Photo-Focused Day at CVM

Visitors to CVM Saturday, January 18 can celebrate the opening of a new photograph exhibit and purchase reproduced historic photos from recently retired CVM exhibits.

"Unseen & Historic Eau Claire" Exhibit

In early spring of 2013, local photographer Travis Dewitz set out to photograph the city of Eau Claire much in the way he photographs other places - through the eyes and camera lens of an outsider.

A selection of images from the series will be on exhibit at the Chippewa Valley Museum from Saturday, January 18 through March of 2014. 

Called "Unseen & Historic Eau Claire," the photo series beautifully captures Eau Claire's built environment - iconic and every day, historic and contemporary. "I went out with my camera to capture Eau Claire like it was my first day there," explained Dewitz in a blog post on the photo series. "I found and photographed as many unique areas, homes, businesses, and buildings that I could."

In an effort to present the city in a new light to its citizens, Dewitz explored neighborhoods off of his normal routes. The broad range of represented structures includes bright and bustling businesses; somber, closed-up historic commercial buildings; cheerily painted homes; and stoic-looking historic houses alike.

Photographs included in the exhibit will be available for purchase, and a portion of the proceeds will support programs and exhibits at the Chippewa Valley Museum. Visit www.dewitzphotography.com to view additional photo projects, portfolios, and booking information.

The Museum will celebrate the opening of the exhibit with an informal reception open to the public on Saturday, January 18 from 1 to 4 pm.

Retired Exhibit Picture Sale

CVM recently retired two large, long-term exhibits - Paths of the People: The Ojibwe in the Chippewa Valley and Settlement and Survival: Building Towns in the Chippewa Valley, 1850-1925 - to accommodate a new, updated exhibit called Intersections (set to open July 2014).

While the artifacts from the retired exhibits have returned to CVM's collections storage, the reproduced photographs and images removed from the exhibits are in need of new homes. These retired exhibit pictures will be up for sale on Saturday, January 18 from 1 to 4 pm.

All pictures available at the sale - around 150 total - are quality reproductions of historic photographs and images mounted on quarter-inch fiberboard. Sizes run from 5x7 to 24x36 inches, with prices from $5 to $45.

The cost of admission to the Chippewa Valley Museum is $5 for adults and $2 for children ages 5-17. Museum members and children under 5 are free.