GREAT PLAINS:
The Exhibition opens at JOSLYN ART MUSEUM in Omaha; Feb 6 - May 16, 2010

Great Plains: America's Lingering Wild presents 60 photographs from Michael's new book. The exhibition, however, offers more than a collection of beautiful pictures. It grapples with essential questions of how we will preserve what remains of our Great Plains natural heritage.

On Thursday, March 4, a special evening with the artist is planned at Joslyn. A 6:30 pm lecture in the concert hall will be followed by exhibition viewing and a reception. See joslyn.org for details and ticket information.

From Omaha - this exhibition will travel to the G2 gallery, Venice, CA; Aug 3 -Sep 12. The National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY; Oct 2010 -Jan 2011.
Pending: Chicago - spring 2011. More to come...

EXHIBITION DETAILS

Exhibition Content:
60 color photographs

Curator/organizer:
Michael Forsberg Gallery
and Joslyn Art Museum

Security: Limited

Fee includes:
- Caption labels
- Text panels
- Map panel
- Brochures
- Custom designed and built crates

Also available:
- Hard cover book, available for sale from the University of Chicago Press
- Speakers available for additional fee
(photographer and/or book authors)

Photographs included: 60 pieces, Canvas Giclee Gallery Wraps, including 52 pieces at
28"x45" and 8 pieces at 40"x60"

For more information:
E-mail Patty Forsberg at patty@michaelforsberg.com
or call 1-888-812-3790

To learn more about the book, visit www.michaelforsberg.com/gpbook.html

MICHAEL FORSBERG was born and raised in Nebraska. He has a degree in Geography and worked as staff photographer and writer for NEBRASKAland magazine before opening the Michael Forsberg Gallery in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Michael's work has been recognized by the POY and Wildlife Photographer of the Year competitions, and through conservation awards given by The Wildlife Society and North American Nature Photographer's Association, among others.

He is a Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers.

His first book, “On Ancient Wings - The Sandhill Cranes of North America,” was self-published in 2004 and has won numerous awards.

Mike lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife Patty, two daughters Elsa and Emme, and three unruly dogs.

Return to michaelforsberg.com

WILDERNESS is the raw material out of which man has hammered the artifact called civilization… To the laborer in the seat of his labor, the raw stuff on his anvil is an adversary to be conquered. So was wilderness an adversary to the pioneer. But to the laborer in repose, able for the moment to cast a philosophical eye on his world, that same raw stuff is something to be loved and cherished, because it gives definition and meaning to his life. – Aldo Leopold

LESS THAN 200 YEARS AGO, the Great Plains of North America were perhaps the greatest grassland ecosystem on Earth. Then, in the blink of an evolutionary eye, much of their grandeur was gone.

As America grew west, the plains’ native grazers, top predators and indigenous cultures were systematically wiped out. The prairie was plowed up, fenced in, overgrazed, paved over and otherwise degraded. Today, this fragmented landscape is the most endangered and least protected ecosystem on the continent. But all is not lost on the prairie.

To many people, the Great Plains are an empty stage. To others, the Plains are a dynamic but forgotten landscape — overlooked, undervalued, misunderstood, and in desperate need of conservation. This project helps lead the way forward – inspiring, informing, and enabling America and Americans to recognize and recapture the wild spirit of these Great Plains.

This exhibition is an extension of Michael Forsberg's book project titled "Great Plains - America's Lingering Wild." During four years of fieldwork, Mike has traveled close to 100,000 miles from southern Canada to northern Mexico.

"Great Plains" is an attempt to put a face to the biodiversity and native landscapes that still stubbornly persist in the heart of the continent and discuss the myriad conservation challenges that lie ahead in what was once one of the greatest grassland ecosystems on earth.

In addition to Michael, other collaborators on this book include author and rancher Dan O'Brien, Great Plains scholar and professor of Geography David Wishart, and Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureat 2004-2006.

Fieldwork for the Great Plains project has been underwritten by a grant from the Nature Conservancy. Editorial development has been funded by the Grasslans Charitable Foundation. The book is being published by the University of Chicago Press, to be released September 2009.

To see more of the images featured in this exhibition, visit here...