Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keeffe, Carmel, 1976

As part of the recent exhibition, Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, photographer Alan Ross is offering for the first time an image he took of the two artists back in 1976.

The image, Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keeffe, Carmel, 1976, which will be part of the exhibition that runs through September 7, 2008, is available for purchase through The Ansel Adams Gallery. It is an 8x10 inch gelatin silver photograph from a 35mm Kodak Tri-X negative. An edition of 100, the print is currently selling for $600.00 (price subject to change as edition increases).

To order this photograph, please visit www.anseladams.com. If you would like further information on this print or any work from Alan Ross, please contact fineprints@anseladams.com.

Join Painter Penny Otwell this Wednesday for First Summer Art Night Program

Join us this week for the first weekly Summer Art Night with local artist Penny Otwell. Beginning at 5:30 PM on the front porch of The Ansel Adams Gallery, Penny will demonstrate painting techniques and discuss her work.

With a distinctive, colorful response to the land, Penny Otwell's paintings express her interest in form and light. Working primarily in oil paint she uses brushes and palette knives in an ala prima style of thick paint. Her use of color is what collectors say they like best about her work.

Most of her landscape paintings are done en plein air (outdoors in the fresh air!) but some work is studio-generated. The painter also works in watercolor, acrylic and mixed media so there is a challenge to her process of creativity. Thinking out of the box, trying new ideas, working with just line, or painting abstractly all ultimately contribute to her painting.

Otwell lives 14 miles from Yosemite Valley and for the past 42 years has made a commitment to the Sierra Nevada and her small community in which she lives and works in her Canyon Wren Studio. Currently she paints full time, but previously she has worked in High Sierra Camps, ran several Valley gift shops, and for many years directed Yosemite Field Seminars, an outdoor educational program in the Park. She acquired a thirst for learning about natural history of the Sierra and continues to share this knowledge by leading occasional naturalist walks through Yosemite. She is a self-taught painter who reads and continues to study art. Color and form represent the wild and free mountain spirit that the artist honors through her gift of painting.

Wednesday is Art Night this Summer in Yosemite

Explore Yosemite through the eyes of an artist at the Yosemite Art and Education Center and The Ansel Adams Gallery Wednesday nights through Labor Day. Join us as we celebrate and showcase art in Yosemite with local refreshments and cheeses each Wednesday this summer from 5 to 6:30 PM. Beginning Wednesday, May 28th and occurring every Wednesday evening between Memorial Day and Labor Day, local artists in residence will be showing and discussing their art. For more information, please contact Claudia Welsh at (209) 372-4413 or claudia@anseladams.com. We hope to see you there!

Yosemite Association's 2008 Yosemite Outdoor Adventures

Yosemite Association, an organization that supports interpretive, educational, research, scientific and environmental programs in Yosemite National Park, is pleased to present their 2008 Yosemite Outdoor Adventures.

Through seminars involving natural & cultural history, art, hiking and more, participants are able to explore Yosemite through fun, educational courses.

For more information on the 2008 Yosemite Outdoor Adventures, please visit www.yosemite.org.

The Tioga Road is Now Open!

The Tioga Road (Highway 120 through Yosemite National Park) has officially re-opened for the season. The highway, which traces through the Yosemite High Country and ends at the base of Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra, is typically open from late May - early November depending on snow conditions.

For many the High Country of Yosemite is a favorite destination. The drive itself is spectacular with sweeping vistas, granite domes and gorgeous meadows. Roadside attractions such as Olmstead Point, Tenaya Lake and Tuolumne Meadows offer visitors quick and gorgeous views along the drive. For those wanting to spend time hiking in the area, popular day hikes including Upper Cathedral Lake, Gaylor Lakes, Mono Pass, Vogelsang and Glen Aulin are spectacular choices.

Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities Exhibition Opens at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum on May 23rd

Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities
May 23 - September 7, 2008

The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum is pleased to present Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities, an exhibition that brings together, for the first time, approximately 97 works by two of America’s best-known artists. The exhibition demonstrates the Museum’s ongoing commitment to presenting O’Keeffe’s work together with that of her contemporaries, and to defining her achievement within the context of American Modernism (1890s–present).

O’Keeffe and Adams met in Taos, New Mexico, in 1929, an encounter that initiated a lifelong friendship. In 1933, Adams traveled for the first time from California to New York, where he met O’Keeffe’s husband, Alfred Stieglitz, the éminence grise of American Modernist photography. The three became friends, and on subsequent trips to New York, Adams always visited and spent time with Stieglitz and O’Keeffe.

Adams and O’Keeffe shared a profound appreciation of the natural world. In 1937, they traveled with other friends to explore sites in the Southwest, and in 1938, O’Keeffe and others joined Adams for a pack trip in the Yosemite High Sierra. O’Keeffe and Adams wrote one another from time to time, and portions of Adams’s last visit with O’Keeffe, at her Abiquiu house in 1981, were included in Ansel Adams: Photographer (1981), a documentary film of his life and art.

During their lifetimes, O’Keeffe and Adams became two of America’s most celebrated icons. This exhibition—the first exploration of these artists together and of the significance of their achievements in capturing the reality and essence of the world around them—clarifies the various parallels between their distinctive visions of the natural world.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is located at 217 Johnson Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Charles Cramer Reception

This past Sunday in Yosemite photographer Charles Cramer attended an artist reception for his exhibit that is currently on the walls of our gallery in Yosemite National Park. Visitors to the gallery had the opportunity to meet Charles Cramer, ask him questions about his photography and enjoy refreshments. Cramer's exhibit runs through May 30th, 2008.

Mark Your Calendars - May 31st is National Parks Family Day

National Parks Family Day (NPFD) will be taking place on May 31st, 2008 from 11AM - 4PM at Roeding Park in Fresno, California. NPFD is an annual outreach event to bring the parks to the people. In order to encourage Central Valley residents to experience their National Parks, this free event will present ranger programs, cultural performances, kid & family-friendly activities and information tables. Exhibitors will be present from several National Parks including Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon.

National Parks Family Day is sponsored by the National Parks Conservation Association, the Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite, and the Yosemite Association.

Photographs from the Recent Dogwood Bloom

Staff photographer Evan Russel captured a few images of the recent dogwood bloom in Yosemite Valley. For those wanting to come photograph the dogwoods, make sure to make the trip up to Yosemite soon!

A Visit to the Home of Ansel Adams

This past weekend, Robert Scoble, Marc Silber and Adobe’s Frederick Johnson visited Michael Adams in Carmel, California to tour the home and darkroom of Ansel Adams. Read more about this visit as well as view video footage on Frederick Johnson’s Blog and at scobleizer.com.

Artist's Reception for Charles Cramer - May 11th from 5 to 7PM

The Ansel Adams Gallery will host an artist's reception for Charles Cramer on Sunday, May 11th from 5 to 7PM. Please come by to meet the artist, enjoy some refreshments and view Cramer's photography exhibit which will be on display through May 30th.

The Dogwoods Are Back in Yosemite Valley!

The dogwood blossoms are beginning to emerge in Yosemite Valley. In mid-April, the buds slowly began to take form on the trees. During the past week the white dogwoods have started to come into full bloom.

Dogwoods can be seen all throughout Yosemite Valley. For those wanting to view these flowers roadside, the Pohono Bridge area and the western end of both Northside and Southside Drive are terrific locations.

For those wishing to do some hiking, the trail leading to Mirror Lake is a fine choice. Rather than doing the 2-mile round-trip walk up the paved trail, consider taking the 5-mile loop trail around the lake. From the Mirror Lake shuttle bus stop, begin walking on the paved trail. At the stone bridge, turn right to connect with the loop trail to go around the lake. Along this trail you will encounter many beautiful dogwood trees.

Spring Yosemite Digital Camera Workshop - Field Session to El Capitan Meadow & Old Big Oak Flat Road

Last week photographer Michael Frye instructed the Spring Yosemite Digital Camera Workshop. On Thursday, an evening field session took the workshop group through El Capitan Meadow and up the Old Big Oak Flat Road trail. From this trail, participants were able to photograph the spectacular Bridalveil Fall.

6th Annual El Portal Spring Fling

On Saturday, April 26th, the community of El Portal hosted its 6th Annual Spring Fling. Kicking off with a pancake breakfast, the festivities continued into the evening with local food vendors, artisans and live music.

Ansel Adams Gallery staff member Carol McElligot and painter Penny Otwell both had artist booths at the event. Penny’s acrylic paintings and reproductions can be seen year-round at The Ansel Adams Gallery. Carol, who works in the mosaic medium, will be a guest artist at the Ahwahnee later this year.

Glacier Point Road Tentatively Scheduled to Open Tomorrow

The Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park is tentatively scheduled to open on Friday, May 2nd. The road leads to the popular Glacier Point, a spanning vista of Yosemite Valley, Half Dome and the High Sierra.

In addition to being able to drive and make the short walk to the overlook, those up for some hiking would enjoy the two trails leading to Glacier Point from the Valley floor.

The first of these trails is the Four Mile Trail, a strenuous 9.6 mile round-trip hike. Leaving from the trailhead on Southside Drive, the trail begins near the base of Sentinel Rock and gains 3,200 feet to take you to Glacier Point. Hiking along the trail gives way to sweeping vistas of Yosemite Valley.

The Panorama Trail is another, longer option. At 8.5 miles one-way, it begins at Happy Isles and initially follows along the popular Mist Trail with views of Vernal and Nevada Fall. The trail eventually skirts the Panorama Cliff and crosses Illilouette Fall before ending at Glacier Point.

During the summer months, a bus ticket can be purchased to take visitors to the top of Glacier Point, allowing hikers to hike one-way back to the Valley floor on either of these trails.