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Peter de Lory Sound Transit Light Rail photograph collection, 1998-2009

Overview of the Collection

Creator
De Lory, Peter
Title
Peter de Lory Sound Transit Light Rail photograph collection
Dates
1998-2009 (inclusive)
Quantity
7.58 cubic feet (19 boxes) and 1 hard drive containing 1122 TIFF files
Collection Number
6557 (Accession No. 6557-001)
Summary
Photographs of the Sound Transit Light Rail construction process
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

No restrictions on access. Digital materials can be viewed onsite in the Virtual Vault in the Reading Room.

Request at UW

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Peter de Lory began making photographs of the landscape in Cape Cod at age 16. After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute and Master of Fine Arts from the University of Colorado, he became Director of the Photography Department of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities in 1976 in central Idaho. He found meaning through the landscapes he encountered, an approach that became the foundation for his work as an artist. He received a National Endowment for the Arts Photography Fellowship for this work in 1979.

The western United States became de Lory’s adopted landscape, and he began working in various ways to express the mythologies of the "American West" and our presence in its physical and social landscape. In 1989, he began using the triptych form to link images into implied narrative, recording through visual metaphor our ideological and physical footprint on the land. During this period, he taught Photography at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, San Jose State University, the San Francisco Art Institute and the University of New Mexico. He also led workshops in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Friends of Photography, California, Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina, and Anderson Ranch, Colorado. In 1990 he received a California Arts Council Artist Fellowship.

In 1994 de Lory moved to the Pacific Northwest and began considering its lush woodlands, listening to the narrative of a new landscape. In 1996, he was awarded an Artist Fellowship as Photographer in Residence for the Seattle Water Department through the Seattle Arts Commission. He photographed for nine months creating a narrative series of photographs addressing the many aspects of how water comes to the city and celebrating the people who make it possible. The images in this body of work follow the water from its source in the Cascade Mountain range, to the water flowing from city faucets. The residency was expanded in 1999 to include all of Seattle Public Utilities: Drainage and Wastewater, Solid Waste and Recycle, and Community Services. The resulting body of work titled "Citywork," was exhibited at Seattle's Bank of America Gallery in April 2000. The final presentation took the form of triptychs, diptychs, and single photographs, 66 pieces in total, containing 170 individual black and white photographs. These works are on permanent exhibition throughout the Seattle Public Utilities facilities and offices.

From 1999 to 2009 he served as Photographer in Residence for Sound Transit, the newly formed Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, in a period of a massive transit expansion in the Seattle area. To celebrate the re-introduction of Commuter Rail in the Puget Sound Region, Sound Transit published a 48-page catalog of de Lory’s photographs, entitled "Railwork." This book chronicles the building of five rail stations between Seattle and Tacoma.

Source: Peter de Lory’s website, peterdelory.com, sourced May 2024

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Historical Background

Peter de Lory was commissioned by the Sound Transit art program in 1999 to produce a collection of photographs that chronicle and interpret the building of the regional transit system connecting the Central Puget Sound. In February 2005, in collaboration with friend and fellow photographer John Lewis, de Lory focused his lens on Link light rail construction. The project went on through 2009.

As photographer-in-residence for Sound Transit de Lory saw himself as the observer of both the monumental and the individual forces building a modern transit system. He donned a hard-hat, safety vest, eye protection and metal-toed boots, and carried a heavy camera bag and tripod during visits to the Sound Transit project sites under construction. He moved in and around the machines and workers and photographed what he found visually exciting and humanistic. He sought to portray the order and logic he discovered in what may appear to be construction chaos. He aimed to show that everyone was part of the process.

De Lory chose to work in black and white imagery with the intention of lending a timeless quality to the images and creating an archival record of the effort.

Source: Peter de Lory’s website, peterdelory.com, sourced May 2024

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Content Description

Print and digital photographs, files, and correspondence related to the work of photographer Peter de Lory, who was commissioned by Sound Transit from 1999 to 2009 to document the building of the regional transit system through photography.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Creator's copyrights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Creator retains a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to exercise all rights under copyright for the remainder of his natural life.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in 6 series.

  • Series 1, Sound Transit Film Negatives
  • Series 2, Contact Sheets
    • Subseries A: Link Light Rail Work Prints
    • Subseries B: Artists and Public Art
    • Subseries C: Thematic Work Prints
    • Subseries D: Transit Station Areas Work Prints
  • Series 3, Work Prints
  • Series 4, Exhibition Prints
  • Series 5, Papers and Ephemera
  • Series 6, Hard Drive digital files
    • Subseries A: Donor Files
    • Subseries B: Inventory files from Donor
    • Subseries C: Scanned Film Archive
      • Sound Transit Artists
      • Sound Transit Final Submissions 2005
      • Sound Transit Final Submissions 2006
      • Sound Transit Final Submissions 2007
      • Sound Transit Final Submissions 2008
      • Sound Transit Final Submissions 2009
      • Groundbreaking 2003
      • Multiples

Acquisition Information

Gift of Peter de Lory, February 2024

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

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Subject Terms

  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)
  • Tacoma


2024 (Last modified: 8/23/2024)

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