Vesta Paige Pinnell, Jr. was a photographer.
Background
Vesta Paige Pinnell, Jr. was born on October 11, 1944, in Macon, Georgia, the United States to Vesta Paige Pinnell and Mattie Lou Burch. The family moved to Gainesville, Florida when Vesta Pinnell was 1 1/2 years old. His father eventually became Postmaster in Gainesville, and his mother was a third-grade teacher. As a boy in the segregated South, he had a Black friend, but they couldn't be seen together, so they would meet at the creek. They never got caught.
Education
Vesta Pinnell graduated from Gainesville High School and entered the University of Florida, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography, with additional study in history, which was to become a lifelong passion. He moved to New Mexico in 1969, where he received an MFA in photography and history of photography from the University of New Mexico, under the direction of Van Deren Coke, as well as working with Jerry Uelsmann at the University of Florida.
Career
Following graduation Vesta Pinnell served as a VISTA volunteer in Atlanta, working in the Black ghetto of Vine City, developing a food co-op and for the Atlanta Model Cities Program. He helped found the Great Speckled Bird, an underground newspaper that achieved national prominence with its dedication to social and political life in Atlanta and the South. Vesta Pinnell also taught at the Atlanta School of Art. Over a 12-year period, he taught at UNM, the University of Florida, University of Oregon, and for two summers at the University of California, Berkeley. Paige hosted the Santa Fe/Dallas Photographic Workshops for twelve summers.
Vesta Pinnell was an accomplished, exhibited photographer who created complex photomontages, using multiple-negative techniques prior to the development of digital photography. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of New Mexico and Southwestern history, with a particular interest in the Santa Fe Ring and Native American cultures in the Southwest.
Paige Pinnell of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and formerly of Gainesville, passed away on Monday, March 27, 2017, from complications related to cancer.
Personality
Vesta Pinnell was a quintessential Southern Gentleman, self-acknowledged curmudgeon, and a natural teacher and student of life. He connected with a wide cross-section of people; asked provocative questions, enjoyed a good argument, and was a skilled teller of jokes.