are interested in learning more about this style of photography, they can actually attend a one-day workshop here in Hot Springs," Zunick said.
The exhibit will be free and will open to the public on Friday, April 29. House will lead the workshop for photographers of all levels interested in Disfarmer's methods on Sunday, April 24.
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"That workshop will be on the 24th, but when the exhibit opens on the 29th, there will be some photos from that workshop that are part of a virtual exhibit that will be here at the convention center but online as well, so quite a unique opportunity," she said.
Those who participate in the workshop, which is $50 to join, will have to provide their own cameras, which can be digital, Zunick said.
"We've done all sorts of other workshops as part of the festival -- pen and ink, watercolor, drawing, sculpture -- but I think this is the first photography exhibit that we've done, and our first photography exhibit as well that's part of Arts & The Park," she said.
According to a news release, the workshop will begin with a group discussion and an analysis of samples of Disfarmer's images and what makes them visually powerful. House will then demonstrate his own techniques and discuss lighting, film and digital cameras, backdrops, processing, and his "philosophical approach to capturing images that are honest in every important meaning of that word."
Participants will put the information to use by taking portraits using their own cameras and available light. Images taken by participants will be displayed publicly during the Disfarmer exhibition. To register, visit the HSACA website, http://www.hotspringsarts.org.
"We have 30 of these reproductions of Disfarmer's work," Zunick said, noting the original photos were smaller, but "we were able to have them enlarged so you can see more detail."
Many Hot Springs locals are already familiar with Disfarmer's work, she said.
One of the Mike Disfarmer photos that will be displayed at the Hot Springs Convention Center as part of an exhibit for Arts & The Park. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record"Several years ago ... the Museum of Contemporary Art had an exhibit of some of his originals. There was also a film about Mike Disfarmer that many people will remember that was shown during the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival," Zunick said.
"Obviously, the convention center is in a public space with a lot of people walking through it, so not a good idea to have original Disfarmer work there, so we were fortunate that we were allowed to make reproductions of it, and especially to have them enlarged as well I think," Zunick said.
"It's a really special exhibit, something that we as Arkansans should be really proud of," she said.
The exhibit will be displayed in the convention center for the summer.