Schaefer Gallery Exhibition “From Sturgis to Testy Festy” Opens September 19

The Gustavus Artist Series is pleased to open its season with the photo exhibition, From Sturgis to Testy Festy: Photographing Ephemeral Communities, in Schaefer Gallery (not the Hillstrom Museum) on the Gustavus campus. The exhibition, which includes the work of photographers Amanda Hankerson and Lacy Criswell, runs September 19 through October 14 in Schaefer Gallery.  The gallery is open daily from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. with an artist lecture on September 28 at 4:00 p.m. followed by a reception in Schaefer Gallery. The exhibition and lecture is open to the public at no charge.

Photographers Amanda Hankerson and Lacy Criswell have studied the “ephemeral” communities that develop and disappear, often in a matter of days or weeks. In From Sturgis to Testy Festy: Photographing Ephemeral Communities, the two artists offer a unique photo perspective of the types of male dominated communities – like the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota and the Testy Festy in Montana – that have historically been captured from a male perspective.

People gather to escape their daily routines, let loose and join their temporary families for these annual reunions which are notorious for sanctioned lawlessness. These festivals are invitations to set up temporary homes and carve out a place in a society in which participants escape the routine and fashion their fantasies, including the public performance of sex acts and substance abuse. The overwhelming ratio of men to women creates an environment where women are expected to perform for men and, alternatively, men perform for each other.

Through the cameras of Hankerson and Criswell, the collection uncovers details about the subjects and their places within the transient community while it explores and uncovers themes of performance, escapism, individual and group identity which disappears as quickly as it develops.

The Gustavus Artist Series exhibition From Sturgis to Testy Festy: Photographing Ephemeral Communities runs from September 19 through October 14 in Schaefer Gallery in the Department of Art/Art History. The artist lecture and reception on September 28 begins at 4:00 p.m. in the Gallery. Please note this exhibition is not in the Hillstrom Museum of Art. Tickets are not required for this exhibition and admission is free.