Posted August 25, 2011 in Member News
Published in Athens Banner-Herald on August 9, 2011:
Athens - Wiley Devere Sanderson, pinhole photographer and Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of Georgia, died July 30, 2011, in Athens.
Mr. Sanderson was born August 26, 1918, in Detroit, Mich., to Wiley Dexter Sanderson and Frances Glee Benson. He received his first camera, A Kodak Brownie Box, when he was eight. In high school, he was an assistant instructor for Eastman Kodak.
He attended Olivet College and Mill College/New Bauhaus, where he studied with Lazlo Moholy-Nagy and Georgy Kepes. From 1940-1945, he served as Instrument Flying Instructor in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He completed his BFA in industrial design from Wayne State University in 1947, and completed his MFA in Metalwork at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1959.
He joined the art faculty at the University of Georgia in 1949 and taught for 40 years, retiring in 1989. He initiated the Weaving Textiles and Metal Works programs in the department. In 1953, he introduced Pinhole Photography, one of the first photography courses in the U.S. at the college level. In 1964, he became Area Chair of Photographic Design, and was replaced by four full-time faculty members in Fabric Design and Metalwork of Jewelry.
Mr. Sanderson photographed extensively in Italy, China, and Israel. His pinhole photographs are in numerous museums and collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), the Bibliotheque National (Paris, France), the American Academy (Rome, Italy), and the Royal Photographic Society and the Fox Talbot Museum (England). His photographs have been published nationally and internationally, most recently in the Smithsonian and on its website, in May 2000.
He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Mary Sayer Hammond, of Athens; his daughters, Sandra Bullock (Larry), of Brunswick, Janet Johnson (Keith), of Marietta, and Fran Wingfield (Terry), of Bethesday, Md.; five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, October 7, at Beech Haven Baptist Church, 2390 West Broad Street, Athens. A luncheon and celebration of Mr. Sanderson's life will follow in the fellowship hall.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Mr. Sanderson's name to the Idaho Mission Trip at Beech Haven Baptist Church.
R.T. Patterson Funeral Home, Norcross, has charge of arrangements.
(770) 923-2940
