Early in 2008, Penelope Boyer, a Land Heritage Institute board member approached us for approval to seek funding for a site-specific, land-use/land-art, photography project to be part of the 2009 FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA Festival. Since Penelope has been involved with FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA in the past, as a friend, a supporter, and as a coordinator in a series of very successful community-based art initiatives, we immediately agreed to collaborate with her on the Land Heritage Institute project.

A few months later, Penelope was successful in procuring a two-year project grant from the Neighborhood Arts Program of the City of San Antonio Office Cultural Affairs. The grant was awarded on the merits of the track record and reputation of FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA (for the record, FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA does not receive, nor does it seek public or private funding for the festival).

To better manage the project, Penelope was named Special Projects Coordinator for FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA, and in the early Fall of 2008, we put together a set of criteria for the selection of the artists who were going to be asked to produce work for the Land Heritage Institute project. This being a two-year project, we decided that the first year’s assignment would go to a local photographic artist; and in the project’s second year, in 2010, we would engage a photographic artist from Mexico, in conjunction with the City’s 2010 Cultural Initiative to celebrate the centennial of the Mexican Revolution, and the bicentennial of Mexico’s Wars of Independence.

Out of a roster of about eight local photographic artists that we originally had in mind, we opted to work with Ansen Seale. Ansen has had a long history of documenting and producing images for Land Art projects, Prehistoric and Native American Art, and other nature projects. Another factor that influenced our choice was that Ansen also had the technological savvy necessary to produce work for what could (and did) turn out to be a very low-tech, out-in-the-boonies environment in the property owned and managed by Land Heritage Institute.

In November of 2008, we made a scouting trip with Ansen Seale to the Land Heritage Insitute property (which in years past was going to be the site of the proposed Applewhite Reservoir), adjacent to the Medina River in San Antonio’s deep South Side, and literally next door (in country terms) to the Toyota production facility on Applewhite Road.

Even though several venues were initially being considered to display the images produced for the project (the Toyota Visitor’s Center, for example), FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA was always of the mind that the project had to be site-specific to the property owned by Land Heritage Institute, and that it should be presented within the context of either the land or one of the existing structures at the property, thus creating an art destination and pride of place, all at once. In the end, the general consensus was that this in fact was the best choice.

Once the site was agreed upon, Ansen Seale was then able to focus on the context and esthetics of the project, which ultimately -after months of planning, working and experimenting- led to The Corn Crib, a site-specific installation that features a series of solar-powered, low-voltage, backlit images of corn ears; housed in an old corn storage shed, about a half-mile Southwest of the Presnall Watson House, the current gravity center for Land Heritage Institute. Most of the photographs were made by Ansen Seale using his Trademarked ePan camera, which takes 360 degree images of any particular subject matter.

(Click here to see video of the The Corn Crib by Mark & Angela Walley).

Entrance to Land Heritage Institute. Today, Land Heritage Institute is an association of some twenty independent organizations with permanent director positions on its governing board. Land Heritage Institute interprets, maintains and develops 1200 acres of open space on the Medina River as a living land museum, thereby preserving archeological, cultural, educational, environmental, historical and recreational resources.

In late April, 2009, Kellie Fichter, who works with Janet Grojean at Texas Public Radio, inquired if there was a FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA 2009 exhibit or event that could tie in with Texas Public Radio’s annual Focus On The Environment series. We put the TPR folks in touch with Penelope Boyer at Land Heritage Institute for what turned out to be an excellent collaboration and a productive partnership. In the photo above, TPR volunteers are signing in some of the numerous TPR members who came out for the Hands On Land Heritage – Focus On The Environment field day at the Land Heritage Institute, as part of the opening reception for Ansen Seale’s The Corn Crib.

Set up in front of the Presnall Watson House are booths by some of Land Heritage Institute partner organizations. Green Spaces Alliance is at the forefront. Next is the Medina River Authority, followed by the American Indians in Texas. Green Spaces Alliance is also conducting a Picture Your World Youth Photography Workshop with Ansen Seale, on September 27, at Land Heritage Institute. Photos from that event will be included here later.

At the Chuck Wagon, hot beans were on hand for field-induced appetites. The various set-ups, recreations and amenities at the event were coordinated by Penelope Boyer and Peggy Oppelt, both Land Heritage Institute board members.

Mark Oppelt (President, Land Heritage Institute) with Penelope Boyer and Ansen Seale, featured artist, The Corn Crib site-specific installation. FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA.

Ansen Seale, The Corn Crib, a Land Heritage Institute-FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA project.

Partial view of The Corn Crib photo-installation.

Partial view of The Corn Crib photo-installation.

Partial view of The Corn Crib photo-installation without outdoor light.

The solar panel that powers Ansen Seale’s The Corn Crib installation at Land Heritage Institute.

Penelope Boyer with Ariel Barkhurst from the San Antonio Express News.

The first of several late summer stray showers prompted a crowd to gather inside The Corn Crib for a very festive, and sweaty, communal art viewing experience. Openings for FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA exhibits and events tend to be lively affairs, but this one takes the prize.

Felix Padron at The Corn Crib. Felix Padron is the Director of the City of San Antonio Office of Cultural Affairs, whose Neighborhood Art Program funded the Corn Crib project through Land Heritage Institute for FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA.

Photo-op for Leland Outz form the San Antonio Express News. Bill Hurley (Treasurer, Land Heritage Institute), Penelope Boyer, Ansen Seale and Felix Padron.

Ansen Seale, Ramon Vazquez (First Vice-President, Land Heritage Institute) and Felix Padron.

Isaac Cardenas. American Indians in Texas (AIT-SCM).

Ramon Vazquez, Sofia Greimel Garza, Eduardo Cavazos Garza and Ann Kinser. Ramon and Eduardo are also members of the American Indians in Texas, a non-profit organization established by the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation.

Another impromptu Corn Crib crowd incentivized by a second wave of showers

The mood was even more festive and sweaty the second time around.

Ann Kinser keeping her cool inside the Corn Crib.

Ramon Vazquez supervising the hay rides on hand to transport non-walkers back and forth between the main site at the Presnell Watson House and the Corn Crib site. In the foreground, Ruth Rodriguez makes it clear she’s had her fill of rain and sweat.

Luis and Carmen Viramontes.

Michael Jay Smith inspecting Ansen Seale’s images.

Hard-core FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA troopers, Nancy Fullerton and Marilyn Lanfear, walked the half-mile trek to The Corn Crib, in the rain, in the heat, and well hydrated.

How could we ever live without these smiles?

Tinka and Lewis Tarver at The Corn Crib, Land Heritage Institute.

Jim Smyle and Joan Miller at The Corn Crib, Land Heritage Institute.

Armando Santiago de Ybañez and Terry Ybañez de Santiago.

Canine convention at the FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA opening reception for Ansen Seale’s The Corn Crib at Land Heritage Institute.

People by the dozens kept coming by during the opening reception.

Joan Frederick.

Margaret Watson Condra (seated) and Alma Ann Midgett. Margaret used to live on the Land Heritage Institute property with her family. Alma, who is also a Watson family member lived just a short distance away.

People kept on arriving even as the sun was going down.

Marilyn, Nancy and Joan, wisely opted for a hayride back to their cars. There was a reported David Rubin sighting, but there is no photo documentation of the fact; pretty much like not being there.

At the end of the day, and after eighteen months of intense planning, preparation and labor, pride and satisfaction is much in evidence in the faces of Penelope Boyer, Mark Oppelt, Ansen and Doerte Seale, with Ann Kinser.

Mark Oppelt, Penelope Boyer and Ansen Seale at The Corn Crib, Land Heritage Institute-FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA.

The Corn Crib. Land Heritage Institute-FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA.