(Posted April 4, 2011)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- A new exhibition at the Juniata College Museum of Art looks at landscape photography through the passage of time and physical distance, but perhaps more interestingly, through the lens of two related artists -- a father and daughter.

"Father-Daughter Photography: The Landscape of Steven Barbash and Laura Reid," which exhibits recently discovered photos of the Pennsylvania forest area now covered by Raystown Lake, plus contemporary prints of African landscapes, opens Thursday, April 14, and runs through the summer until Sept. 3 at the Juniata museum.

There will be an opening reception for the exhibit at 5 p.m., Thursday, April 14. A gallery talk by Steven Barbash and Laura Reid is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

Barbash, who taught art and other courses at Juniata in the 1960s and 1970s, lived on a farm in an area heavily covered with woods. In his spare time throughout the '60s, he would take extensive photographs of the "rough and exotic" forests near his home. When he left Huntingdon for another teaching post, he packed away the negatives. He recently rediscovered the negatives and decided that he wanted to see "mystic places (that) are now hundreds of feet underwater fermenting into art and myth."

Barbash shared his affection for photography with his daughter Laura, who continues to photograph landscapes and other subjects. The landscapes in this exhibit are from Zimbabwe, the African nation where Laura Reid spent several years teaching English in rural schools. She recalls she was inspired by "the vast beauty of the African landscape and the people who call it home."

Barbash received his first art training as an undergraduate at Bard College and later received a bachelor's degree and master's of fine arts degree from Yale University.

He taught art at Juniata from 1961 to 1970, and finished his teaching career at SUNY-Cortland, where he taught from 1970 to 1999.
Barbash was one of the first studio artists to teach at Juniata College, where he helped create one of the college's first team-taught courses, "Great Epochs." He also is responsible for the design and creation of Shoemaker Galleries, the art display space in the museum. In 2008, he exhibited part of his art collection at the Juniata Museum of Art.

Laura Reid began looking at photography at a young age, as she combed through family photo albums. At age 19, her father bought her a camera when she took a college photography course.

She retained her interesting in photography past college, even though her career path veered away from the arts. In 1995 Reid joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Zimbabwe. When she returned to the U.S., Reid worked in Washington, D.C. at Peace Corps headquarters. She then took a job with the U.S. State Department's International Visitor Program.

She resettled in northern New York in 2004 and earned a master's degree in early childhood education and earned certification as a Montessori teacher. She currently is owner and director of the Trumansburg Montessori School. She recently exhibited her photography at the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts.

The Juniata College Museum of Art is located in historic Carnegie Hall at 17th and Moore streets in Huntingdon. Museum hours until May 1 are Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Museum hours starting May 1 are Wednesday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m. For more information, please call the museum at (814) 641-3505, or visit the Juniata College website at http://www.juniata.edu/museum.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.