the Governor's Arts Award Winners

Eric Renner & Nancy Spencer

San Lorenzo

2015 Recipient, Major Contributor to the Arts

Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer have devoted some three decades to the historical art form of pinhole photography. They established Pinhole Resource, Inc. in 1984 to provide resources, advice and information for photographers around the world. In addition to a journal and Web site, they have authored many books that are used as resource texts by artists and students around the world. "Nancy and Eric's devotion to Pinhole art, their dedication to providing various rich resources to others interested in the topic, and their efforts to educate the public about the art form have helped to raise awareness of Pinhole photography in New Mexico while enriching artists, students and their New Mexico community for decades," said nominator Faye McCalmont, the long-time executive director of Mimbres Region Arts Council in Silver City, which received a Governor's Arts Award in 2013. Renner and Spencer donated their Pinhole collection of more than 6,000 photographs, cameras and books to the New Mexico History Museum in 2012. In April 2014, the History Museum opened "Poetics of Light: Pinhole Photography," which has been one of the museum's most popular exhibitions, with an extended run through January 10, 2016. "The New Mexico History Museum's presentation of 'Poetics of Light,' based on the Pinhole Resource Collection is an in-depth, eye-opening survey of contemporary pinhole photography, the largest exhibition of its kind ever assembled," said Daniel Kosharek, Photo Curator at the History Museum. Mary Anne Redding, former chair of the Photography Department at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design said: "If any two individuals with a long history of influence on the photographic arts in New Mexico deserve the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, it is Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer—for their vision, their passion, and their commitment to education in the arts."