Exhibition of Photographs by Fred Scruton at The Range, Saguache, Colorado.
March 12 – April 23, 2022
Dominic Espinoza and Roy Smith, two of the featured artists, were able to attend the closing reception:
American Sites Closing Reception
Join us Saturday April 23, 2022 from 3-6pm at The Range for the closing reception for American Sites, a retrospective exhibition of the photography of Fred Scruton. The artist will be in Saguache for this celebration.
American Sites features photographs of a wide variety of artists and art environments from all regions. For the last twenty years Fred Scruton has traveled extensively and specialized in documenting self-taught and folk artists. Through repeated visits, Fred establishes long-term collaborative relationships with the artists he photographs; many of the most successful picture ideas have come from the artists themselves. Fred works to preserve artists’ often ephemeral visions while expanding traditional understandings of the documentary process. The artists draw from their own life experiences, cultural histories, and inner-musings, with little influence from the marketplace or the academy. Their desire to enlighten, entertain, and make sense of the world through their artworks and built-environments provides an authentic and too often overlooked perspective on American culture.
Since first visiting Cano’s Castle in Antonito during his honeymoon in 2008, Fred has made yearly return visits to the San Luis Valley. Fred has published numerous articles on self-taught artists, including profiles of Dominic ‘Cano’ Espinoza and Ramblin’ Roy Smith of Saguache for Raw Vision and Folk Art Messenger magazines respectively. Fred is a professor of art in northwestern Pennsylvania and a former freelance photographer of artwork, installation, and architecture in New York City. His photography has been widely exhibited, including four one-person exhibitions at OK Harris Gallery in New York City. An archive of his work is available at fredscruton.com.
In conjunction with American Sites, Fred is making available posters and prints of Cano’s Castle in Antonito. In January Cano lost his home in a fire, while the Castle still stands. Funds from these editions will be given directly to Cano in support of his post-fire needs. Please visit therangeontheinternet.com for more information.
