UNC-CH Student
Press Releases:
• June 12
• June 13
• June 13

These press releases were written by UNC students enrolled in news writing classes taught by Barbara Barnett and Jan Yopp at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Liz Gardner
JOMC 53
June13, 2001

Janis Joplin exudes the agony of heartbreak. The Beatles laugh mid-recording session. Pete Townsend smashes his guitar. Otis Redding writhes with unparalleled soul.

The spirit and decadence of the 1960s play out before visitors' eyes at the Ackland Art Museum in the exhibition, Linda McCartney's Sixties: Portrait of an Era.

The exhibit includes 50 photographs taken primarily in the '60s. It features prominent figures in American and British pop music culture from Jimi Hendrix to the Grateful Dead to B.B. King.

The exhibit pays homage to the decade and to the life and work of McCartney. Carolyn Allmendinger, the museum's educator for university audiences, said in a news conference Tuesday that the exhibit is "meant to commemorate her life and her work as a photographer."

The exhibit includes components that add a musical dimension, including a listening station with various music from the '60s and a video interview with McCartney.

In addition to showcasing McCartney's photographs, the museum has planned several community events focusing on the decade, Allmendinger said. Associate professor John Covach of the University music department will give a gallery talk on the Beatles and the '60s and provide insight into many of McCartney's photographs at 7:30 p.m. today.

Today is the first in a series of evenings the museum will remain open past normal hours. In collaboration with the Chapel Hill Downtown Commission's Thursdays Rock celebration, the museum will extend its hours on five Thursdays this summer. Today, June 28, July 12 and 26, and Aug. 9, the museum will stay open until 9 p.m.

On each of those evenings, a series of films, including the Beatles in Yellow Submarine and A Hard Day's Night, will be shown at 9 p.m. at the top of the town parking deck downtown in the James C. Wallace Plaza. A list of showings is available on the museum's Web site: http://www.ackland.org.

Allmendinger said the exhibit has met with interest and excitement from the public. She said an estimated crowd of over 1,000 attended Sunday's exhibition opening and expects a good turnout at Thursday's gallery talk. "We're delighted," she said of the response. "We hope that it will be popular with audiences."

The exhibition is the first museum show of McCartney's work since her death in 1998. It has been on tour around the world for two years. McCartney covered much of the '60s music scene as the first photographer of Rolling Stone magazine. She was voted "1987 U.S. Photographer of the Year" by Women in Photography magazine. Her unposed portraits capture the spirit not only of her subjects but of the live-for-the-moment decade.

The collection will be on display at the Ackland until Aug. 19. The museum's hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free, but the museum suggests a $3 donation.