CEDAR CITY — Frontier Homestead State Park and photographer Michael Plyler present “Sandstone, Silver, and Time,” an exhibition of black and white photographs celebrating the beauty of Zion National Park during this centennial anniversary year of the creation of the National Park Service. The show will run from Sept 1 through Oct 31 at Frontier Homestead State Park & Museum located at 635 N. Main St. in Cedar City, Utah. This exhibit is made possible by the support of the Cedar City-Brian Head Tourism Bureau.
Springdale resident Michael Plyler works with a 4 x 5 large format film camera to interpret the beauty of his backyard, Zion National Park. His prints are traditional “wet” darkroom prints individually hand-crafted by the photographer. The title of this show is a meditation on the constituent elements that contribute to the imagery. Just as erosion over time shapes the sandstone, time and silver conspire to sculpt the film’s emulsion and bring Zion’s beauty to the fore.
Michael Plyler is the Director of Zion Canyon Field Institute in Zion National Park. He has been making photographs and exhibiting his work since 1982. In 1983 he received a commission from the Guatemalan Tourist Institute for his portrait work of the highland Maya, resulting in his first international exhibition. In 1993 he was awarded a prestigious Visual Artist Fellowship from the Utah Arts Council. In 2013 he had the distinct honor of having 56 pieces from his Mayan portfolio added to the permanent collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. His work has been exhibited widely in Utah and abroad, and is held in numerous public and private collections.
In 2010 Utah State University Press released Plyler’s and writer Logan Hebner’s book “Southern Paiute: A Portrait.” The book was the culmination of a ten year project wherein Hebner interviewed, and Plyler photographed, Southern Paiute elders from Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.
About Frontier Homestead State Park
Frontier Homestead State Park is open from 9 am until 5 pm Monday through Saturday. For more information call (435) 586-9290, or via email. Frontier Homestead State Park Museum is located at 635 N. Main in Cedar City, Utah.
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Yes this is indeed a wonderful family outing.Mr Phyler is an extremely talented photographer and has that ‘ keen ‘ eye to know how to capture the beauty and essence of the moment.