The 2017 Visiting Artist's Seminar:

The Insightful Portrait with Natalie Fobes

February 20-24, 2017 M T W R F
CRN#: 12992
Bragg College of Media and Entertainment, Room 148
Prof. Marc Barr, 615-898-5118, Marc.Barr@mtsu.edu

Explore the art of the portrait in an intensive 1-week seminar incorporating photography and writing.  

This course, to be offered at an introductory level, will appeal to students of diverse majors and minors, especially those in majoring or minoring in Electronic Media Communication, English (especially with the department's emphasis on Popular Culture studies), History, Journalism, Speech & Theatre, and those minoring in Film Studies and Writing.  

Facilities are equipped with all the necessary hardware and software.

During the week of the Seminar, the students will have access to dslr cameras and other ancillary hardware, such as tripods, light kit, if they desire.

Students will have user accounts for the students and access to online materials and tutorials so they can begin to familiarize themselves with the equipment and software before the class officially meets.

MTSU students and faculty can view the Creative Inspirations documentary about Natalie Fobes on Lynda.com

https://www.lynda.com/Creative-Inspirations-tutorials/nataliefobesphotographer/62349-2.html?srchtrk=index%3a0%0alinktypeid%3a2%0aq%3afobes%0apage%3a1%0as%3arelevance%0asa%3atrue%0aproducttypeid%3a2

The Visiting Artist's Seminar (UH 3200), an interdisciplinary Honors course taught by a professional artist, has been offered fourteen years so far, and has included such diverse topics as songwriting, filmmaking, papermaking, fiction and poetry writing, stop motion animation and performance art. While artists frequently visit campus to speak, the Visiting Artist's Seminar couples that inspirational experience with a hands-on component that lasts an entire week and requires intensive student participation. Students earn one credit hour, and grading is pass/fail.

Natalie Fobes visit to MTSU is made possible by the generosity of the Distinguished Lecturers Fund, the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, the University Honors College, the College of Media and Entertainment, and the Department of Electronic Media Communication.

For more information, contact Professor Marc Barr, Professor of Electronic Media Communication and Coordinator of the Visiting Artist's Seminar: Marc.Barr@mtsu.edu or 615-898-5118.

VISITING ARTIST HISTORY
2016: Jesse Epstein: Stranger Than Fiction: A Documentary Film Making Seminar;
2015: Tiny Circus: Collaborative Process and Stop-Motion Animation;
2014: Cory Hinkle and Victoria Stewart, Playwriting;
2013: Laura van den Berg, The Blazing Thing: Magical Realism in the Short Story;
2012: Nathan Bell, Music as Witness;
2011: Jesse Epstein, Creative Non-fiction Filmmaking;
2010: Heather Raffo, Writing Identity;
2009: Beth Ann Fennelly, The Art and Craft of Poetry;
2008: Patterson Clark, Sustainable Papermaking with Alien Weeds;
2007: Robert Olmstead, Stones River Anthology (Writing the Narrative);
2006: Carson Kreitzer, Road Trip (Playwriting);
2004: Peter and Donna Thomas, The Book as a Work of Fine Art;
2003: David Kirby, Poetry Writing;
2002: Deb Margolin, Performance Composition.

About this year's visiting artist:

Natalie Fobes is one of the most diverse photographers in the country. The Pulitzer prize finalist has shot assignments for National Geographic, Smithsonian, Audubon, and other major magazines. Her images of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill are iconographic and she is known as the "salmon lady" due to her 10-year project photographing and writing about the salmon and the cultures of the salmon around the Pacific Rim.

Natalie designed and produced a traveling museum exhibit based on her salmon book that was displayed at 26 institutions including the Scripps Institution, Alaska State Museum and the Burke Museum. Her work is included in many public, private and corporate collections, including the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

Natalie's fine art portraiture and her wedding photography have won national recognition. The author of three coffee-table books has received many grants and commissions to pursue compelling documentary stories. She has camped out in the winter in Siberia with the Chukchi reindeer herders and perched in a blind for weeks in the cloud forest of Guatemala.

Natalie has taught courses for Lynda.com and was an adjunct faculty in the acclaimed commercial photography program at Seattle Central College for four years. She leads workshops and has many private students.

In 1995 she co-founded Blue Earth Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to helping photographers and filmmakers shoot documentary stories about the environment, endangered cultures, and social issues. She is currently the co-chair for the committee producing Collaborations for Cause, a conference that will be held May 5-6, 2017 in Seattle. www.blueearth.org

Her web sites are www.fobesphoto.com, and www.aweddingbynatalie.com.

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