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Event Details

Opening Reception: Fire Stories

  • 31 Jan 2020
  • 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
  • Sheehan Gallery in Whitman's Olin Hall 814 E Isaacs Ave, Walla Walla, WA 99362

Sheehan Gallery presents
FIRE STORIES: The Photography of John F. Marshall & the Osborne Panoramas

January 31 - April 10, 2020

Opening Event: Panel Discussion with John F. Marshall and Dr. Paul Hessburg, Friday, January 31st at 5:30 in Olin Auditorium 138 with Reception in the Gallery to follow

Today, fires still affect every living thing in the American West. Will they help or harm our Blue Mountain landscapes? Come and find out!

This dynamic presentation of images and text offers fascinating insights about forest landscapes and the integral role of wildfires. On display are historical photographs, known collectively as the Osborne Panoramas, taken from mountain-top fire lookouts in the 1930s. Many of the featured panoramas came from locations in the nearby Blue and Wallowa Mountain region, including Table Rock at the head of Mill Creek. These panoramas are shown alongside their modern equivalent, current landscapes, photographed by John F. Marshall, an accomplished landscape photographer and wildlife biologist from Wenatchee, Washington. Through his carefully curated compositions, Marshall reveals what happens in the 25 years after a forest burns.

In conjunction with these panoramas, an Osborne Photo Recording Transit is on display. This is the original camera type that shot the 1930s images. Only 10 of these devices were made, and only two are known to still exist.

In addition to his photographs, Marshall teamed up with Dr. Paul F. Hessburg, a U.S. Forest Service Research Scientist and UW Professor. With additional support from Wallowa Resources, together Marshall and Hessburg have created a vibrant didactic display. Throughout the Sheehan Gallery, informational panels describe the landscape and fire ecology of our region, highlighting the way past fires have crafted a complex forest mosaic that seldom exists today. Through research-based descriptions and Marshall's engaging imagery, wildfire is presented as both end and beginning, inseparable from the landscapes it shapes.

Sheehan Gallery is located in Olin Hall on Whitman College campus. The gallery is free and open to the public.

Open Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 12:00-5:00pm, Saturday/Sunday, 12:00-4:00pm or by Appointment.

Please visit www.whitman.edu/sheehan for more information, or call 509.527.5249 or 509.527.5992

Contact us at webmaster@artwalla.com

130 Rose Street #102

PO Box 2192

Walla Walla, WA 99362


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