MICHAEL A. SMITH & PAULA CHAMLEE: DIVINE TUSCANY

For Immediate Release
November 22, 2004
Contact:
Gemma de Santos
(713) 520-1200

MICHAEL A. SMITH & PAULA CHAMLEE: DIVINE TUSCANY

NOVEMBER 27 – DECEMBER 31, 2004

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 27th from 6-9pm
Artist’s talk and book signing at 6:30pm

Houston—De Santos Gallery presents Michael A. Smith & Paula Chamlee: Divine Tuscany. Divine Tuscany features over sixty black-and-white photographs from Smith and Chamlee’s recent projects, Tuscany: Wandering the Backroads (1999-2001) and Chamlee’s Madonnina (2000-01) series.

This husband-and-wife team is deeply committed to traditional photographic materials and equipment that provide the highest detail and quality. They travel throughout the world working on-location with their “photography truck” rigged with film and vintage cameras as large as 18×22 inches. Their exquisitely printed photographs have been compared to that of American master printers, Edward Weston and Alfred Stieglitz.

The Wandering the Backroads series is based on Smith and Chamlee’s independent projects that grew out of their travels in Italy from the Carrara region in the north to the Etruscan towns in the south, and from Val di Chiana and Cortona in the east to the Island of Elba off the coast to the west.

Chamlee’s Madonnina (“little Madonna”) series represents the photographer’s admiration for the outdoor Italian shrines to the Virgin Mary, known as Madonninas, which she discovered throughout the villages and countryside of Tuscany. Chamlee’s interest in these shrines grew as she discovered and documented the wide range shrines built by peasants and artisans from antiquity to today.

Smith and Chamlee live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania where they own and run Lodima Press that specializes in high-end reproductions of fine art photography. Lodima Press published three monographs this year based on the work exhibited in Divine Tuscany. The publications are Tuscany: Wandering the Backroads, Volume I and Madonnina by Paula Chamlee; Tuscany: Wandering the Backroads, Volume II by Michael A. Smith. Each book reproduces over forty photographs in fine detail and includes essays and contributions from noted curators and scholars of Italian culture. Smith and Chamlee will sign copies of their books and give a brief artists’ talk at the opening reception on November 27th at 6:30pm.