DC -- Dept of Interior Museum -- Exhibit: See America:
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Description of Pictures: From July 21 through September 30, 2014 the U.S. Department of the Interior Museum is hosting the “See America” exhibition, presented by Creative Action Network and the National Parks Conservation Association. Featured in this temporary show are 50 posters by 46 different artists depicting natural, cultural and historical sites across the United States. The posters are part of a growing online collection of more than 600 images submitted to the Creative Action Network by more than 185 artists worldwide.
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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
DOIMCA_141018_007.JPG: See America ... Then and Now:
In endeavoring to lift the United States out of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt also sought to restore the nation's battered spirit. One method of accomplishing this was to promote travel and tourism by showcasing the country's stunning landscapes and cultural attractions.
Artists employed via the New Deal's Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s were enlisted in this campaign. They created striking silk screened posters called serigraphs celebrating America's natural beauty, inclusive of national parks and monuments. Among the most innovative was a poster series for the United States Travel Bureau entitled, "See America."
This exhibition spotlights the vintage posters from this era and introduces a new spin on the appeal to "See America." In 2013, the Creative Action Network -- an international online community of artists -- extended an open invitation to contemporary artists to reinterpret the "See America" message for modern audiences. Fifty of the finest submissions received to date are on view here.
DOIMCA_141018_012.JPG: See America, 1939
Frank S. Nicholson
DOIMCA_141018_024.JPG: Forsyth Park, Georgia
Sawsan Chalabi
DOIMCA_141018_033.JPG: Tompkins Square Park, New York
Maelle Doliveux
DOIMCA_141018_038.JPG: African Burial Ground National Monument, New York
Kwesi Ferebee
DOIMCA_141018_047.JPG: Niagara Falls National Heritage Area, New York
Brixton Doyle
DOIMCA_141018_052.JPG: See America Today
In the 1930s the US government commissioned posters to showcase some of the country's most stunning features under the banner of "See America." Those original images helped link the natural landscape to an American identity, and they live on more than 75 years later as celebrated works of art.
Back in the 1930s, the "See America" project expanded awareness of existing national parks and monuments. Today, with hundreds more of these sites now established, a crowdsourced campaign was launched in 2013 seeking contemporary "See America" posters to showcase the country's beauty for a new generation.
Displayed here are 50 of more than 600 submissions received to date from over 185 artists worldwide. The entire collection can be viewed online at: http://www.seeamericaproject.com
"See America" is a project of the Creative Action Network, in partnership with the National Parks Conservation Association. This exhibition originated at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
DOIMCA_141018_058.JPG: "Yellowstone National Park" (1938 or 1939)
Attributed to C. Don Powell
DOIMCA_141018_064.JPG: There is nothing so American as our national parks. The scenery and wild life are native. The fundamental idea behind the parks is native. It is, in brief, that the country belongs to the people... The parks stand as the outward symbol of this great human principle.
-- Franklin Roosevelt, Radio Address from Glacier National Park, August 5, 1934
DOIMCA_141018_067.JPG: The New Deal and the Arts
"The Federal Art Project of the Works Project Administration is a practical relief project which also emphasizes the best tradition of the democratic spirit. The WPA artist, in rendering his own impression of things, speaks also for the spirit of his fellow countrymen everywhere. I think the WPA artist exemplifies with great force the essential place which the arts have in a democratic society such as ours."
-- From Franklin Roosevelt's Radio Dedication of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, May 10, 1939
President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal provided jobs for millions of unemployed Americans. Among them were tens of thousands of artists, including actors, dancers, writers, photographers, painters and sculptors employed by the WPA and other federal agencies. Asked why the government should assist unemployed artists. New Deal administrator Harry Hopkins replied, "Hell, they've got to eat just like other people."
Government art programs rescued artists from poverty. But they also served a larger purpose: to give all Americans access to art and culture. New Deal artists brought theater, music and dance to every corner of the nation and created hundreds of thousands of paintings, prints, drawings, posters and sculpture. Their work continues to adorn public buildings throughout the country.
DOIMCA_141018_073.JPG: WPA artist Edward Laning and his assistants at work on his mural, "The Role of the Immigrant in the Industrial Development of America," at the Ellis Island Immigration Station in New York Harbor.
DOIMCA_141018_077.JPG: Michigan artist Alfred Castagne sketches WPA construction workers, May 19, 1939.
DOIMCA_141018_079.JPG: Workers at the Poster Division's New York City unit make serigraph posters, 1940.
DOIMCA_141018_080.JPG: WPA workers silk screen and inspect posters
DOIMCA_141018_085.JPG: Posters for the People
Most of the artists employed by the New Deal workers for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). One of the WPA's most visible art initiatives was its Poster Division.
The Poster Division drew upon the talents of hundreds of graphic artists in units located in 17 states and the District of Columbia. Between 1935 and 1943, they designed, printed, and distributed more than two million posters produced from 35,000 designs. These posters promoted the work of government agencies, communicating messages on topics ranging from public health and work safety to recreation and travel. Americans encountered this artwork in public buildings, train and subway stations, factories, offices, shop windows and schools.
The Poster Division became noted for its bold, experimental designs. It pioneered the use of the silk screening process to mass-produce multicolored posters. Today its works is widely admired and continues to influence graphic designers.
DOIMCA_141018_088.JPG: Wild Life: The National Parks Preserve All Life, 1940
Frank S. Nicholson
DOIMCA_141018_092.JPG: The "See America" Posters
The Poster Division's New York City unit created some of the WPA's most memorable work. At its height in 1938, this unit employed 35 designers, 20 printers and a dozen cutters. They turned out promotional posters for a variety of government agencies.
In 1939, the United States Travel Bureau -- a division of the Department of the Interior -- asked the unit to design a poster series promoting tourism to scenic and historical sites. The "See America" series is among the most inventive produced by the Poster Division.
The "See America" posters bolstered President Franklin Roosevelt's broad campaign to enhance and raise interest in America's national parks and monuments. Roosevelt created 65 new ones during his presidency -- including Olympic, Kings Canyon and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. His Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) dramatically improved many others. And Roosevelt's much-publicized visits to national parks helped increase visitation during the 1930s, despite the difficult economic times.
DOIMCA_141018_095.JPG: See America, 1939
Alexander Dux
DOIMCA_141018_100.JPG: Roughly half of the museum is currently closed. They're trying to figure out what's going to happen to their operation.
DOIMCA_141018_104.JPG: Virgin Islands National Park, US Virgin Islands
Liliya Moroz
DOIMCA_141018_108.JPG: Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, Hawai'i
Joshua Sierra
DOIMCA_141018_114.JPG: Whitman Mission National Historic Site, Washington
Jillian Vaughan
DOIMCA_141018_121.JPG: Depoe Bay Whale Watching Center, Oregon
E. Michelle Peterson
DOIMCA_141018_127.JPG: Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California
David Hays
DOIMCA_141018_132.JPG: The Mittens, Monument Valley, Arizona
Brixton Doyle
DOIMCA_141018_137.JPG: Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota
Wedha Abdul Rasyid
DOIMCA_141018_142.JPG: El Capitan, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas
Alan Bates
DOIMCA_141018_158.JPG: National Park Passport Book, 1986 edition
Eastern National launched the Passport To Your National Parks program in 1986 to encourage visitation and promote a lifelong connection to the parks. Each 104-page passport lists all National Park Service sites and includes space to add five years' worth of commemorative regional stickers (10 are issued annually), plus dated cancellations recording park visits. This particular passport was purchased in 1989 at Cape Cod National Seashore for $2.95.
DOIMCA_141018_162.JPG: Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, Alabama
Jessica Tobias
DOIMCA_141018_171.JPG: Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota
Vikram Nongmaithem
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2014 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000.
Trips this year:
three Civil War Trust conferences (Winchester, VA, Nashville, TN, and Atlanta, GA),
Michigan to visit mom in the hospice before she died and then a return trip after she died, and
my 9th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Las Vegas, Reno, Carson City, Sacramento, Oakland, and Los Angeles).
Ego strokes: Paul Dickson used one of my photos as the author photo in his book "Aphorisms: Words Wrought by Writers".
Number of photos taken this year: just over 470,000.
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