A gallery talk on photographer Ansel Adams will be presented at the Tarble Arts Center in conjunction with the “Ansel Adams: Masterworks” exhibition at 11 a.m. Thursday.

Al Joyner, a retired business professor, will present his findings that he discovered while researching Adams’ photography.

Michael Watts, director of Tarble, said Joyner will bring a box-type camera, similar to the camera Adams used, to help him illustrate his discussion.

Watts also said Joyner’s passion for personal passion for photography and Adams’ work will help provide insight about Adams’ art to the audience of the gallery talk.

“I knew that Al Joyner is a big fan of Ansel Adams’ work, and in his retirement has spent a good deal of time studying Adams’ work by reading books, attending photography workshops and lectures on the artist and his processes, and visiting Ansel Adams exhibitions and some of the sites he photographed,” Watts said.

The gallery talk is in conjunction with the “Ansel Adams: Masterworks” exhibition, which has been at Tarble since August.

Watts said the exhibition has been a great success.

“The Ansel Adams exhibition as created the most buzz of any exhibition held at the Tarble during my time here,” he said.

In Watts’ opinion, the success the exhibition is because of the versatility of Adams’ work.

“I think this is due in part because of the artist’s name recognition, but also because of the photographs’ wide appeal,” Watts said. “They are both of views of beautiful scenes and locations, but they also can have more formal, abstract qualities, so the photographs can appeal to people with different artistic sensibilities.”

The exhibition has also gone over well with the community, Watts said.

“The Tarble has received a number of expressions of both surprise and thanks from visitors, and the exhibition has attracted a number of new and repeat visitors,” Watts said.  “And the talk in September by Sarah Adams, Ansel Adams’ granddaughter, was very well received too.”

Turtle Bay Exploration Park, in Redding, California organized the exhibition as well as lent the prints of Ansel’s work.

Adams was a prominent American artist in the 20^th century due to his work and his belief in the preservation of wilderness areas.

Admission for the gallery talk, as well as the exhibition itself, is free and open to the public.

Samantha Middendorf can be reached at 581-2812 or semiddendorf@eiu.edu