SANTA BANNON / FINE ART

Contact: Santa Bannon +1.610.997.5453 PA/NJ/NY info@santafineart.com santafineart.com thomasshilleaphotography.com

PRESS RELEASE

THOMAS SHILLEA'S PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTFOLIO ACCESSIONED BY THE HARRY RANSOM RESEARCH CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AT AUSTIN. First printing of the complete Sissy Spacek platinum portfolio.

June 9, 2012 BETHLEHEM, PA- Fine art photographer and master platinum printer, Tom Shillea recently had the first printing of a limited edition portfolio which includes 12 of his platinum/palladium portraits of Academy Award winning actor Sissy Spacek placed into the permanent collection of the Harry Ransom Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin. The Ransom Center is an esteemed museum, research center, library, and archive where literature, fine art, photography, film, performing arts are studied and exhibited. The photography collection is one of the largest and most complete resources of its kind in the world. The cornerstone is the renowned photohistorical archive, the Helmut and

Alison Gernsheim collection. This collection is best known for its treasures of nineteenthcentury photography, including the world's first photograph, a unique image created in 1826 by the French inventor Joseph Nicphore Nipce. Shillea is honored and privileged to have his first and only complete portfolio of Ms. Spacek included in the Ransom Center collection for two reasons. Shillea noted it fits well, This portfolio is a document. A document of a Texas native, an award-winning actor, and of a USIA commissioned project promoting good will and understanding across cultures. The second reason is that Ive closely studied Helmut and Alison Gernsheims compendium, The History of Photography, from the Camera Obscura to the Beginning of the Modern Era, while a graduate student at RIT. I even referenced it in one of my books. I have an enormous respect for the Gernsheims and their foresight. Senior Curator of Photography at the Ransom Center, Roy Flukinger remarked, Thomas Shillea's name is well-known to us. I have enjoyed viewing many of his still lifes and portraits over the years. He went on to say that he is glad to accession the Sissy Spacek prints into the collection, they are quite beautiful. Everyone we have shared the portfolio with here is very pleased. A copy of Mr. Shilleas book, Instruction Manual for the Platinum Printing Process will be added to the research library as well. In addition to being a photographer and author, Shillea is a fine art educator and historian. His newest work, the Trinity series, is of a conceptual nature combining still lifes and portraits made with a traditional large format film camera with images made with a 35mm digital camera then printing platinum together with digital. Other examples of Shilleas photographs are included in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Museum), the George Eastman House, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and The Baltimore Museum of Art, among many others. Mr. Shillea will be conducting a two-day Platinotype workshop on November 17 and 18, 2012 in conjunction with the InVision Photo Festival-Bethlehem, PA. Contact him at tom@thomasshilleaphotography.com for details. ### For more information or to schedule an interview with Thomas Shillea, please contact the artists representative, Santa Bannon at Santa Bannon/Fine Art info@santafineart.com or www.thomasshilleaphotography.com to see examples from the Sissy Spacek portfolio as well as other work. Facebook fan page www.facebook.com/ ThomasShilleaPlatinumPhotographs .

SANTA BANNON / FINE ART