How Northern Michigan Landed Ansel Adams

By Patrick Sullivan | April 15, 2017

It took four full years of planning and fundraising, so when Crooked Tree Arts Center secured the rights to display the traveling exhibit titled “Ansel Adams: Masterworks,” it decided that merely hanging the iconic photographs in its Petoskey gallery would not be enough. Instead, the organization decided to plan a summer’s worth of related events in both Petoskey and Traverse City.

The 48 high quality prints that Adams himself hand selected to represent his work will be accompanied by lectures, a visit by a legendary documentary filmmaker, photography workshops and a juried photography show of national parks photography. The exhibition will run in Petoskey from June 1–Sept. 28.

Northern Express sat down with CTAC Executive Director Liz Ahrens to talk about all that went into booking the show and the excitement that continues to build as its opening nears.

Northern Express: How does the Ansel Adams show rank in the history of exhibitions Crooked Tree has hosted over the years?
Liz Ahrens: Probably one of the top two or three. A number of years ago, we borrowed pieces from the Manoogian Collection, so we had John Singer Sargents, we had J. M. W. Turner, we had American master painters here. Amazing, beautiful paintings that are museum quality experiences. The other component of this would be that photography is so accessible and that people understand Ansel Adams photography. They might not know his background, but most people are going to walk in the door and go, “I know these photos. I love these photos. I’m connected to these photos.” To me, that’s what’s really important. There’s no barrier. No, “I have to have a fine art background to understand this.”

Express: Tell me what this collection is and how you decided you wanted to bring it here.
Ahrens: So, we have a patron. His name is David Crouse, and he’s a passionate collector of photography. We’ve hosted a number of amazing photography exhibits with him over the years with his support and help in fundraising. Unlike most of our exhibits, we were going to have to pay a pretty high fee [for the Ansel Adams show]. When you borrow these kinds of exhibits, you have to have support from the donor base and somebody has to be a champion behind them in the community, saying, “This is going to be amazing.” Four years ago now, David’s brother Jay – he knew Ansel Adams, and he also had one of the first true photo galleries for collecting in Atlanta, back in the ‘70s and ‘80s – was traveling out West and saw this amazing exhibit in California. He said to David, “This would be beautiful in northern Michigan. I know you know Crooked Tree. Let’s talk about helping get it here.” We said, “Okay, great. Let’s call the company that is the lending institution.”

Express: So the challenge was in raising the money to bring it here.
Ahrens: It really was. The challenge was raising the money. We knew this would be a blockbuster show for us, but it was raising the money and providing the complementary programming that’s going to create the ongoing groundswell of, “Oh my gosh, I’d better go see this exhibit.”

Express: What did the fundraising entail?
Ahrens: Our goal was $130,000. That’s the cost of all the events. For instance, the exhibit fee and insurance and shipping is almost $50,000. It’s expensive. And security – we’re going to put in new security cameras. During the day, we have to guarantee we’ll have someone on site all the time. We’re also bringing in documentary filmmaker Ric Burns, brother of Ken Burns, who did a documentary on Ansel Adams back in ’02. We said, “Gosh, if we could bring Ric Burns up here, how cool would that be?” Ric Burns’ speaking fee is 15 grand by the time we fly him here. I can’t charge 500 bucks a person to sit in the theater, but we’ve got a nice community of photographers and donors and patrons. As we were putting together all the programming, we decided to do a private dinner with Ric for $75 a person. If you want to just come and hear Ric speak and get a bite of dessert after, it’s 10 bucks. We’ve done the fundraising. We’re at $90,000, so we’re almost there. It’s an expensive proposition. I won’t say it’s once in a lifetime, but we won’t do something like this again for years.

Express: What makes these prints special? Why didn’t they just make enough prints so that every museum that wanted them could hang them any time they liked?
Ahrens: There’s a whole back story to this traveling exhibit. When Ansel Adams was still alive – he died in 1984 – he put together a group [of photographs] specifically that he curated. He selected these photos to travel to smaller museums. He was there when they were all printed. He signed them – these are not plate signed. And he selected them knowing there were all these smaller institutions across the U.S. Actually, some large museums have hosted the exhibit, but [he did this] especially for the smaller institutions that either don’t have the same kind of collection or that don’t have access to these kind of museum quality shows. Ansel Adams photographs are very limited. He was very aware that he wanted to limit the number of photos he created.

Express: What’s the difference between seeing one of these images online versus seeing it person, standing in front of it?
Ahrens: Well, first of all, when you see something online, every monitor, every phone, every device self-corrects, lighter or darker, so it’s always going to look different in whatever kind of device you’re looking at. A photograph that he’s developed, the paper and the image itself, is the one he wanted to produce. This is exactly what Ansel Adams wanted it to look like. This is not me downloading it from the Library of Congress and going, “Yeah, I’m going to print it off and make a mousepad.” He chose these photos because they are exactly the representation he wanted.

Express: So they’re something special to see.
Ahrens: They are. Yes.

Express: Ansel Adams is known for his iconic photos of national parks. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was not yet a national park when he was working. Mackinac Island had been a national park, but it was a state park by the time he was contracted by the federal government to photograph the national parks in the 1940s. So he’s not known for any photographs of Michigan. How are you connecting this exhibit to our area?
Ahrens: That’s why we did the national parks show – to complement it. Because, first of all, we have a lot of photographers in the region, all of northwest Michigan and the U.P., who travel other places to make photos. So it was kind of a combination of, “Let’s pay homage to those photographers who are out there today, following in his footsteps, and let’s create the awareness, especially of Isle Royale, Pictured Rocks, Sleeping Bear Dunes, of what’s here in Michigan.” To us, that was a great opportunity. How great is it that you’re going to come in and see the Ansel Adams photos but then walk out in the hallway and go, “My neighbor took that. I had no idea this guy took photographs.”

Express: Which of the complementary programs are you most excited about?
Ahrens: It’s kind of two–fold. I’m really excited to bring a scholar and filmmaker like Ric Burns here. But the other side of it is, I’m happy we’ve got people training to provide tours. It’s not a long time. They’re only 20–minute or half–hour tours, but for those people who want to know more – “Okay, I get Ansel Adams, but I want to walk away with one thing I didn’t know” – we’re going to have these wonderful tours every week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, at no charge, that I hope really enhance people’s experience. The docents are training right now.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 

“Ansel Adams: Masterworks” runs in Petoskey from June 1 through Sept. 30. The exhibit is free, but CTAC will ask for a $5 donation at the door. That’s just the beginning, however – there’s a lot more taking place around the exhibit both in Petoskey and at Crooked Tree’s Traverse City location.

 

PETOSKEY 
“Our National Parks”
June 2–Sept. 7
“Our National Parks” is a juried photography exhibit in honor of Ansel Adams and the 100th anniversary of the national parks. Over 200 photographs were submitted, and the best of those will be selected to hang this summer at Crooked Tree.

Lectures
Lectures by photographers will take place Tuesdays and Thursday throughout the summer. Check the website at crookedtree.org for details.

Ric Burns Lecture
June 21, 5:30pm
Film producer Ric Burns, who directed a documentary about Adams’ life that aired in 2002 on PBS, will be a guest speaker at a dinner at Crooked Tree. Tickets are $75 per person for dinner and lecture or $10 per person for dessert and lecture.

Film Screenings
June 13, July 11 and Aug. 9, 7pm
Screenings of Burns’ documentary “Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film” will take place at Crooked Tree.

Ansel Adams Concert
July 5, 7pm
“Tribute! Ansel Adams: America” in collaboration with Bay View Music Festival at John Hall Auditorium in Bay View. Works composed by Chris and Dave Brubeck will be performed along with works by other iconic American composers at Crooked Tree. Tickets are $20 for members and $28 for non–members.

Guided Tours and Photography Workshops
Guided tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays and photography workshops for people of all skill levels will be scheduled throughout the summer. Check the website at crookedtree.org for times and descriptions.

TRAVERSE CITY
“Northern Lights Juried Photography Exhibition”
June 8–Aug. 2
“Northern Lights Juried Photography Exhibition” is a collection of stunning photographs of the aurora borealis and the night skies taken in northern Michigan.

“Monte Nagler: Visions of Light”
June 8–Aug. 2
A collection of photographic work by Monte Nagler, a former student of Ansel Adams.

Coffee @ Ten with Peggy Zinn from Michigan Aurora Hunters
June 20, 10am
Photographer Peggy Sue Zinn heads the Michigan Aurora Hunters, an organization of over 1,000 Michigan residents who photograph the northern lights.

Team Photo Scavenger Hunt
June 24, 10am–4pm
Enjoy a day exploring downtown Traverse City and hunting down clues in this family–friendly photo scavenger hunt. Grab a camera and a team of two to eight and compete for TC–themed prizes.

Coffee after Dark: History of Photography with Kaleigh James
July 11, 7:30pm
Tickets: $10
Resident art historian Kaleigh James will discuss the medium of photography through the lens of art history beginning with its invention in the late 1830s and running through the formalist photographic works of artists such as Alfred Stieglitz, Alexander Rodchenko and, of course, Ansel Adams.

Family–Friendly Photo Fest!
July 22 11am–2pm
An opportunity for kids and their grown–ups to learn about the photographic process and experience hands–on activities.

For more information, visit crookedtree.org.