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British-American artist Phillip Toledano, pictured on screen, was one of six artists who participated in student-conducted interviews as part of Assistant Professor Amy Friend\u2019s Introduction to Digital Photography class. The Visual Arts students were given the opportunity to interact with these creative professionals thanks to an Experiential Education Teaching and Learning Innovation Grant.<\/p><\/div>\n
Visual Arts students researched and subsequently interviewed guest speakers one-on-one, before ending each session with a group discussion.<\/p>\n
The exercise provided valuable insight into the artistic process and the challenges involved with working in different areas of photography, Friend said.<\/p>\n
“The students responded quite well; you could see a sense of excitement,\u201d she said. \u201cThey heard interesting stories about how artists work through their processes and different insights about how and why specific choices are made, and the methods used to get this work out into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Participating artists included Dornith Doherty<\/a>, a professor and Guggenheim Foundation Fellow from North Texas who documents and collages plant seeds and tissue samples in her Archiving Eden<\/a> project; Cig Harvey<\/a>, an artist whose work has been exhibited at major museums and collections in the United States and Europe;\u00a0 Spanish artist Alfonso Almedros<\/a>; award-winning photojournalist Louie Palu<\/a>, whose work has been featured in National Geographic<\/em> and numerous international collections; Jacqueline Bates<\/a>, Photography Director of\u00a0The California Sunday Magazine;<\/em>\u00a0and British-American mixed-media artist and author Phillip Toledano<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fourth-year Visual Arts student Rachel McCartney was tasked with interviewing Toledano, whose work is similar to what she aspires to create herself one day.<\/p>\n \u201cInteracting with visiting artists in a classroom setting was an extremely useful and gratifying experience,\u201d she said. \u201cIt allowed for direct one-on-one communication and to dissect the brain of someone who is a successful future version of what I aspire to be.\u201d<\/p>\n The grant was one of 18 that were awarded in 2018-19 to support the development of new experiential learning courses and experiential opportunities within existing courses.<\/p>\n