A Memorial for a Photography Mentor

I posted last summer about the sudden loss of John Marshall, the head of the Photography Department at CVA when I was a student there. This past weekend, his wife hosted a memorial event for him at their home in Red Wing:

A young punk.




There was a short ceremony in the yard under a tent.




Ellen took over for John in CVA's final years, and we worked side-by-side!


Heidi, an undergrad photo friend.


Barb and Carol, the computer ladies at CVA.


CVA friend Graham.

His house was filled with his artwork, and Lisabeth told everyone to take a piece of his before we left:

John loved alternative processes - there were some large cyanotypes on clotheslines in the yard as well.


My senior thesis invite (from 2003!) was out on display! He'd kept a lot of student work.


The infamous "beefcake calendar."


I'm not showing any more beyond this. :)

You were one of a kind, John. We shared some laughs and goofy stories in your name this past weekend. Thanks for all you taught us.

More about John in this post from last summer.

Faculty Feedback

My reviews are in from my 3 classes this past semester. And it was all really solid, so I just had to share. First, here are all the comments in 2 sections from my class in the Design Department at the University of Minnesota:

[click to enlarge]

I'm really happy to see so much about my students getting good feedback.

And here are some final comments from my students in my 2 classes at Concordia University:

In that first one, I'm not surprised to read something about "challenging" but "low stress" because that's sort of my vibe.

And I love the final comment of that last one: "Free spirit, nerdy, amazing instructor who knows his stuff" - happy to be labeled that! :)

End-of-Semester Scenes

Just before finals, I was walking around both of the universities where I’m currently teaching, and I found myself snapping some pics with my phone. Sort of for memory’s sake.

First in McNeal Hall at the University of Minnesota:

[Click each image to enlarge]

Book jacket designs up in the hall.


Album cover designs.


McNeal Hall is a funky amalgamation of buildings.




My classroom for this past semester.

Next are some of the empty halls of Concordia University:

Looking back towards the art building.


The odd little tunnel to the art building.


Outside the library.


My classroom for both of my classes this past semester.


I’ve always loved these crammed bulletin boards outside of the Mac Lab.
There’s an old CVA Action postcard back there if you can spot it.
(See also here, here, and here.)




I've always enjoyed this.




Outside the darkroom.


Just outside my office - some shots from solo exhibition last year (see also this post).

Happy summer break!

Concordia University Juried Exhibition

There’s an exhibition up at the Concordia Gallery for the next few days that closes out the school year. It’s a juried exhibition of student work. Every student from my Photo II and Advanced Photo classes had work accepted to the exhibition, so that was great news for them! Here are a few quick iPhone shots from around the gallery:

[Click each image to enlarge}

Down the hall from the gallery, there’s a spot with a few more pieces. It’s called the “Salon des Refusés:”

This "Tensegrity" table was made by one of my students. It's magical.

One of my former students won the $100 third prize, and one of my current students took home $500 for first! And I think there's at least one photograph of my students' in each of the photos above (including some from this printing post from last month). Congrats young artists! Happy end-of-the-semester!