October 05, 2009

Contact:   Stacey Schmeidel, 704/894-2798

Davidson, N.C.--When Bill Giduz graduated from Davidson College in 1974, he did what a lot of young people did: After a couple of months in a summer internship (in his case, the Raleigh Times newspaper), he hopped a plane for Europe and spent almost a year "seeing what there was to see." After driving from Paris to West Africa, then traveling from Southern France to India via Afghanistan's Khyber Pass, he returned to the United States, earned a master's degree in journalism at Columbia University, and settled in Atlanta. Attending his fifth college reunion in 1979, he got a tip about a job in the Davidson College communications office. He applied and was hired, and has spent the last 30 years documenting the life of the college in words and pictures. As Davidson's director of media relations, Giduz works with reporters, writes stories for the college Web site and various publications, and takes photographs-lots of photographs-of daily life at Davidson College and in the town.

Boys in Hobart Park, circa 1983 by Bill Giduz

From Friday, Oct. 16, to Wednesday, Dec. 9, more than 200 of Giduz's best photographs of college life and people will be on display in the Edward M. Smith Gallery of the college's Belk Visual Arts Center in an exhibition titled "Picturing Davidson: Bill Giduz and His First 30 Years." The public is invited to attend the exhibition and an opening reception, which will be held Thursday, Oct. 15, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Belk Visual Arts Center. There is no admission charge.

The exhibition includes images taken on black and white film, and photographs taken in digital color. Some depict historic Davidson events, including visits by President Gerald Ford and filmmaker Spike Lee. There are images of the tangled aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in 1989, and jubilant students watching the basketball team's run to the Elite Eight. But most are pictures of ordinary classroom life, events and extracurricular activity made special by the quality of the light or structure of the composition. They offer an artistic perspective both on the passage of time-through changing haircuts and student fashions-and on the constancy of life at a historic residential college in a small town.

Also included in the exhibition is a display of Davidson's "30-Year Club" colleagues, the 53 college employees who have worked at Davidson as long as--or longer than--Giduz himself.

"I was surprised when the gallery proposed this exhibition," said Giduz, "but I'm really very honored to have my work presented in this way." Noting that he majored in history at Davidson, Giduz conceded that over time he has come to understand the historical value of his photographic work. "A photo archive was already in place when I got to Davidson," Giduz said, "and I'm privileged to be the person who has maintained it since 1980. Images are a valuable part of the historic record for a longstanding college like Davidson."

"Bill was one of the first people I met when I came to Davidson in 1999--he was taking my photograph for the college directory!" said Brad Thomas, director and curator of the Van Every/Smith Galleries. "Over the years, he has become a good friend, and I cannot say enough about the significance of his contributions to the visual history of this place. We are honored to present this retrospective of his work."

When asked how many pictures he's taken during his three decades at the college, Giduz replies quickly, "3,436,402." He's kidding, of course--but the number may not be far off! Giduz attends most campus events with camera in hand, and for many years he has taken portrait photos of every new student and faculty member at the college. "I proceed on the assumption that every one of these people could wind up doing something significant in the world," Giduz said. "And when they do, the college will have a photo of them to offer."

Ubiquitous on the Davidson campus, Giduz is also well known in the Town of Davidson. A longtime Rotarian, he is also a board member of the Davidson Housing Coalition, a member of the Davidson United Methodist Church, and organizer of the Sunday afternoon gathering on the Village Green of the Lake Norman Jugglers.

The Van Every/Smith Galleries are located in the Katherine and Tom Belk Visual Arts Center at Davidson College, 315 N. Main St. (at the intersection of Main and Griffith). The gallery is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends from noon to 4 p.m. All exhibits are open to the public at no charge. For more information, call 704/894-2519.

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,800 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.

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