A collection of pinhole photographs from Texas State University will open with a reception in the gallery of the De Pree Art Center on Thursday, Oct. 19.
The public is invited to both the exhibition and the reception. Admission is free.
The exhibition, "La Vida Brinca," features work spanning 10 years by Bill Wittliff, a native of Texas who is a self-taught photographer as well as "A-list" screenwriter whose Hollywood credits include "The Black Stallion," "The Perfect Storm," "Legends of the Fall" and "Lonesome Dove." The works are from the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography at Texas State University, San Marcos.
Reading an old book on photography one rainy day on South Padre Island, Wittliff made a pinhole camera out of a pie tin. A piece of tape over a pin hole in the tin acted as a shutter.
He found the dreamlike quality of the images that emerged from his primitive camera to be quite magical. The narrative in the exhibition invitation notes, "Truly, the inherent nature of this early form of photographic equipment seems to render these beautiful and sometimes haunting images as if they have come from some other time or a land that we barely recognize."
The De Pree Art Center is located on Columbia Avenue at 12th Street. The gallery is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is handicapped accessible.
The exhibition will continue through Friday, Nov. 17. Additional information about the exhibition or gallery may be obtained by calling the De Pree Art Center at (616) 395-7500.