paul adams

Students Across the College of Fine Arts and Communications Have Accepted the Invitation to Experience Learning Outside the Classroom

Paul Adams was recognized for his three pieces: “Breathe,” “#MeToo,” and “President Kevin Worthen, Brigham Young University”

“Cool, Creative and Contemporary” are prominent words in every Black + White Photography magazine edition. Seeking out black and white photographic works that fulfill this motto, the magazine recently discovered Brigham Young University photography professor Paul Adams. His feature in the November magazine, titled “Telling Stories”, focuses on Adams’ series of ironic fairytales, all within the monochromatic theme.

Florence Pestrikoff flew from her remote home in Akhiok on Alaska’s Kodiak Island to have her picture taken. Her BYU photographers came even farther—driving more than 40 hours and riding a ferry for 10. And now her image is on display 3,500 miles away in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Pestrikoff is one of the last speakers of Alutiiq, an endangered language in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and one of 16 people photographed so far by recent BYU photography grad Jordan K. Layton (BFA ’17) and professor Paul S. Adams (BFA ’94) for their ongoing project, Vanishing Voices. Vanishing Voices began as Layton’s capstone project, inspired by his realization that hundreds of languages are disappearing in North America alone. Read more at magazine.byu.edu http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=_1tll0J8GCY&feature=emb_logo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=_1tll0J8GCY This fall a new exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum features 46 portraits taken from photographers all across the country. But only one of the 46 pieces of art displays not one, but two artist names: Paul Adams, a BYU professor, and Jordan Layton, a former photography student. Their work will be presented in “The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today,” a major exhibition premiering at the National Portrait Gallery. Every three years, artists living and working in the United States are invited to submit one of their recent portraits to a panel of experts chosen by the museum. The works of this year’s 46 finalists were selected from over 2,600 entries. The BYU duo’s portrait that is accepted for display in the Smithsonian is called Florence, one of the last speakers of Alutiq. It is a piece from their project “Vanishing Voices” and will hang in the National Portrait Gallery for a year and a half before going on tour for two years. Read more at news.byu.edu

Photography major and Alabamian Jordan Layton was originally recruited to come to BYU to play soccer. Growing up, Layton never felt he was talented in art or music. However, four years ago when introduced to a friend’s camera Layton discovered photography and was hooked. After being admitted to the program, Layton went on a class trip to Los Angeles where the students met with commercial photographers and visited their studios. This experience solidified Layton’s decision to pursue commercial photography as a career. Layton sets himself apart with the sensitivity and attention to detail he brings to every project. Recently Layton and his professor Paul Adams, the Head of BYU Photography, embarked on a project they later named “Vanishing Voices.” While surfing the web, Layton came across a website illustrating endangered languages around the world including critically endangered languages with only one to three speakers left. “I was amazed at how many endangered languages there were even within our own country,” Layton said. “Looking into these tribes and people it really amazed me how hard they are fighting to hold onto their cultures and their languages that will ultimately die off soon.” Layton decided to document these individuals with a process called wet plate collodion tintype. This is an intensive process that was popularized in the 1850s and 60s around the time of the Civil War. One picture takes approximately an hour and a half to set up and another hour and a half to break down. “The wet plate collodion process is one of the most archival processes ever invented, so the plate could be around much longer than these languages and cultures will be,” Layton said. To create the 20-inch by 24-inch tintypes, Layton had to use a camera of that size. Layton and Adams had so much equipment they had to rent a trailer to take to California where Layton had located a few people for their visit through a number of cold calls. “Vanishing Voices” was displayed at the Harris Fine Arts Center at BYU, but Layton will continuing working on the project after graduation. Following his graduation this month, Layton and his wife Miriam are moving to New York City where Miriam will begin a new job and Layton will complete an internship with professional fashion photographer John Moe.