Sacred Scars, Shadowed Ground: Civil War battlefields photographed by Larry Stuart

Last February, we told you about a photography exhibit by fine art photographer Larry Stuart, who took some stunning photos of the Fredericksburg-area battlefields. Beginning this weekend, Larry’s photos will again be on display, this time at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, New York.

In conjunction with the exhibit, ECW’s Chris Mackowski will present a public program called “Crossroads of Fire: The Battle of Chancellorsville 150 Years Later.” With the sesquicentennial of the battle just around the corning beginning on May 1, it seemed the perfect topic to tie into Stuart’s exhibit, which includes photos from the Chancellorsville battlefield.

On May 1, there’ll be a program of Civil War-style music.

For more information, here’s the press release from St. Bonaventure University:

An exhibition of modern-era photographs of famous Civil War battlefields opens at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University on Saturday, April 13.

Larry Stuart, a fine art photographer and designer from Anderson, Ind., was the 2011 photographer in residence at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia. The park includes Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania battlefields.

Stuart spent a week exploring the historic landscapes and buildings with camera in hand. In his exhibition, “Sacred Scars, Shadowed Ground,” he captures not only what he saw but how he felt as he wandered those hallowed grounds.

“Today, the battlefields are beautiful, tranquil examples of central Virginia countryside, but we know they hold stories of sadness, horror, bravery, courage, sacrifice, rage, fear and relief,” says Stuart in his artist’s statement. “I tried to listen to these fields and capture with my images the emotional essence of the stories that are still being written.”

Stuart used light, texture, composition and various shades of black using carbon-based inks to produce images that convey the emotions he experienced on his walks: feelings of loss and sadness, mystery and melancholy.

The exhibition in the Quick Center’s Branch Gallery runs through May 31.

During its run, the Quick Center will host two complementary events: a lecture at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16, by Dr. Christopher Mackowski, associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure and a historian with the National Park Service at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park; and a May 1 performance of Civil War era songs by baritone Jose Andrade.

For the past eight years, Mackowski has given tours and interpretive programs at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. His lecture, “Crossroads of Fire: The Battle of Chancellorsville 150 years later,” comes in advance of the sesquicentennial anniversary of that battle, which began on May 1, 1863. Chancellorsville is one of the four battlefields featured in Stuart’s exhibition.

Mackowski has written extensively on Chancellorsville, including cover stories that appear in the current issues of both Civil War Times and America’s Civil War magazines. He also has two books coming out on the battle in April, Chancellorsville’s Forgotten Front: The Battles of Second Fredericksburg and Salem Church, and an expanded edition of The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson, which is part of the new Emerging Civil War Series.

Andrade, a native New Yorker, is an accomplished baritone who performs extensively throughout the Northeast with Center Stage Opera, a non-profit opera company based in Harrisburg, Pa. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2006 and was a finalist in the Altamura-Caruso Vocal Competition that same year.

Andrade will perform in the Quick Center’s Rigas Family Theater at 7 p.m. on May 1.

Andrade’s performance, Mackowski’s lecture and the photography exhibition are open to the public at no charge.

The Quick Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information, go to www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.

———-

About the University: Inspired for more than 150 years by the Catholic Franciscan values of individual dignity, community inclusiveness, and service, St. Bonaventure University cultivates graduates who are confident and creative communicators, collaborative leaders and team members, and innovative problem solvers who are respectful of themselves, others, and the diverse world around them.