Outside Influence: Photography in Colorado 1945-95

Jun 2 - Jun 17, 2025

Patton-Malott Gallery

Curated by Rupert Jenkins 

Outside Influence: Photography in Colorado 1945-95 traces the state’s history of fine art photography from the end of World War Two (WWII) to the cusp of the 21st century. Because histories of regional art and culture have tended to foreground painting, ceramics, and sculpture, Colorado photographers have often been relegated to “also ran” status. This exhibition is intended to counter that by establishing their singular contributions to the state’s modern art history. 

Outside Influence presents works by over 30 artists spanning more than half a century of artmaking. The show’s title acknowledges landscape’s prominence as a subject for photographers in the state, and also alludes to the influx of artists and educators whose arrival from outside the state expanded its demographics and photographic practice. The show includes several links to Aspen. Those include photographs from the 1951 “Golden Aspen Days” conference on Photography at the Hotel Jerome, which brought over 20 eminent photographers to the town for ten-days of panels and outings to the mountains. 

Works by Cherie Hiser, David Hiser, and Mark Sink are also included. Cherie Hiser founded the Center of the Eye photography workshop program in Aspen in 1968. One of CoE’s legacies is the current Anderson Ranch photo program, now directed by Andrea Jenkins Wallace (no relation to Rupert Jenkins). David Hiser is the founder of Photographers Aspen; his work in the show documents Hunter S. Thompson’s run for Sheriff of Pitkin County in 1970. Mark Sink’s images document visits by Andy Warhol to Aspen and Colorado in the 1980s.

Outside Influence is the result of more than seven-years of research. The show is based on Jenkins’s forthcoming book OUTSIDE INFLUENCE: PHOTOGRAPHY IN COLORADO 1945–95 (University Press of Colorado, fall 2025) This exhibition at Anderson Ranch is an edited version of one shown in March-April at the University of Denver’s Vicki Myhren Gallery. 

Jenkins’s research relies heavily on his tenure as volunteer, board chair, and director of the Colorado Photographic Arts Center (2007–2015). His sources include public libraries and archives; artist monographs, photo publications, and newspaper reviews; and more than 120 personal interviews with artists, curators, and administrators. Many of those people have passed on since their interview, which reinforces the importance of representing their work and achievements before they are lost and forgotten.

Artists (Provisional List)

1940–50s
Robert C. Bishop
James O. Milmoe
Winter Prather

1960s–80s
Joel Dallenbach
Cherie Hiser
David Hiser
Mike Mandel
Kenda North
John Suhay
Myron Wood

The Denver Salon, 1990s
Shaun Gothwaite
Wes Kennedy
Mark Sink
Inna Valin
Reed Weimer

1980s–2000s
John Bonath
Albert Chong
Gary Emrich
Susan R Goldstein
Vidie Lange
Merlin Madrid
Roddy MacInnes
Barbara Houghton
Daniel Salazar
William S. Sutton
Melanie Walker