Havana Street by C.J. Pressma

In conjunction with the 2009 Visual Arts Festival, the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft (KMAC) is hosting C.J. Pressma Retrospective One 1962-2006 from June 5 – August 1 in the Lindy and Bill Street Gallery. The retrospective exhibition will feature photographic, film, digital and mixed media works by artist C.J. Pressma, and coincides with a simultaneous exhibition of his later work at PYRO Gallery which runs from May 22 – July 4, 2009. The artist reception for both exhibits will be held during the First Friday Gallery Hop on Friday, June 5 from 5:00-9:00pm. C.J. Pressma will also give an exhibition tour and lecture at KMAC about the history of the Center for Photographic Studies and his retrospective on Thursday, June 25 from 6:00-8:30pm. This event is $5 or free for KMAC members.

A native of Louisville, C.J. Pressma is a graduate of Antioch College and holds an M.F.A. in Photography from Indiana University. He studied as a special graduate student with Minor White at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and with Henry Holmes Smith at Indiana University. In 1970 he founded the Center for Photographic Studies to provide a facility for those seeking to explore photography as creative expression. Its two galleries hosted photographic exhibits featuring the works of local, regional, and internationally acclaimed photographic artists including Ansel Adams and Minor White. In 1978 he was awarded a National Endowment Fellowship in Photography. In 1979 Pressma began a career as a multimedia producer and marketing communications specialist. In 1997 he was awarded the American Advertising Federation’s prestigious Silver Medal Award.In 1984, his seven part series Witness to the Holocaust was released in the U.S. and Canada where it remains in distribution today. In 2001 Pressma was awarded an Al Smith Fellowship by the Kentucky Arts council.

The 2009 Visual Arts Festival is honoring the Center for Photographic Studies, a Louisville alternative school for creative photography founded by C.J. Pressma in 1970, and features 25 galleries and museums exhibiting photography throughout June and July. A majority of the exhibits will reflect work by former students of the Center for Photographic Studies, as well as memorabilia from the students themselves, works of renowned artists who visited the Center and other photographic works of independent artists. For more information and a list of participating galleries and museums, go to www.paulpalettigallery.com and click on “upcoming”.

About the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft: The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft is a nonprofit organization founded in 1981. Its mission is to promote and support art and craft excellence in Kentucky. The Museum is supported in part by the Fund for the Arts and the Kentucky Arts Council, a state arts agency that supports the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft through the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art. It is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or by appointment. Admission is $5 for adults, free for KMAC members, students and children under 12. For more information, please call 502.589.0102 or log on to www.KentuckyArts.org.