by Audrey Roberts
College of Fine Arts and Communication Media Office
CONWAY — Photographer Maggie Steber will visit the University of Central Arkansas as artist in residence Feb. 22-26.
Steber’s exhibition, Madje Has Dementia, on view at the Baum Gallery of Fine Art, documents the last two years of her mother’s life.
Donna Pinckley, associate professor of art and the faculty sponsor for the residency, is well acquainted with Steber’s work.
“I took a [documentary] class with [Steber] when I was in graduate school at Texas, and I followed her work, and we’ve kept in touch,” Pinckley said. “When I saw [the exhibition], it hit home because of my mother going through this with her mother.”
Pinckley said the experience made her want to bring Steber to campus.
“My grandmother went through dementia the last few years of her life, and I experienced that with my mother,” Pinckley said. “Since people are living longer and longer, I want students to have empathy.”
Madje Has Dementia showcases more than 20 of Steber’s photographs, mostly black and white with one color photo.
Steber is the author of Dancing on Fire: Photographs from Haiti and has worked as a contract photographer for Newsweek. Her work in photography and journalism spans 65 countries. A photographer for 30 years in Haiti, Steber has produced work on the Haitian people and Native Americans. She has also produced significant work in the areas of sleep and memory loss.
As part of the residency, Steber will give a public lecture from 6-7 p.m on Monday, Feb. 22, in McCastlain Hall room 143. She will also hold a gallery talk about her exhibition Feb. 23 from 1:40-2:30 p.m at the Baum Gallery and a public lecture/Q&A at the Faulkner County Library, 1900 Tyler St. in Conway, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25. Those events are free and open to the public.
Steber will also hold workshops for art and journalism students during the week and will hold a Q&A with occupational therapy students Feb. 25 from 1:40-2:30 p.m. in Doyne Hall room 309.
For more information, contact Pinckley at (501) 450-5784 or pinckley@uca.edu.
The Artist in Residence program is funded by UCA’s arts fee and is administered by the College of Fine Arts and Communication. For more information about the program, call the Office of the Dean, College of Fine Arts and Communication, at (501) 450-3293 or e-mail jdmiller@uca.edu.
The UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication includes the Departments of Art, and Communication, Mass Communication and Theatre, Music, and Writing. The college’s primary mission is the preparation of the next generation of artists, educators, and communicators. For more information about CFAC, visit www.uca.edu/cfac or call (501) 450-3293.
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