| From Photoworkshop.com Images from the Industry  CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY OF DENNIS KEELEY'S IMAGESAll images © Dennis Keeley “Images from the Industry” is a feature in which Double Exposure examines the work and photography of talented people who work in photo-related industries, but are not necessarily full-time photographers. We’re always looking for great candidates! If you know someone who’s deserving of the spotlight, contact us at editor@photoworkshop.com.
After integrating careers of artist, photographer, educator and writer for about 25 years, Dennis Keeley now chairs Art Center College of Design’s prestigious Photography and Imaging program. When he came on board, people expected that the school would move, as many institutions have, to an entirely digital program. “We’ve maintained our traditional program and added a very formidable digital component,” he explains. “But we really put our efforts into concept— that is building a program that really embraces a deep investigation into commercial, fine art and personal ideas.” Photographers of the Future Keeley points out that Art Center’s traditional imaging program informs students about decision-making, while the digital component of the program focuses on communication. “A good picture will always be recognized. Nobody looks at a picture on a wall and says, ‘wow, what a great digital picture—they look at a picture and say, ‘what a great idea.’” Today, digital images can be as small as those on a cell phone screen or as large as a side of a building. These photographs don’t just emanate from new technology, says Keeley, but still come from people and ideas. Art Center is recognized as one of the foremost institutions in the country for graphic design, film and photography, and maintains a long standing, well-earned reputation of being “hard to get in, and hard to get out.” In the new curriculum, Keeley retained and added courses, but has also instigated many changes as well, including “ the integration of ideas into all technical classes and the demand for technical excellence in every conceptual class.”
A Fulfilling Occupation A graduate of Cal Arts in Valencia, California, Keeley says that he has always made pictures and art. “After graduation, everybody in my family thought that my obsession with art would come to an end and that I would get a job, but that’s not the route I took.” Instead, he continued to make pictures and looked for ways to eke out a living. He worked as a truck driver, house painter, and in a variety of odd jobs. Then one of his friends got a job at a start-up newspaper called the L.A. Weekly, and they hired Keeley part-time. “It was the first job I ever had where I realized that one could do work they liked,” he recalls. He and his co-workers built the Weekly into a very formidable publication in Los Angeles and after working closely with the photo editor, Keeley took on this role after a mere six months. After leaving the newspaper, he began to photograph musicians. “I’ve always liked music, and it was something that was easy for me to move into.” He has shot hundreds of CD covers ranging from jazz to hip hop artists.
In order to make a living, Keeley also taught at Cal Arts, University of California at Irvine, UCLA Extension, Santa Fe Workshops, and Santa Monica College. “I lived on the freeways,” he says. “I started doing a 12-year project about the freeway system in Los Angeles, and how these are the new trails—urbanscapes that have all the elements of traditional landscapes. I’m not an angry traveler. I’m a person who looks at the Los Angeles circumstance as being an opportunity for contemplation.” Keeley continues to work on this project, which includes panoramic visual constructions about urbanism and mobility. First Cowboy Through the Door While he was teaching at these institutions, Keeley was invited to apply to the Chair of the photography program at Art Center. “I never had any intention of becoming an administrator or a person who taught photography at this plateau,” he says. However, he started doing investigations on how people learn, and began to write about what he might do with a photography program. “I was invited up here to interview for the position,” he comments. “I came back and did a review of student work, and did a lecture on where I thought the future of photography might be. I also interviewed faculty and consulted with other photo instructors everywhere.” This process lasted an entire year. Finally, the Chief Academic Officer at Art Center informed Keeley that he was one of two candidates, but wasn’t sure when they would arrive at a decision. Keeley informed him, “This is an important decision and you should take as much time as you need. I’m not in any hurry, but I will tell you that over the past year with all my investigation, writing and interviews, I now know how to be a Chair. If you don’t want me to do this here, I’ll do it elsewhere.”
He and the faculty looked at the multiple pluralities in today’s photography and examined the program’s strategic mission. “I congratulate my faculty and students for their commitment, but I must also include the institution for supporting these changes.” Keeley says that this is the best time ever to be at Art Center, and students are getting every advantage of new technology and concepts as well as working intensely with great teachers. "The entire school is on the move. We are sponsoring international design conferences, and we are proud to have funded educational projects and to have hosted a lecture series sponsored by Toyota. Annie Liebowitz spoke last year at Art Center in an intimate conversation about her life and about what a photographer’s career really is. We are getting speakers that other institutions can’t," he says. As for alumni, Matthew Ralston is among the most successful Art Center graduates and continues to influence and show great support for the program. Synonymous with Excellence Photo students are exposed to both film and digital imaging, says Keeley. Art Center has one of the best-equipped traditional darkrooms in the country, and film still provides us with a strong foundation for learning exposure and capture. “With digital, there’s the myth that you can fix it. But with film, you have to expose your images correctly. If they never shoot another roll of film after school, I’m fine with that.” Our students work with a variety of media, and Keeley calls this “an intersection of technology.” “We have one rule—to keep excellence,” he declares. Art Center has large shooting stages, extraordinary lighting instruction, and more business classes than any other institution, according to Keeley. Art Center is also creating associations with some international business schools. Students are working on all types of projects, including a study abroad in Mexico last year, where six Art Center students had the opportunity to work with an organization that interacts with indigenous communities—“specifically women in mountainous regions of the Sierra in Vera Cruz.” Last year, Keeley brought in the photo agency, Seven, with noted photojournalist Eugene Richards and works closely with National Geographic’s “All Roads Project.” “I don’t expect all the students to become photojournalists, but I think that it is important for them to meet photographers who are committed to making pictures,” he says.
Going Forward Keeley is currently the Western Regional Chair for the Society for Photographic Education (SPE), and is a former board member of the Santa Fe Center for Photography. He’s also on advisory boards for Microsoft and the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards. “I’m also on a wonderful board in the south bay for the Angel’s Gate Cultural Center,” he adds, “where we’re going to build an art center at the old Fort McArthur.” This center will be built in San Pedro, a place he’s called home for the past 15 years. Keeley speaks fondly of this town and his community involvement. “My life, my work and the institution where I work all reflect a life dedicated, not so much to specific results, but to the application of the results of practice. Practicing photography, exercising imagination, studying idea, research and discovery are the scales I practice every day. I made a program for study at Art Center that I wish I’d had when in school. My faculty is dedicated to always asking harder questions while helping students find their own answers. Much of my own work is inspired by the history of photography. People that weren’t born photographers, didn’t have the advantage of studying it and made the work of their time that still offers a great challenge to photographers today.” He says that it’s always a necessity for artists to create work—“It completes us in a way that nothing else can.” And although he says Art Center is very committed to helping students achieve this, Keeley says that he doesn’t plan to be an administrator forever. “I will have a great life going forward,” he declares. “But for the past four years, this particular opportunity has managed to exceed all the ambitions I have had...so far.” To see more of Dennis Keeley’s images, visit www.denniskeeley.com. To learn more about Art Center College of Design, go to www.artcenter.edu. CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY OF DENNIS KEELEY'S IMAGES© Copyright 2002 by Photoworkshop.com |
