Photographer Brings Amistad Exhibition to Rockland County

Collette V. Fournier, Photographer will have a photography exhibition entitled "Amistad: From Mystic Seaport to Halifax, Nova Scotia" from October 1 - 31, 2006 at Garnerville Arts and Industrial Center, GAGA,

55 W. Railroad Ave. Garnerville, NY 10923 (845) 947-7108/ 641-5836 gaga@garnervillearts.com This exhibition is in collaboration with the Rockland County Amistad Hudson River Valley Tour 2006-Haverstraw Visit Committee Oct. 7 – 11 and Oct. 22 - 23, 2006 at the Haverstraw Marina. A reception will be held on Sunday, October 7 for the Amistad exhibition at 7:00pm in the GAGA Gallery.

The exhibition will travel to The Rockland County Courthouse, 1 So. Main St., Room 200, New City, NY 10956 Hours: 8:30am – 5:00pm November 6 – December 22, 2006. For further information please contact Ms. Patricia Zippelli, (845) 638-5350, pzippill@courts.state.ny.us

The exhibition then travels to SUNY Rockland Community College145 College Road, Suffern, NY 10901 Rotunda, Library Media Arts Center from January 15 – February 26, 2007 during the College’s annual African American History Month. For information call (845) 574-4409 for Library Hours, or Ms. Fournier in Campus Communications at

(845) 574-4549 www.sunyrockland.edu/campuscomm

Ms. Fournier has been documenting the Amistad’s activities since 1999. She became interested in photographing the freedom schooner when she heard Warren Marr lecture on Amistad’s history and then met Wayne Bartow, an African American shipwright (boatbuilder) who is part of the Mystic Seaport crew. The photographer has followed Amistad’s adventures from Mystic Seaport, Bridgeport, CT, New York City to Halifax, Nova Scotia. She plans to continue her documentation when the Amistad visits

Charlestown, South Carolina and Washington DC during the Transatlantic Freedom Tour in 2007 - 2008.

Ms. Fournier has worked at SUNY Rockland CC in Campus Communications, as the campus photographer and as an adjunct professor in the Photography Department since 1992. Ms. Fournier has worked as a staff photographer for The Bergen Record, The Rockland Journal-News, about...time magazine, and freelanced for The New York Post.

The photographer has had three one-woman exhibitions including a nineteen-year retrospective. Her works have been shown in galleries in Rockland, New York City, New Jersey, Texas, Rochester, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, Canada and the USSR. The photographer’s works are in the photographic collections of EnFoco, Inc., The Smithsonian Institute's National African American Museum Project, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Women in Photography International Archive, Kamoinge, Inc., various books, magazines and in private collections. Ms. Fournier is currently writing a personal narrative.

For further information please e-mail Ms. Fournier at fournierandco@juno.com or fournierandco@aol.com