User:Jerrysiegel/sandbox

Jerry Siegel (born 1958) is an American fine-art photographer. He lives and works in Atlanta, GA.[2] Siegel is a Portrait and Documentary photography. He focuses on capturing the many, varied aspects of the contemporary South.

Jerry Siegel was born and raised in Selma, Alabama, as was his father and grandfather. He briefly spent time in Mobile, AL where he attended the University of South Alabama. It was at South Alabama where he was introduced to photography and found his passion for shooting people and portraits. He went on the Atlanta where he graduated from the Art Institute of Atlanta. He has been shooting advertising, commercial and corporate photography since 1986.

Siegel had his first gallery exhibit in 2004, showing his work at Galerie MC in Atlanta, His work is now in 14 museums throughout the Southeast. He was awarded the Grand Prize of the first Artadia Award in Atlanta in 2009 He has published 2 monographs and been included in compilations (Artadia, 100 Southern Artists, Inspried Georgia)

His first monograph was "Facing South: Portraits of Southern Artists". For more than 23 years, Jerry Siegel has been photographing southern artists. Following in the footsteps of his namesake uncle, Jerry Siegel - who was one of the earliest collectors and promoters of Alabama southern artists--the younger Siegel continually traces regional southern artistic talent back to its creators, whom he captures in portraits as emotionally affecting as they are visually striking. "Facing South: Portraits of Southern Artists" reproduces, in both black-and-white and color, one hundred of these portraits of the artists that Siegel has worked with, covering all mediums and artist categories. Facing South also includes two essays, one on portraiture as an art form by Julian Cox,Chief curator of Art Gallery of Ontario/Musee des beaux-arts de l'Ontario, and one discussing - what is Southern art - by Dennis Harper, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the Jule Collins Smith Museum at Auburn University, Auburn, AL.

His second monograph, “Black Belt Color: Photographs by Jerry Siegel”, published by the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA and focuses on the unique, cultural landscape of the Black Belt region of Alabama. “Black Belt Color: Photographs by Jerry Siegel” includes 65 full-color, full-page images of Siegel’s photographs of the Black Belt, from the 1990s to the present decade, including seven panoramic fold-outs. It features an essay by Willaim Eiland, Director, Georgia Museum of Art, and a brief essay by the late Alabama writer Mary Ward Brown (who was a close friend of Siegel’s). The piece by Mary Ward Brown was her last writeen piece. Also included is an extended interview in which Siegel reflects on his career and his process.

Siegels's work is in 14 Southeastern Museums, and other public, commercial and many corporate, as well as private collections.