The Fall 2021 Visiting Artist Series continues with a lecture and two workshops featuring photographer Larry Gawel. The artist talk will take place October 5. Those wishing to attend can experience the talk in person in Brick City Building 1, room 312, or stream via Zoom (register in advance). The workshops covering the tintype process used by Gawel will be offered to students on October 5 and October 6.

Larry Gawel, a Nebraska-based photographer, is also a professor and Photography Program Coordinator at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha. His most recent work explores a contemporary version of tintype, a type of photography originating in the 1850’s. During his talk, Gawel will be covering the specifics of his tintype process as well as explaining the development of his total collection of work.

While this event does primarily focus on photography as a medium, the artist talk is not limited to students studying photography. Event coordinator and Missouri State Art + Design Photography Professor Gwen Walstrand shares how she hopes this event will benefit students of all art forms, “It’s important for artists at all levels to be exposed to prominent artists with completed, fully resolved bodies of work. We see the work and hear insights about the evolution of those projects and begin to understand more about the potentials of the media used, the potentials of our own work, and the thought processes, and hard work, that bring them about. Those who study art and who appreciate art are always enlightened by such discussions that give personal insight to the work we see on museum or gallery walls. I hope students take advantage of this opportunity to think more deeply about the choices they make and how those choices are read and understood by an audience.”

Brick City Building 1 is located at 327 W. Mill Street, Springfield, MO 65806. For questions about the event, call the Department of Art and Design office, 417-837-2330. Face masks are required inside all academic buildings at Missouri State University. For more information on how to attend a tintype workshop, email Gwen Walstrand at GwenWalstrand@MissouriState.edu.

Taylor Ladd is a graduate assistant for the Department of Art + Design. She is working towards her master’s degree in writing at Missouri State University with professional interests in writing about art, culture, and food.