By Aaron Waters
For 20 years the Southeast Museum of Photography has brought a taste of rarified culture to the Daytona community.
“It is really cool because it’s one of the few museums in the whole country still dedicated solely to photography,” says William Sobalvarro, a photography student at Daytona State College.
According to the museum’s website — http://smponline.org/about.html —the facility is one of only 13 museums in the United States to focus entirely on the art of photography. In its two decades of existence, it has built a solid reputation for pushing the envelope when it comes to the shows it stages.
Its website states, “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.” But that does not do justice to the scope of its endeavors. From educational outreach programs to classic and contemporary film series to its many artist exhibits and talks, the SMP is a big draw for the College and community.
As an independent academic and public-service unit of Daytona State College, the main purpose of exhibitions is to provide multifaceted education in the field to college students, the public and even grammar school children, as evidenced by its summer camp programs (see this month’s Centerspread).
“They have guest speakers and it’s required in my photography program to attend multiple lectures,” says Sobalvarro.
Along with lectures and seminars with world-renowned photographers, the museum stages nationally recognized exhibitions, along with weekly free series such as spring semester’s offering of contemporary global cinema and French New Wave films. Its “Dinner and a Movie” series not only highlights well-loved features, but also the fine dining offered at Café 101, its neighbor in the Hosseini building (1200).
The museum reopened in its new facility several years ago, expanding to a 9,000 square foot gallery space, accompanied by and education, workshop and office spaces, a theater-style lecture area, seminar rooms, a public access reference library and photographic resource center, new museum gift shop and 90-seat cinema/screening room. Besides Café 101, the large foyer has a coffee and pastry shop. The only thing missing is popcorn.
Through Sept. 16, current exhibitions are the faculty and alumni focus displays, spotlighting the work of DSC associate professor Steven Benson and alumnus Christian Weber.
In addition to an extensive career as an exhibiting artist, Benson has been a freelance photographer for more than 25 years working on assignment for publishers, advertising agencies and Fortune 500 companies throughout North America, Brazil, Japan, Russia, Mexico, France, Germany and Holland. This exhibition at the Southeast Museum of Photography represents a 40-year retrospective of his diverse career.
With publication credits in numerous important magazines including Details, Wired, GQ, Marie Claire, New Scientist, Communication Arts, AdBusters, Interview, French Photo, Harper’s Bazaar (both Italian and Russian editions), Newsweek and New York Magazine, Weber’s photographs are also frequently featured in exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad.
Also currently on display at the Lyonia Gallery, located in the Lyonia Environmental Center at the Deltona Regional Library, is “Beate Sass: Tall Timbers Plantation Project.” That exhibition closes on Oct. 14.
Coming Sept. 14 and running through December will be Rania Matar’s “A Girl and Her Room,” which chronicles the complex lives of young contemporary women. In that same time frame, the museum will present “Edge to Edge: Vintage Panoramic in Florida,” curated by Jay Mechling.
Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays and weekends from 1 to 5 p.m. 386-506-4475. All discussions are wheelchair-accessible. Information is also available at www.smponline.org
Professor Benson will give an artist’s talk, followed by a reception, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5. The event is free and open to the public.