Exhibit open: December 16 2017 – February 10, 2018
Artist Reception & Talk: January 20, 2018 click here for more information about that event
Neil Miller is the photographer of this exhibit. He had a unique opportunity to photograph some of the clubs activities. Below is Neil’s account of how this opportunity was made available to him:
“It was a party and I had been photographing parties for several years. At the time I was just working to add to an ongoing photography project. But after one night out in the forest north of the Grand Canyon I knew this would be a long-term encounter.
For the next three years the Dirty Dozen was a central part of my photographic efforts. The experiences went from the rush of being among a pack of motorcycles charging down a mountain road to the subtle relationships between members and the women who travel with them. Live hard and die young is what it was about. The reality of this lifestyle turned out to be true.
My experience with motorcycles began about ten years earlier. Back in the mid 1960’s riding a motorcycle cross-country was not the norm. At that time my college roommate Bryan Tate and I rode from Ohio to San Francisco and back on a three-week trip, and that experience started a lifelong interest in traveling on two wheels.
I began working at Phoenix TV Channel 10 in 1970 and soon after starting I met Jerry Foster, the station’s helicopter pilot. Jerry also was a motorcycle enthusiast and his interest let him to do news stories on the Dirty Dozen Motorcycle Club. When I expressed interest in photographing the club’s activities Jerry presented the idea to its members and I was given the OK to ride along.
I found that once you get past the social independence and the take it or leave it attitude you find the club to be a family just out to enjoy life on their own terms. Most members were hard working taxpaying people who spent their off time socializing and riding tricked out two-wheeled vehicles. Along the way this lifestyle led to bumping into rules, regulations and the many dangers of living large.”