SCRANTON — Matthew Christopher, a renowned photographer, author and lecturer, will be the featured speaker at this year’s Wake Up With the Arts Breakfast, scheduled for 9 to 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 7 in the Platform Lounge at the Radisson Lackawanna Station and Hotel at 700 Lackawanna Ave., Scranton. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.
The event is free and open to the public and registration can be made by emailing arts-culture@lackawannacounty.org or calling 570-963-6590, ext. 106.
The eighth annual event, sponsored by the Lackawanna County Arts and Culture Department, brings national speakers on community arts topics to the area. The breakfast serves as a creative networking event that focuses on educating, motivating and inspiring the public to use the arts, area artists and art organizations, businesses and agencies to enhance the quality of life in the communities that comprise Lackawanna County. It also showcases the artistic talent in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
The tables at the event will be decorated by local artists and organizations.
The program will open with a short performance by Catholic Choral Society, one of the art groups supported on a yearly basis through the Arts and Culture’s program stream funding.
Christopher will speak on the topics explored in his latest book, “Abandoned America: Dismantling the Dream,” which was released on Sept. 15. His talk will explore why spaces become abandoned in communities and what are the consequences and alternatives. Some of the places he has explored through his photographs include Schenely High School in Pittsburgh, once the most expensive high school in the U.S.; a state hospital in Taunton, Massachusetts, and the SS United States, a derelict ocean liner moored in Philadelphia that was the fastest passenger ship ever built.
His work has garnered international attention and he is considered a leading expert on urban blight and is an authority on how to preserve American’s endangered architectural history. His extensive photography collected of derelict sites is featured on his website Abandoned America.
Christopher earned his MFA in Imaging Arts and Sciences from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2012. His photography has been featured on NBC Nightly News, the L.A. Times, BBC, ABC News, NPR, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post and Discovery Channel magazine, among others. He has lectured on the art of ruins, abandoned spaces, historic preservation and mental health across the United States. He also presents photography workshops and has conducted sold out programs at the historic Scranton Lace Works building.
