The Southeast Museum of Photography Shows Stuart Rome's Forest Photographs

Written by Stanley Zbornak Sunday, 16 October 2011 23:08

Deltona, Florida. The Southeast Museum of Photography (SMP) exhibition space at the Lyonia Envrionmental Center is proud to present "Stuart Rome: Wonders, Images of Florida's Forests" on view through March 19th 2012. Florida has always figured large in the American psyche. Shrouded in mystery and myth, the Florida landscape has inspired awe, fear and conjecture. From the early days of the republic, through the era of exploration and to the present day, explorers, artists and writers chronicled their travels and discoveries in Florida for a curious and fascinated nation. Stuart Rome has followed in the footsteps of many of these great pro-genitors and journeyed to the heart of the Florida peninsula. His new body of landscape images adds to this rich and compelling history of botanic, scientific and artistic curiosity and draws some of its inspiration from the writings and journals of many important early naturalists. The eloquent tracery of patterns and details in his prints resonates with an inner glow and with a draftsmanship that veers at will from lyrical to muted to explosive, to capture the many and varied complexions of the processes at play in the natural world.

Stuart Rome is one of a handful of distinguished landscape photographers commissioned by the Southeast Museum of Photography to create new photography for exhibition at the museum in 2008, 2009 and 2011. These photographers, each with a very extensive record of exhibited and published work dealing with landscape, land use and environmental issues, have individually responded to aspects of these topics as they found them in Florida. Stuart Rome has an extensive record of work dealing with social and cultural history, landscape and with environmental issues. His major projects have included documenting Haitian Voodoo trance rituals and Mayan culture. He holds a B.F.A. in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology, and an M.F.A. from Arizona State University, Tempe. His published works include Maya, Treasures of an Ancient Civilization, Balinese Dance in Transition, Kaja and Kelod, Haiti, and Forest. Rome’s photographs have been included in numerous group exhibitions at galleries, museums, universities and art centers across the US. His images have been collected by the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona; The Davison Art Center at Wesleyan University; The Federal Reserve Bank Collection; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New Orleans Museum of Fine Art; Newport Harbor Museum of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Princeton University Art Museum; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics; and at Yale Art Museum.


The Southeast Museum of Photography exhibits, collects, preserves, and interprets photography to facilitate teaching and learning at Daytona State College, and enhances the community's understanding and appreciation of culture, history, art and photography. The Museum is a public resource dedicated to the advancement of the fields of photography and education through multi-disciplinary curriculum service, community education and public programs. The Museum upholds professional museum standards (AAM), and values freedom of intellectual inquiry, diversity, service to the discipline and profession and partnership with our community.The museum opened in 1992 and is one of 13 facilities in the US dedicated exclusively to photography, and one of only a handful of such institutions nationally, that share a scope, reach and depth of collection and activities in this specific field. It is Florida's most comprehensive museum of photography and the largest in the southeast. SMP is a vibrant museum with an impressive international reputation of leadership for photography exhibitions, publications and educational programming. SMP exhibitions and publications are well known in the field of photography and reach an international audience. The museum serves national audiences for photography and art as well as all local and regional audiences, universities, colleges and schools. SMP enjoys strong relations with other national and international photographic institutions and has hosted significant exhibitions of world-class photojournalism, fashion and advertising images, contemporary photographic art, thematic exhibitions by most major photographic artists; and the works of such renowned photographers as Andre Kertesz, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Robert Rauschenberg, Alex Webb, Susan Mieselas, Steve McCurry, Eugene Richards and Paul Fusco. Since 1992, the Museum has presented more than 300 exhibitions; 300 symposia, lectures, or other programs; and published more than 30 monographs or catalogues. In a typical year there are six exhibition seasons presenting solo, survey, vintage, thematic and various forms of retrospective exhibitions numbering about twenty. In recent years there has been a considerable increase in the number of exhibitions and programs directly presenting works significant to Florida and/or produced by Florida artists. The museum has also directed more of its curatorial efforts into generating, researching and developing new exhibitions directly. Exhibitions and public programs in photography bring many of the world's most renowned artists and photojournalists to the museum and to Florida. SMP recently moved to a new contemporary, multi-purpose complex at the main Daytona campus entrance of Daytona State College, directly on International Speedway Boulevard; giving the museum a very high profile in the community on the most-traveled public street. The landmark cultural complex enhances the museum’s ability to serve the community, the region and visitors to the area. It includes increased gallery space (9,000 sq.ft.), and education, workshop and office space, a theatre-style lecture area, seminar rooms (three, combined capacity 120 seats), a public access reference library and photographic resource center, a new museum bookstore, coffee shop and a cinema/screening room (90 seat). Atrium, seminar and banquet/symposium program areas total 30,000 sq. ft. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.smponline.org

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