Prospects: an Exploration of Mining

ining is an essential part of the story of the Wood River Valley. Beginning in the 1860s, prospectors arrived in the valley in search of silver, galena and gold. The towns of Bellevue, Hailey and Ketchum sprang up to serve an influx of immigrants

who came from Ireland, Wales, Germany and China to work the mines. Although eventually replaced by the sheep industry and later tourism, the long-term impact of mining continues to resonate. In 1992, Triumph, a small town southeast of Sun Valley, was declared an EPA Super-fund site after arsenic and other metals were found in the soil and water. Abandoned mines can be found in almost every canyon.

Mining is also very much a current topic in other parts of the United States and around the world. Headlines warn us that we are running out of metals like copper and zinc and also reporting mining disasters in Utah, Pennsylvania, Russia and China. Mountaintop removal in Appalachia has permanently altered the landscape of West Virginia at the same time that enormous open pit mines dot the American West. Advocates for the environment are calling attention to the effects of mining on the land and on other industries, such as fishing, while mining companies and members of our government promote “clean coal” as part of the solu-tion to our dependence on oil. In Africa, desire for diamonds has fueled several civil wars. The miners who toil long hours in intense manual labor around the world are often staggeringly underpaid in comparison to the wealth they generate. Simultaneously, mining continues to play a vital role in the global economy. Mines, of course, employ workers who need the wages they earn. When mines close, towns suffer and sometimes fail.

M

andre yi, london Mines, 2006, acrylic, ink and colored pencil on canvas, courtesy of

the artist

V i s u a l a r t sThe Center, Ketchum

PRoSPectS: an exPloRation oF Miningoctober 9 – december 11, 2009

In the summer of 2008, painter Jennilie Brewster visited the Black Thunder Mine, the most produc-tive open coal mine in the United States. A large scale painting she produced based on her visit will be accompanied by a new piece grounded in the history of mining in the West in the 19th century.

valerie Sullivan Fuchs has created a project examining the impact of mountain top removal (MTR) mining on eastern Kentucky. Her solar-powered light boxes and digital thermal prints featur-ing aerial images of the Appalachian Mountains and the results of MTR will be mounted around the city of Ketchum.

alfredo Jaar has spent his career producing artwork that explores situations of social, racial and ethnic inequity. In the 1980s, he created Gold in the Morning, a film and photographic project that documented the manual labor of thousands of pit miners in Brazil.

lucy Raven’s installation of photos explores the story behind Daybreak, Utah, an enormous housing development owned by Kennecott Land, sister company to Kennecott Mining. Daybreak is located on land adjacent to the Bingham Mine, a copper mine still in operation.

Sebastião Salgado has traveled around the world documenting the lives of workers and migrants. In the 1980s, he photographed Serra Pelada, once the largest open gold mine in the world, and coal miners in India.

victoria Sambunaris has taken photographs of mines in the eastern and western United States. Her aerial views capture the physical impact of mining on the landscape.

andre yi’s paintings of decrepit and abandoned buildings at 19th-century mines in the Ameri-can West explore the relationship between mining, architecture and landscape.

Sebastião Salgado, Serra Pelada, Brasil (St. Sebastian), 1986, gelatin silver print,

courtesy of the artist and yancey Richardson gallery, new york

V i s u a l a r t sThe Center, Hailey

Miningthe Wood RiveR valley

September 11 – november 27

Explore the history of mining in the Wood River Valley through photographs drawn from the archives of the Idaho State Historical Soci-ety and the Hailey Public Library’s Martyn Mallory Collection. Made from the late 19th century to the 1940s, the photos give us a glimpse into life in the valley a century ago.

Nay Aug Mine, Deer Creek, Wood River Valley, idaho State historical Society, 78-156.2

lucy Raven, Edge of Daybreak, 2008, digital print, courtesy of the artist valerie Sullivan Fuchs, the bride stripped bare by her bachelors (white light), 2007,

solar-powered light box with duratrans print, courtesy of the artist

E V E n t sl E c t u r E & F i l M

oPening celeBRation & MeMBeRShiP PaRtyFri, Oct 9, 5–8pmJoin us for an opening celebration and our an-nual membership party! Meet some of the art-ists participating in Prospects and take in Lucy Raven’s Chinatown, a film that tracks copper ore from its extraction in Ruth, Nevada, to its processing in China.

galleRy WalkFri, Nov 27, 5-8pmJoin us for drinks and appetizers as you view the exhibition. We will be screening Lucy Raven’s Chinatown.

FRee exhiBition touRSTue, Oct 20 and Tue, Nov 10 at 2pm and by arrangementTrained docents offer new insight into the artwork on display in free tours of our exhibi-tions.

SPecial evening exhiBition touRThu, Oct 15, 5:30pm, FreeEnjoy a glass of wine while you tour Prospects with the exhibition’s curator.

lectuRe:Julie WeSton,ThE GooD TiMES ARE All GoNE NoWThu, Nov 5, 7pmThe Center, Ketchum, FreeWhat happens to a mining town after the mines close? Hailey resident Julie Weston has written a memoir, The Good Times Are All Gone Now, about growing up in the once rowdy min-ing town of Kellogg, Idaho. Her story starts the day the smokestack comes down and looks back into collective and personal memory to understand a way of life that is now over.

FilM:RED GolDWed, Oct 21, 7pmThe Center, Ketchum, Free The Bristol Bay region of southwest Alaska is home to the Kvichak and Nushagak Rivers, the two most prolific sockeye salmon runs left in the world. It is also home to the second larg-est deposit of copper, gold and molybdenum ever discovered. Two mining companies have proposed an open-pit and underground mine at the headwaters of the two rivers. Red Gold, an award winning documentary, introduces view-ers to the region and gives its inhabitants the opportunity to tell the story of how this mine would affect their lives.

Jennilie Brewster, The World Became a Slow

Mirror, 2008, acrylic on brown bags with

string, torn t-shirts, text, tape and rusted tail

pipe, courtesy of the artist

c l a s s E s & F i E l d t r i P

FaMily daySat, Oct 17, 3–5pmThe Center, Ketchum, FreeFamilies will have an opportunity to tour the show, talk about the artwork and create their own art project.

teen WoRkShoPSat, Nov 14, 10am-4pmThe Center, Hailey, $10 Pre-registrationStudents will create handmade books inspired by historical materials collected in and around local mines. Students will be taught the book-making process from beginning to end while also learning about the valley’s rich mining history.

Field tRiP FoR adultS:exPloRing MineS oF the Wood RiveR valleyWith toM BlanchaRdSat, Oct 24, 10-4pmMeet at The Center, Hailey$25 members / $50 non-membersRegistration deadline: Fri, Oct 9Join Tom Blanchard for a discussion of the im-pact the mining industry has had on the culture and landscape of the Wood River Valley. See what is being done on the environmental front and how Idaho has played a key role in setting federal policy relating to mine clean up. Please wear appropriate clothing and bring a packed lunch as this class will be conducted outside at multiple mine sites.

victoria Sambunaris, Untitled (Coaldale, PA) 2007, chromogenic print, lannan Foundation collection,

courtesy of the artist and yancey Richardson gallery, new york

Sun Valley Centerfor the artS P o Box 656 Sun Valley, ID 83353

non-ProfIt orGanIZatIon

u S PoStaGe

PaIDBoISe ID

PerMIt no. 679

Sun Valley Center for the Artswww.sunvalleycenter.org • 208.726.9491

KetchumHours • Location

Mon–Fri, 9–5 • 191 Fifth St. East

HaileyHours • Location

Wed–Fri, noon–5 • 314 S. Second Ave.

cover: alfredo Jaar, gold in the Morning (special

edition for documenta 11), 2002, light box with

chromogenic transparency, courtesy of the artist