Paducah, KY, July 13, 2026—Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) hosted photographer Palmira Miro Gutierrez from Tucson, Arizona, from June 19th - July 19th for their Artist in Residence Program. Gutierrez arrived in Paducah on June 21 for a month-long residency and has since transformed his temporary Paducah studio into a hub of creative activity–connecting with local artists, and producing a series of wet-plate portraits.
About Palmira Miro Gutierrez
Gutierrez specializes in grayscale images using collodion photography, also known as wet-plate process, a mid-19th-century technique in which photographers coat glass or metal plates with a viscous chemical mixture, sensitize them in silver nitrate, and shoot and develop them while the plate is still wet.
His interest in the medium began after sitting for his own wet-plate portrait. “I felt a deep sense of familiarity, like coming home to something I hadn’t realized was missing,” said Gutierrez. Since then, he has studied the process through the Western Photographic Historical Society and built an exhibition record that includes Galeria Mitotera, Snakebite Creation Space, and Communion on Convent in Tucson, and Museo de Arte de Nogales in Sonora, Mexico.
Gutierrez’s Paducah Project
As part of PAA’s residency requirement to engage the community, Gutierrez is creating a series of wet plate portraits featuring individuals who contribute to Paducah’s vibrant artistic scene. “I see these photographs as a way to document the people, relationships, and effort that goes into building a strong creative community. It’s what I’m most passionate about.”
A selection of Gutierrez’s previous work is currently featured in Yeiser Art Center’s America250 exhibit “No Man is an Island: Exhibition of American Art” on display at Paducah City Hall, 300 South 5th Street, through July 31, 2026. His new Paducah portraits will be showcased during the exhibit reception on Thursday, July 16, 5-7 pm. Gutierrez’s completed residency work is slated to be included in an upcoming exhibition at the Paducah School of Art, 905 Harrison, August 27-October 2, 2026.
UNESCO Creative City Connections
Paducah and Tucson are mutual members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Prompted by this connection, Gutierrez has been invited to create wet-plate portraits of the top entries of “Tucson Heirloom Recipes Through the Lens,” a community photography and storytelling initiative launched by Tucson City of Gastronomy. Gutierrez will also lead the curation and production of a traveling exhibition of these works.
PAA has a long history of international collaboration with artists from the UNESCO Creative Cities network. In recent years, PAA has hosted artists from Italy, China, and Spain. PAA Chair Mitch Kimball has participated in workshops and residencies in Jindezhen, China, and Manises, Spain which resulted in reciprocal artist exchanges.
“I’ve been making connections with fellow artists from other countries for over a decade now and I still stay in touch,” said Kimball. “The Creative Cities Network fosters a cultural thread that links us together– we are united by common ground and shared creative values when you connect your thread to theirs. ‘Miro’ is now part of the growing thread, contributing his own perspective and craft to Paducah’s creative fabric.”
About Paducah Arts Alliance
Founded in 2009, the Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) provides cross‑cultural educational experiences between the Paducah arts community and visiting national and international artists. PAA has hosted nearly 60 artists from 19 states and 9 countries who have conducted more than 65 public events, including workshops, lectures, exhibitions, performances, and installations. PAA is a 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, visit paducahartsalliance.com.
For more information or interviews, contact: Mitch Kimball: 252.412.4684, mitch@mitchkimball.com
Palmira Miro Gutierrez: 520.270.7819, pmirogutz@gmail.com, pmirogutz.com
The Yeiser Art Center held a reception for its “No Man is an Island” exhibit at Paducah City Hall, celebrating America’s 250th birthday. The exhibit will be on display at City Hall from July 1st through July 31st. It features works by traveling and local artists as well as Americana pieces from Yeiser’s collection, made possible through the City Hall Grant and Aid program.
“The name of the show is ‘No Man is an Island,’ which is an old phrase that essentially means that nobody can do it themselves,” said Brooke Yandle, executive director of the Yeiser Art Center. “This idea of both masculinity and identity being a sole enterprise is a falsehood, and so I found this photography work with a poem at the bottom in our permanent collection. The moment I saw it, I was like, ‘That’s the name of the show, that’s the goal of the show.’ I have all these artists that are really going to connect with this exact meaning.”
Photographer Palmira Miro Gutierrez from Tucson, Arizona, was being hosted by the Paducah Artist Alliance for a different project when he received a call from Yandle asking if he was bringing anything to Paducah with an Americana theme. Miro Gutierrez’s art uses grayscale images made with collodion photography, a mid-19th-century technique that involved a large camera.
He said his photos show Americana by picturing normal Americans and people who might not usually be photographed in their everyday lives.
“I think some people, maybe abroad, think of the United States as a different thing, like maybe more like LA, they picture it as something else,” Miro Gutierrez said. “To me, it’s like bringing it back down to grassroots stuff, again, back to working class folks. What do average people look like? To me, that’s important.”
Other artists included in the exhibit include Clarksville, Tennessee, artist Lorenzo Swinton, as well as William Vaugh. Yandle said the exhibit is also a way to show that the center does not exist only in its original location.
“We are an arts organization for artists, and that means sometimes that we need to leave our space and show in other places or make partnerships with other organizations, and that shows itself in different ways,” Yandle said. “I think the most obvious for people is an exhibition at their space, but it also comes out like workshops. We’re working on an art and wellness program, which is going to be working with different under-recognized groups, and then just things like events or being a sort of leading voice in other artists’ adventures.”
Yandle said that the exhibit shows the great craftsmanship in Paducah and the variety of art available in the area and America as a whole.
“Specifically in this show, we have an artist who’s working not necessarily in fibers, but on blankets, then in oil pastel drawings, we have oil paintings and wet plate photography, there’s just a little bit of everything,” Yandle said. “So when you come to this show, think about the fact that this is the kind of art that can only be created in America because of the high level of craftsmanship in our culture.”
