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This first solo museum retrospective of Jay Blakesberg’s photography will take over four galleries at the Morris Museum on Oct. 14. The exhibit will run through Feb. 5.
On Sunday, Oct. 16, Blakesberg will offer a lecture at 2 p.m., which will be free to the public with museum admission.
Blakesberg’s photographic journey began in Clark in 1978. Borrowing his father’s Pentax camera, he began photographing the bands he loved and the “friends in his orbit.” In his basement darkroom, he pumped out 8×10′s to thumbtack to his bedroom wall and share with friends, with the only goal to create his own personal memorabilia. Without knowing it then, these earliest photographs would become the foundation for his extensive archive.
Blakesberg photographed artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and The Grateful Dead. At 16, he had his first photograph published in print, and at 17 was paid for the first time by “The Aquarian Weekly” for two images that ran with a review of a Grateful Dead concert.
According to a statement provided by the museum, “These were the first sparks that ignited what has now become a 44-year photography career shooting for every major magazine of the last 30 years, record companies, and directly for some of the most renowned musical artists of our time.”
Each gallery will feature a “deep dive” into a different aspect of Blakesberg’s body of work; early formative years, live performance, portraiture and the Grateful Dead featuring more than 125 images. All the photographs in this exhibit were shot on film, “when photography was analog and people lived without a camera in their pocket.”
The entire exhibit is presented on archival metal sheets manufactured by ChromaLuxe and printed by Magna Chrome. Each image is infused into a special coating, giving the prints an archival value and durability.
This exhibition is curated by Ricki and Jay Blakesberg along with Michelle Graves, assistant curator at the Morris Museum.
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