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C. Rose Smith, juror for the exhibition will present a free, public talk at 5 p.m. on Sept. 11

 

MURRAY, Ky. 鈥� The Murray State University Galleries are pleased to present 鈥淭he Magic Silver Show: The Elena Diane Curris Juried Photomedia Exhibition鈥� to open the fall 2025 exhibition season.

This exhibition, which features a variety of work by many national and international artists, is an open-theme exhibit that showcases and celebrates the work of regional, national and international artists working in all photo media, including, but not limited to, traditional black and white or color photography, experimental or nontraditional light sensitive processes, digital media, film and video.

鈥淭he Magic Silver Show: The Elena Diane Curris Juried Photomedia Exhibition 2025鈥� will be on view from Aug. 19 鈥� Oct. 13 in the Clara M. Eagle Gallery on the sixth and seventh floors of Price Doyle Fine Arts Center. 

C. Rose Smith, the juror for 鈥淭he Magic Silver Show,鈥� will visit campus to present a juror鈥檚 talk on Thursday, Sept. 11 at 5 p.m. in Price Doyle Fine Arts room 623 located inside the gallery on the sixth floor. A reception for the exhibition will follow the talk in the gallery. The event is free and open to the public.

鈥淭he Magic Silver Show鈥� began in the mid-1970s as a juried exhibition designed to encourage, foster understanding and reward those involved in photographic media. The exhibition returns to Murray State under the sponsorship of Dr. Constantine and Jo Curris, and is in memory of their daughter, Elena. Dr. Curris was the sixth president of Murray State. The exhibit is funded by an endowment to the visual arts by family and friends of Elena Diane Curris to memorialize her generous and adventurous spirit and to support the strength and reputation of the visual arts at Murray State. Elena earned an associate degree in communications from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and a bachelor鈥檚 degree in marketing, communications and photography from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. Over the course of her career, Curris worked with Mirabella magazine, the Ralph Lauren Corporation and California State University at Long Beach. She also maintained a lifelong passion for photography and the arts.

Smith, juror for this year鈥檚 "Elena Curris Magic Silver Show," is a photographer and currently serves as the assistant curator of photography at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, Tennessee. Her dedication is not just to the art form but also to the artists themselves. Smith's mission is to offer care, elevate and expand the voices of unexplored artists within the photography catalogue. Her research spans 19th鈥揺arly 20th-century portrait studios in the U.S. South, the history of Black and African-American photographers in the Americas and Europe, and women in photography, past and present. In previous roles, she assisted in rotating permanent collection exhibitions and managing the photography collection at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York. Smith is a member of the Photography Network and the Society of Photographic Education (SPE). She has juried exhibitions for SPE and the University of Memphis Art Museum and served as a portfolio reviewer for SPE, PhotoNola, Atlanta Contemporary Photography and Filter Photo. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography and Related Media from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Admission to the galleries is free and open to the public. The University Galleries visitor hours for fall 2025 are Monday and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information about the University Galleries visit  or follow on Instagram at .