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visual arts Photo: "Self-portrait with Fish," May and Leo Chan Lee, The May's Studio, Chinatown, San Francisco. Circa: 1936. Medium: gsp image. He began collecting them, as well as portraits, negatives, and props, and by 1980 commissioned the first backgrounds of his own design. Later he extended his reach to Central and North America, purchasing large portions of two California commercial photography operations: M a y ' s Studio in San Francisco, and Oscar R e i m s Studio in Oakland. Berticevich's massive archive includes interviews with painters and portrait photographers, correspondence, as well as Berticevich's portraits of the photographers at work. What began as a quirky, personal collection has evolved over two decades into a surprising and comprehensive archive of vernacular portraiture and background painting from around the world. Spectacular Vernacular is an exhibit of painted backgrounds and studio portraits from the George C . Berticevich Collection at the Presentation House Gallery from January 11-February 16. A selection of backgrounds and photographs from India. M e x i c o , and San Francisco w i l l look at the environments selected for representation of the self in studio portraiture and the implications of the uses of pastoral/urban landscape and other backgrounds. M a r k Sloan, director of the Halsey Gallery at the College of Charleston School of the Arts in South Carolina, is the guest curator for the exhibit. Sloan has curated and organized dozens of photography exhibits, including Dear Mr. Ripley: Treasures from the Believe It or Not! The author o f several photography books. Sloan is currently co-writing the book Self Made Worlds: The Phenomenon Visional) of He Its a lot easier to bring you your favourite from the to Alive out of 10 RETRIEVERS magazine Call mailbox than the mall. 984-9537 subscribe to Arts Folk Art Environments. w i l l be giving a lecture. "The Secret Life of the A r c h i v e . " in relation to S/i(, tai tiltu Vernacular on January 11 at 2:15 pm in the gallery. Excerpts of this article originally appeared in the 1996 winter issue of Doubletake magazine and are reprinted here with permission. for just $15 a year.