HARTFORD, CT.- From her explorations of artistic expression with friend and vanguard photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the 1960s and 70s to her profound influence on the nascent punk rock scene in the late 1970s and 80s, pioneering artist, musician, and poet Patti Smith has made her mark on the American cultural landscape throughout her 40-year career. This fall, an exhibition of Smiths work will premiere at the Wadsworth Atheneum, featuring over sixty new photographs and multimedia installations created between 2002 and 2011. The first museum presentation of Smiths work in the United States in nearly ten years, Patti Smith: Camera Solo will highlight the continual symbiosis between Smiths photography and her interest in poetry and literature and is on view from October 21, 2011 February 19, 2012. Patti Smiths photography, shaped over decades of observation, commemorates the artists