The Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts at Rice University is pleased to host the distinguished William Wittliff with a photography exhibition in the Main Gallery Space, opening reception at 6:00 PM, followed by an 8:00 PM introduction and screening of ‘The Black Stallion’ at Rice Media Center on March 7, 2018. “The 'Sunrise Sunset: Solargraphs' by Bill Wittliff exhibition will showcase over 40 solargraphs made from beer cans or pieces of PVC piping to make pinhole cameras that would capture weeks of exposure. Taking a photograph does not always require a shutter and lens. One of the simplest and earliest photographic techniques utilizes only a tiny hand-made pinhole to record light. Using tallboy beer cans or small sections of PVC pipe, Bill Wittliff places his pinhole cameras in the landscape, leaving them for weeks or even months at a time. The resulting images, called solargraphs, trace the movement of the sun and are thoroughly unpredictable in their results. Wittliff has been making these stunning images since 2014. This exhibition highlights more than 50 of his solargraphs, revealing the abstract beauty in the Texas landscape. Bill Wittliff is a distinguished writer, film producer, and photographer whose images have been exhibited in the United States and abroad, and published in three monographs—Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy (2004), La Vida Brinca: Tragaluz Photographs (2006), and A Book of Photographs from Lonesome Dove (2007)—as well as in A Book on the Making of Lonesome Dove (2012), all with UT Press. His photographic work has also appeared in numerous exhibitions, catalogs, books, and periodicals. His documentary photographs of Mexico’s vaqueros have been exhibited in numerous galleries and institutions throughout this country and in Mexico, including the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and the Texas Capitol. In Japan, the Vaquero images represented the U.S. during its bicentennial year. His exhibition Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy, which is still touring, inspired the statue by Clete Shields that stands in front of Old Main on the Texas State University campus. As a screenwriter and producer, his credits include The Black Stallion, Legends of the Fall, The Perfect Storm, and Lonesome Dove, among others. Wittliff is a past president and Fellow of the Texas Institute of Letters and a recipient of major awards for writing, filmmaking, and book design. He and his wife Sally are co-founders of Austin’s highly regarded Encino Press and The Wittliff Collections.” -The Wittliff Collections, Alkek Library, Texas State University Sunrise Sunset: Solargraphs will be on view March 7 – 23, 2018 Rice Media Center Gallery is open M – F, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Event information for Sunrise Sunset: Solargraphs: https://events.rice.edu/#!view/event/event_id/5173 Screening information for ‘The Black Stallion’: https://events.rice.edu/#!view/event/event_id/5238