From a press release:
Wilson photographer Karen Wattenmaker has felt the heat of 150-foot-high pines exploding into flames twice as tall as the trees around her. She has felt the rush of hot winds as firefighters torched the ground to create a safety zone while escaping a fast-approaching wildfire. With a "red card" certifying her qualifications as a firefighter, Wattenmaker has had access to the frontlines of wildfires across the American West. Joining fire crews with a camera as her tool, she has documented the hot, dirty work of managing wildland fires.
Teton County Library in Jackson invites the community to experience the heat with a Wildfire Series featuring Wattenmaker's exhibit of color photographs and a series of lectures offering a variety of views from the fireline. The exhibit and lectures are free and open to the public.
The series ignites Thursday, August 2 with an opening reception at 7 p.m. for the exhibit, "Wildfire," in the library's Exhibit Gallery followed by Wattenmaker's slideshow lecture, "Cycle of Fire," in the Ordway Auditorium. She will share a 15-year history of fires in the West while discussing forest conditions, human developments at risk along the forest fringe, suppressing fires and the role of fire in the natural regeneration of forests.
The Wildfire exhibit will be on view in the library's Exhibit Gallery through September 22.
