‘Indifference is not an option'
Photography program at Clark looks beyond the lens
By Jane Salerno
Clark has fostered an impressive lineage of alumni who have built careers in commercial and fine art photography. All might agree that something more than pictures can develop while studying photography at Clark.
Take a Clarkie's way of seeing the world, add instructors who challenge and encourage the expression of that uniquely personal view, and it's no wonder the photography program claims so many successful alumni. The span of their success is exemplified by the likes of Michael Lorenzini '92, senior photographer at New York City Municipal Archives; Deborah Orloff Resnick '86, who teaches and directs the photography program at the University of Toledo; Hans Ericsson '02, whose work is included in Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the "Duke" Cunningham congressional scandal; Spencer Platt '94, whose riveting photojournalism includes images from Tehran to the Gaza Strip; Jonathan Lucas '92, who won the 2006 Jacob Knight Award; David Katz '95, who is carrying on a family business in New York City; and Stephen Schuster '03, recently hired as the photo editor of edgy, urban Mass Appeal magazine. They are just part of an ever-expanding list. You can find works of past Clark photography students in galleries, in magazines from Wine Spectator to Sports Illustrated, on album covers, in architectural designs, catalogs, advertisements, wedding albums, and more.
"The Clark photography program is wonderfully inspirational and accepting of differing ideas as to what photography means to each student," says Ericsson. "It is also a great social community, with late-night pasta dinners and such. If not for the photo program at Clark, and the wonderful example set by Stephen DiRado and Frank Armstrong, I doubt that I would ever have considered what has turned out to be a wonderful career choice for me."
No ‘throw-off' class Stephen Dirado is easily recognized as a prominent personality behind this markedly personal program. The instructor and darkroom supervisor came to Clark in 1983. He and fellow faculty members Frank Armstrong and Kirk Jalbert teach a nearly ancient craft while keeping pace with light-speed technical advances.
The Studio Art photography program has also enriched those whose working lives have nothing to do with cameras. In the context of a liberal arts education, "many students come in thinking their photography course is a throw-off," Armstrong acknowledges. "But we probably work them as hard or harder than anyone on campus." He and DiRado marvel that so many students become so smitten with the art—often needing to be "chased out" of the processing labs late at night.
The instructors provide the necessary theory and skills and then push students to explore internal landscapes. Teamwork is stressed; all students share their visions through critiques with classmates—exposure that can lead to revelations and sometimes tears. "If you allow someone to have a shell, they'll keep it closed for as long as they can," Armstrong says. "By breaking through that shell, that's when they come of age."
The studio art major at Clark encompasses photography as well as areas of specialization in drawing, painting, graphic design, printmaking, sculpture and video production. The program stresses interdisciplinary work within the major or with other academic disciplines. This integrated aspect of a liberal arts education produces the likes of photography program alumna Mary Badon '05, who completed a studio art major in addition to a major in biochemistry. She is studying medicine at Yale University. Lorenzini came to Clark to major in English. He says he liked photography since childhood. Once at Clark, he took a friend's advice to check out a course of DiRado's. The inspiration to continue took hold. Now, Lorenzini's resume includes work as editor of a book due out next spring from renowned publisher Aperture. Psychology/studio art double-major Diana Levine '07 is founding editor of a campus culture magazine. She returned to Clark this fall after spending last semester at the prestigious NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Photography & Imaging (see story, page 3).
"Stephen Dirado and former photography instructor Ron Rosenstock ran a program that any school in the country would envy," says David Sosland, whose work occupies gallery spaces, as well as books, newspapers and commercial venues. "More than once, guest lecturers and visiting artists would comment that the work coming out of the V&PA photo courses was the type of work that one would see in a Master of Fine Arts program rather than an undergraduate program."
To see the world more clearly "We love our intro classes," Dirado says. "They don't understand the limitations. They do the impossible. The repeaters act as mentors and the total novices rise to the level of the experienced people. Students learn that this thing in their hand is like a magic box that can capture bits and pieces of the world. They learn how powerful they can be."
"I know of no prouder moment than when a student literally becomes my peer as much as my student," he says. "At the end, they will see the world through a keener eye. The gift is to see things much more clearly."
Like so many professors at Clark, DiRado, Armstrong and Jalbert enjoy a personal and professional culture that is impossible to compartmentalize. The program enjoys a loyal alumni network for whom DiRado keeps an open door and a light burning.
From a series of photos taken by Frank Armstrong on a trip west in 2004. Armstrong earned a bachelor's degree in journalism at the University of Texas in Austin and worked professionally for the UT News Service, a busy, varied job that also required shooting many "grip-and-grin" photos. In 1979, he won a Dobie Paisano Fellowship, which led him to further explore his fine art photography.
From Kirk Jalbert's Scene Portraits series. Jalbert, who received a Master of Fine Arts at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University, blended advanced mathematics and computational theory with art history while an undergraduate at WPI. He found the mechanics and techniques of photography and sculpture irresistible. He came to Clark in 2001 after several years teaching photography at the Worcester Center for Crafts.
From Stephen DiRado's Dinner series. Dirado exudes joyous intensity when he talks about teaching at Clark. "I tell my students: Embrace my ideas; Hate my guts. I'll be proud of you. Just don't be indifferent. Indifference is the worst insult."
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Clarknews Fall 2006
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