Owens Photography Professor Wins Arts Commission Merit Award
(From Owens Community College)
As a fine art photographer whose work has been displayed nationally and internationally, Ruth Foote understands the value of doing your work, following through and showing up.
As a professor of Photography at Owens Community College, Foote also knows the importance of imparting the values of diligence, persistence and patience on her students.
Last year, Foote was handling personal responsibilities that forced her personal photography to take a backseat. Yet when presented with the opportunity to display her work at the Artomatic 419 Festival in Toledo, she decided to show up.
That display turned into a conversation with a member of the Arts Commission of Toledo, who encouraged Foote to apply for a prestigious Merit Award through the commission. And yet again, Foote decided to show up and apply.
Last December, Foote was recognized as one of three Merit Award winners from the Arts Commission. As any true educator would do, Foote turned her win into an education opportunity for her Owens students.
“I was incredibly honored, incredibly surprised, and it was very validating,” Foote said. “That’s also what I shared with students, is that, what happens had I not shown up? I just put the work out there, was there to then have that conversation, and then follow up with putting in the application. It wouldn’t happen had I not shown up.
“It doesn’t always lead to awards, but consistency and doing stuff, hopefully, that’s something I can share with students, that kind of encouragement and the perseverance of sticking with sticking with something. And that sometimes good things happen.”
When Foote started teaching at Owens in 2003, many other schools were closing their dark rooms. Owens was doing just the opposite, opening a new dark room in the Center for Fine and Performing Arts. That commitment to analog photography and the art of developing film piqued her interest.
Not only does Foote teach photography in for-credit classes in the Department of Creative Arts and Media, she teaches courses in the Work & Play continuing education catalog of classes. The classes are for hobbyists and people who want to improve their craft, and they range from a basic introduction to photography to more advanced techniques, digital photo editing and dark room classes.
“It’s really special to see people come in and be interested in it,” Foote said. “If I’m teaching a dark room class for students who are going to be photographers, they’re learning the technical details. They know what happens at every chemical step when they’re developing film. They understand the ins and outs of how the paper works and why exposure works the way it does. If you’re wanting to enjoy the craft and just get to know how to make images, then here’s a workshop that’s focusing on the outcome and the pleasure of making the art without having to dive in too terribly deep.”
While digital photography has taken over the art form, Foote said there is great value in working through the process of taking a photo without the immediate aid and feedback of a viewfinder screen and developing that picture in a dark room.
Of course, there is the risk of coming back to the dark room with a roll of film full of empty images. It brings back the familiar themes of persistence and patience.
And when that diligence pays off and the students see their images begin to appear in the dark room? Watching her students experience that is what keeps Foote going.
“I have the great pleasure of witnessing that magic over and over and over again, it’s very exciting,” Foote said. “That’s part of what keeps me engaged, watching the light bulbs go off in the studio and you see it in their eyes and their expression where something goes right.
“That part of that creative flow is a mutual thing. It’s like an ebb and flow. I feed off of their creativity, I give so much of my creativity back to them, and it’s like a cycle.”