MIDLAND It was when he was 7-years-old when William Clift began taking photos with his Brownie Hawkeye camera.
At age 10 his grandmother gifted him a Kodak Darkroom Kit, allowing him to go one step further, processing his film and making small contact prints.
Over the years, he would take Polaroid black and white photos and now, his work has made its way to the Museum of the Southwest for an exhibition titled: “A Particular World: The Clift Family of Artists.”
It’s not just William’s work that is featured in the exhibition but also his entire family.
“This is a unique show in that it is a group show,” Museum of the Southwest curator Matthew Ward said. “This group is a family of artists out of Santa Fe, N.M. The father, William Clift, is a renowned photographer, known for his landscapes. Over the years, he has transitioned from large format film photography to exploring other mediums such as Polaroids and now digital photography. This includes examples of his work from the 1950s until the present.
The exhibition features work of William from his Polaroids to his grand landscapes to his most recent iPhone photos as well as the work of his son, the sculptor Will Clift and his daughter, visual artist Carola Clift.
The more private creations of daughter Charis and his wife Vida are included as examples of how art can permeate one’s daily life.
“They create as a way of communicating with their family members,” Ward said. “They create as a way of expressing themselves. That is something that I enjoy about this show. It looks at art in holistic ways. It’s not just a profession, it’s a means of expression, no matter what your context is.”
The exhibition runs until Aug. 7.
Each of the individuals were artists in their own way.
“In this show, we have examples from each artist from when they were little kids up until the present,” Ward said. “With Will, for example, you can see his current professional work. You can see Will and Carola as children and the way their creativity blossoms through the years and how creativity can be cultivated in the context of home life and within the family.”
One of the things Ward pointed out about the exhibition is that it doesn’t show just one medium.
“There’s no one style,” Ward said. “There’s no one medium or just one material. That’s another thing that I like about this show with how many different mediums you can see. We have water colors. We have charcoal drawings. We have sculptures in metal, we have sculptures in wood and film photography and Polaroid photography. We even have floral arrangements. These are examples of things that normally wouldn’t be in a gallery but it’s a beautiful thing that we see in our day-to-day lives.”
The exhibition even features a film aspect with a piece by Carola that has a musical composition that she played on the piano.
The film shows William flipping through his book of Polaroids in which Ward said was the inspiration for the show.
“It’s a collection of Polaroids that he took from 1987 until 2008 of his family life and so extracted from that book, we’re looking to give voices to all of the characters in that world,” Ward said. “The hope is that this show can give people a sense of being in that world.”
Ward was excited to be able to put together an exhibition that was a collaboration with the artists to make the concepts come to life.
Ward worked with Eleanor Caponigro to put together the exhibit.
“She’s been a graphic designer for 60 years and a force in the art world,” Ward said. “It’s been great to collaborate with her on this show. These artists are very much a part of the southwest. It was great to bring a new perspective to their work and do a show about something positive like creativity within a family. It’s been really fulfilling.”
If you go
- What: A Particular World: The Clift Family of Artists.
- When: Now-Aug. 7 (Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 2-5 p.m. Sunday).
- Where: Museum of the Southwest in Midland.
