PORTLAND, OR.-The Portland Art Museum notes with great sadness the passing of Terry Toedtemeier, curator of photography and curator of the Museum's current exhibition, Wild Beauty.

For more than 20 years, Toedtemeier shared his passion for the art of photography with visitors to the Portland Art Museum . As the Museum's first curator of photography, he assembled a collection of more than 5,000 images for the Museum which chronicles the history of photography; a selection of which is permanently on view in the Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, the largest dedicated exhibition space for photography in the region.

During his tenure, Toedtemeier curated and collaborated on the organization of numerous exhibitions that ranged in scope and subject matter from political and cultural themes to individual artist retrospectives and historical overviews.

Prior to joining the Museum, Toedtemeier was one of the founding artists of the Blue Sky Gallery in 1975 and served as its co-director. In 1980 he became an Associate Professor of Art and History at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, teaching photography and studio classes.

At the root of Terry's informed passion and inquiry about photography was his long history as an accomplished photographer. His work is included in the collections of the National Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston , among many others. Terry's photography explores the spectacular geology of the Pacific Northwest , especially its unique basalt formations. With a degree in geology from Oregon State University and a lifelong sensitivity to natural beauty, it is not a surprise to observe the artist and scholar's merging of aesthetics and science.

Wild Beauty: Photographs of the Columbia River Gorge, 1867 – 1957 (on view through January 11) and the publication Wild Beauty will be lasting legacies of Terry's spirit and his unique vision as an artist and scholar.