University Art Gallery

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
The Doors – The End

It is with great sadness I post this.  This place was here before I visited UCSD.  There is a change.org petition regarding the closure:

https://www.change.org/p/chancellor-khosla-stop-the-closure-of-the-university-art-gallery

I wrote about this place in 2014 before hungryones.com was in existence:

[to his dead friend]
Juba: I will see you again… but not yet… not yet…
Gladiator

 

UCSD.  I came here to study computers.  It was during my sophomore slump at UCSD I took my first class with Phel Steinmetz.  Up to that point I was not really inspired…  Rather just surviving the constant midterms and finals.  Perhaps a college photography class would inspire me.  It was what I needed.  The class field trips.  The long nights and weekends printing photos.  The breaks to get tacos or more photo paper at Nelson Photo.  The weekly presentations in front of the class for critiques.  The drives up to Calumet in Los Angeles to buy exotic photo equipment unavailable in San Diego.  The inspiration seeing other peoples’ works who were better than your own to motivate you.  It was the golden age…

I was impressed Phel told us he learned photography from Ansel Adams and they had been drinking buddies.  Seeing his work in this gallery during a faculty art show I could see similarities.  The stark beauty and perfection of their black and white prints was awe inspiring.  I took as many photo classes I could with Phel and when those were exhausted I did independent study with him but my works paled in comparison.  After years of study I could duplicate his use of the Zone System but I lacked the creative genius to transform the everyday world around me into museum quality artworks.

We started out as teacher – student but in time I think we became friends.  After I graduated he still helped me with my photography and I helped him with his computer.  Over the years he photographed portraits of my family and I was given an original print of Monument Valley which hangs in my room.  I last saw his work at the Museum of Contemporary Art La Jolla.

I miss our lunch time discussions on photography, computers, and life in general my friend.

Professor Emeritus Phel Steinmetz who served on the full-time faculty from 1971 to 2011, died on October 30, 2013 at 69 from natural causes.

University Art Gallery

University of California San Diego
9500 Gilman Dr
La Jolla, CA 92039