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Contact: Mark Lacy (713) 521-3686 mark@cultural-crossroads.com www.houstonculture.org/media February 16, 2001

Bill Steber's Mississippi Blues Documentary
Exhibited On Line as First HIFC Featured Artist


In the age of E-commerce, Houstonians can also experience E-culture right at their computer desktops. The Houston Institute for Culture presents an On-line Exhibit of photography by Bill Steber.

The Nashville photographer has documented the culture of Mississippi Blues for nearly a decade. This on-line presentation of select images allows for a wide audience to access this artistic and educational series that might otherwise remain hidden in a far away gallery.

Bill Steber began working on his documentary of the Blues in 1992 while on an assignment to photograph the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. He became interested in the regional culture while traveling back to Tennessee on Highway 61, the historic route of many Blues legends. Steber was awarded a 1998 Alicia Patterson Foundation grant allowing him to take a one year sabbatical from his job at The Nashville Tennessean, while he traveled in the Mississippi Delta region interviewing subjects and creating dramatic visual images. Many images from this extensive body of work, "Stones in My Pathway," were recently exhibited at the Saba Gallery in New York City.

Viewers can see part of this exceptional series of black and white photographs by going to http://www.houstonculture.org/artist on the Internet.

Interested viewers will be able to ask questions of the artist by sending them via email to hoodooroot@home.com and the responses will be posted as an on-line community interview with Bill Steber. Topics may range from lighting techniques to logistics of producing a social documentary, and may even include general interest in Blues music.

Bill Steber was selected as the first Houston Institute for Culture "Featured Artist" because he represents the ideal dedication to preserving a record of an endangered culture. While Steber has found increased exposure for his documentary photography around the country, we hope the exhibit will encourage underexposed cultural artists to contact Houston Institute for Culture about their work.

Media interested in interviewing Bill Steber should make arrangements by contacting Mark Lacy at 713-521-3686. A photograph from Steber's series is available and can be provided on compact disc or downloaded from the Internet with sufficient resolution for publication. Please see http://www.houstonculture.org/media.

[ Preview "Hellhound" Image ]


Additional Note:

Houston Institute for Culture will offer photgraphy and video lighting courses in conjunction with the Bill Steber Exhibit. Please see the Press Release.



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