May 18, 2009

Visitors to the Michigan Iron Industry Museum, in Negaunee Township, can view a new temporary exhibit combining the art of pinhole photography with ghostly zone plate images of abandoned mine sites. "Vanishing Horizons: An Interpretation of the Abandoned Mining Sites of the Upper Peninsula" runs May 31 through July 12.

Pinhole photography records images through a tiny hole instead of an optical lens. Light passes through the hole, resulting in softer, sometimes blurred images. The circular zone plate images seem to float in a frame of black, creating a sensation of peeking through an aperture of time at relics from an ancient civilization.

The process lends itself to photographer Christine Flavin's intent to capture what she terms the "terrible beauty" of vanishing industrial sites that once bustled with labor but are now "hauntingly empty of human presence."

Flavin is assistant professor in the School of Art and Design at Northern Michigan University, where she teaches studio photography and the history of photography. She has worked as a professional portrait photographer and darkroom technician, director of a fine-art photographic gallery and assistant curator of prints, drawings and photographs at the University of Iowa Museum of Art. Her photography has been exhibited throughout the Midwest as well as in Seattle and Suwa, Japan.

The Michigan Iron Industry Museum is one of 11 nationally accredited museums administered by the Michigan Historical Center, a public, non-profit facility of the Department of History, Arts and Libraries. It overlooks the site of the Carp River Forge, a pioneer industrial site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The recently expanded museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information about museum programs call (906) 475-7857 or visit online at www.michigan.gov/ironindustrymuseum.

The Department of History, Arts and Libraries (HAL) is dedicated to enriching quality of life and strengthening the economy by providing access to information, preserving and promoting Michigan's heritage and fostering cultural creativity. In addition to the Michigan Historical Center, HAL includes the Library of Michigan, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. To learn more, visit www.michigan.gov/hal.

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