Out West
August 5 – 28, 2021
Blue Sky is pleased to announce a special memorial exhibition for acclaimed photographer, Ingeborg Gerdes (German-American, 1938 – 2020). This retrospective exhibition, Out West, comprises work from several of Gerdes’ series spanning a 50-year period, including photographs from San Francisco in the 70s, Out West Across the Basin, Out West in Color, Eastern Washington, The Mission District, and Autobiography.
Gerdes exhibited her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. In 1975 she exhibited alongside Imogen Cunningham, Bernice Abbott, Mary Ellen Mark, Diane Arbus, among others, in “Women Photographers: A Historical Survey” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. During her lifetime, Gerdes was awarded four National Endowment for the Arts fellowships and participated in two Photography Survey grants. Her photographs are in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Portland Art Museum, the Stanford Museum of Art and the Berkeley Art Museum, among others. She taught photography for over two decades at the University of California, Santa Cruz, influencing a new generation of artists and undergraduate students.
Gerdes passed away peacefully at her home in Emeryville, CA on June 20th, 2020. She is remembered as a remarkably talented photographer, influential educator, and as a dear sister, aunt, colleague, and friend. Her photographic archives will be housed in the Special Collections of the McHenry Library, at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Curated by Ann Jastrab, Executive Director of the Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA. This exhibition is one of several shows to honor Gerdes’ legacy.