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December Issue 2004
Chapel Hill
Museum in Chapel Hill, NC, Explores Battle Park in a Photographic
Essay
The Chapel Hill Museum in Chapel Hill, NC, presents a photographic
essay, Battle Park: A Natural Space in Four Seasons, as
seen through the lens of photographer Tama Hochbaum, on view through
Feb. 27, 2005.
This visual record explores a piedmont forest, pre-dating 1740
which is currently surrounded by the town of Chapel Hill and the
University of North Carolina, on the eve of a restoration of the
property by the University which owns the land. An auxiliary exhibition
will showcase future plans for this historic slice of woodlands
in the heart of the community.
Chapel Hill resident Tama Hochbaum was born in New York City in
1953. She graduated from Brandeis University in 1975 with a degree
in Fine Arts and was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship
to study printmaking in Paris. There she worked at Stanley William
Hayter's historic Atelier 17 with master printer Krishna Reddy,
learning what was at that time a new method of color print making.
Returning to the United States, she received her MFA in 1981 at
Queens College in New York and then lived for several years in
Boston where she owned a graphic arts design company. During a
four-month stay in Italy in 1991, an interest in photography,
experienced during her 1975 sojourn, re-emerged. In 1996 she moved
with her family to North Carolina where she began to process her
own photographs and today continues to print her own black and
white work.
As to her work in the upcoming exhibition on Battle Park, Hochbaum
explains: "One format I have been interested in from my earliest
involvement in photography is the collage, that medium where the
whole is made up of separate and very distinct parts. Here the
parts tug and pull, through an intentionally shifting of tonality
or contrast from one section to another. The individuality of
the parts, however, is not overwhelming - the pieces remain very
much a whole, letting the eye move easily between the parts. One
sees the entire image, even with the echo of sections, even with
the looming possibility of falling apart. But there also are the
single images I have taken, images that capture the wild grandeur
this place seems to hold. I have photographed it in all seasons
and with a variety of cameras, including a pinhole camera. There
are color and black and white pieces in the show, 4 x 5 images
and 35mm pictures, images in the bright spring light and the strangely
beautiful winter fog. This place continues to inspire me; I love
it here, and find myself lucky to have found myself its neighbor."
Hochbaum is represented by Somerhill Gallery in Chapel Hill. In
Mar. 2005, she will have a one-person show at GalleryKayafas in
Boston. Her work has been exhibited in a number of places in the
Triangle including Peace College in Raleigh, The Craven Allen
Gallery in Durham, the Durham Arts Council and the ArtsCenter
in Carrboro. Her work has been included in the North Carolina
Photography Annual, and she received first place in the Picture
This Exhibition in 2000 and 2003 at Exploris in Raleigh. Her
work has been published in The Sun Magazine and the Atlantic
Monthly and is included in the recent publication, The
Coker Arboretum: The First Hundred Years. One of Hochbaum's
photographic collages is in the collection of The Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston, and her work is included in the collection of The
William Benton Museum of Art at The University of Connecticut
in Storrs.
On July 1, 2004, at the request of University of North Carolina
(UNC) Chancellor James Moeser, the North Carolina Botanical Garden
(NCBG) assumed responsibility for Battle Park, a wooded tract
on the east side of campus and downhill from Coker Arboretum.
The tract contains a legacy of the University and a symbol of
the important connection between nature and art - the stone amphitheater
known as Forest Theater.
Outdoor drama was first performed on the Forest Theater site in
1916, on a sloped area chosen by Professor William Coker, founder
of the Coker Arboretum and chairman of campus buildings and grounds.
Later Professor Fredrick Koch, founder of Carolina Playmakers,
developed the location into a permanent theater. The structure
was rebuilt with Work Projects Administration (WPA) funds in 1940
and continues to be used by the community today.
Battle Park is named for Kemp Plummer Battle, who was the president
of UNC from 1876 to 1891. President Battle spent much time in
the Park extensively writing about its forest heritage. He also
laid out the original trail system. Although not a pristine forest,
much of the 93 acres of Battle Park predates the 1740 European
settlement of the area. NCBG Director Peter White said, "Some
of these woodlands on this track have never been cut. It's a very
valuable remnant of nature."
Today NCBG curator Stephen Keith, UNC Facilities personnel and
Little & Little Landscape Architects of Raleigh are planning
trail restoration and forest revitalization projects for Battle
Park. The University community, adjacent neighbors and park users
have reviewed the draft restoration plans in public meetings and
are encouraged to provide additional comments throughout the design
process.
The Chapel Hill Museum preserves, conserves and exhibits collections
that illustrate the spirit of the community and fosters an understanding
of the area's past, present and future.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery
listings, call the Museum at 919/967-1400 or at (www.chapelhillmuseum.org).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.