Andy Warhol, the artist who claimed that "in the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes," will have several months of his own fame at the Palmer Museum of Art.

Warhol's work is being displayed in a special exhibit titled "Big Shot Shuffle: Photographs by Andy Warhol," continuing through Jan. 24, 2010.

In honor of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts' 20th anniversary, the organization donated 151 of the artist's pieces, most of which are Polaroids, to the museum.

"The foundation is very committed to distributing Warhol's works, especially to university settings where they will be available to students," said Dana Kletchka, curator of education at the museum.

A select segment of the larger collection is currently on display in the smallest of the museum's special exhibit galleries, providing an "intimate experience" for viewers, Kletchka said.

The title of the exhibit refers both to the large, cumbersome camera that Warhol used and to the subjects he photographed. Polaroid only produced the Big Shot camera between 1971 and 1973, museum curator Joyce Robinson said.

"It's the opposite of what you think a fine art photographer would use," she said.

This device required the photographer to shuffle back and forth about three feet from the subject to obtain a proper focus, Robinson said.

Emily Schiller, co-curator of the exhibit, tracked down a Big Shot camera, which is displayed alongside the photographs.

"It seems as though almost no Big Shot Poloraids are left," Schiller said. "They are a collector's item now mainly because of Warhol."

Schiller helped choose the photographs that would become part of the display in addition to conducting the extensive research required for this project.

"The hardest part was finding biographical information on the sitters in the photographs," she said.

Warhol's subjects ranged from celebrities of the time, including Candy Spelling and Wayne Gretzky, to people who remain unidentified. He also photographed fellow artists, cross-dressers and individuals dressed as figures from literature and myths, such as Mother Goose and Santa Claus.

"It gives you a sense of the world he lived in," Robinson said.

Schiller will be giving a lecture at 12:10 p.m. Sept. 11, to explain the stories behind some of the photographs, the creative process involved in each and how they relate to what people think of Andy Warhol's art.

"I hope students come away with a better understanding of Warhol's artistic techniques and the important role photography played in his career," Schiller said.

In addition to Schiller's lecture and the special exhibit, the museum has planned other events, sponsored by volunteer group Friends of the Art Museum, to help students get the most out of the Warhol experience, Kletchka said.

Thomas Sokolowski, director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, will be giving a lecture at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1 on Warhol's work, which will be followed by a reception open to all students.

"There will be an opportunity for students to take and 'Andy Warhol-ize' their own photos during this event," Kletchka said.

More information on these events is available on the museum's Facebook page, Twitter feed or Web site, palmermuseum.psu.edu.

"The fun thing is that people will connect with this medium," Kletchka said. "The cult of people being famous -- some for not having done anything really -- and the worship of people who were famous was different then but very much still there."