By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
A quintet of Amarillo notables will offer thoughts on highlights of Amarillo Museum of Art's current photography exhibitions during a Thursday special event.
5 in 5: Journey on the Open Road begins at 7 p.m. Thursday at the museum, 2200 S. Van Buren St.
The event is in conjunction with a pair of exhibitions on view at the museum: The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip, on view through Jan. 1, and High Plains Highways, on view through Jan. 15, both focus on trekking cross-country via Route 66 and other iconic highways.
“Some of the best work in American photography has been made on American roads,” Denise Wolff, senior editor at the Aperture Foundation and co-curator of The Open Road, told the Wall Street Journal.
For The Open Road, Wolff and David Campany compiled works featured in his 2014 book of the same name for the touring exhibition.
For High Plains Highways, Wyatt McSpadden, an Amarillo native who began his career working for Stanley Marsh 3 and has since become an editorial photographer for publications nationwide, selected more than 40 images from more than 200 entries from regional photographers.
At 5 in 5, "we hope to get some bite-sized bits of information," said Alex Gregory, AMoA curator of art.
Just like stops along a road trip, visitors will walk through the museum to hear short conversations about specific artists and general insights about the exhibitions' themes.
Speaking at the event are Trent Sisemore, former Amarillo mayor and co-owner of Jack Sisemore Traveland, on the American Road Trip; Larry Lemmons, ABC 7 anchor, on photographer Shinya Fujiwara; Bob "Crocodile" Lile, artist and Route 66 historian, on the Mother Road; Rene West, artist and Amarillo College instructor, on photographer Robert Frank; and Gregory on photographer Ed Ruscha's Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, 1962 (seen above).
The event is free. Call 806-371-5050.
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and at www.facebook.com/chipchandlerwriter on Facebook.
