Baylor University Welcomes Martin Museum Exhibiting Photographer for Gallery Talk

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Baylor University's Martin Museum's exhibiting photographer, Dornith Doherty, will present a gallery talk at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at the Martin Museum of Art in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Art Center.

Doherty's exhibit will feature works from two of her projects: "Archiving Eden" and "Altered Terrain." Both projects deal with the subject of seed banks.

Seed banks function as a botanical backup system in order to assure the opportunity for reintroduction of species in case a catastrophic event or civil strife should affect a key ecosystem somewhere in the world.

"I am fascinated by the hopeful nature of seed banks because they are trying to solve a very serious problem that is in our future - the lack of plant diversity," Doherty said.

The "Archiving Eden" project was initiated in 2008 in collaboration with renowned biologists at three of the most comprehensive international seed banks in the world: the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service's National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Colorado, and Millennium Seed Bank at the Royal Botanic Gardens in England.

Doherty's exhibits are a series of photographs and collages of seeds and tissue samples from germination tests and vegetatively cloned plants stored in the banks.

Doherty's collections are held as part of the permanent collection at Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Museum of Fine Arts in Milwaukee, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in Minneapolis.

"I had never heard of seed banks or the important work they do before I started this project. Therefore, I hope my exhibits will make the viewer more aware of these institutions as well as make people think about botanical diversity and other environmental concerns," Doherty said.

Doherty graduated cum laude from Rice University, and then went on to pursue an MFA in Photography from Yale University. In addition to being a professional photographer for 22 years, Doherty also teaches photography at the University of North Texas College of Visual Arts and Design.

The gallery talk is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit www.baylor.edu/martinmuseum or call 254-710-1867.

The Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center is located at 60 Baylor Ave.

by Alison Higgins, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805