PHOTO FARM cultivates creativity in newly opened space

PHOTO FARM is a new maker space located in Chapel Hill catering towards artists, primarily photographers.  

Phyllis B. Dooney, a visual storyteller and educator, and Rachel Jessen, a documentary photographer communicating feminist stories, created PHOTO FARM out of a shared passion for spaces where creativity can flourish and artists can both teach and learn.  

“It really was like, I want a place where I can go work. I want space for a studio. It's what we all want, really. And then it grew to a vision that accommodated other people, not just me,” Dooney, the founder and director of PHOTO FARM, said. 

True to its name, PHOTO FARM is located in a modern barn on a tree farm in Chapel Hill. The maker space hosts artists, workshops and talks, and provides an on-site darkroom and photo studio available for rent.

Willie Osterman, a former professor and director of the Fine Art Photography Program at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, is one of many artists involved in PHOTO FARM. Although he has retired from Rochester Institute of Technology, Osterman continues to teach in workshops involving his specialty, wet plate collodion, an antique photo process that includes exposing chemical coated pieces of glass to light. Osterman is always looking for opportunities to host workshops, and he traveled to North Carolina from New York for his 2-day wet plate collodion workshop at PHOTO FARM on Oct. 12 and 13. 

“What I'll be doing during the workshop is just demonstrating the whole process, talking about safety and history and chemical concerns, and then the students will get in and just work it the rest of the first day and during the second day, refine it,” Osterman said.

Artistic collaboration and dialogue are central pillars of PHOTO FARM, as exemplified by their mission statement, which reads, “We are a small staff of artists who aim to foster the exchange of ideas and skills.”

Despite being new to the Chapel Hill scene and only having opened a few weeks ago, PHOTO FARM is primed to bring Dooney and Jessen’s values of interaction, collaboration, learning and teaching to life. 

“I think people like to meet other people and share space with other people. And there's a lot of beautiful things that can come from people just being in the same physical space together,” Jessen, the coordinator of operations and outreach at PHOTO FARM, said. 

The idea of artists being both teachers and students is also central to PHOTO FARM’s mission, as they aim to cultivate a community that allows for these roles to be interchangeable and co-existent.

“In my opinion, there's no one that learns more than the teacher, which is why I teach,” Osterman said.

PHOTO FARM has many goals for the future of their space, including a fellowship program that would help make their spaces and services more accessible to everyone. 

Dooney recognizes the limits on disposable income that many young students and artists have. So, through the fellowship program, PHOTO FARM would aim to raise seed money to subsidize workshops and rentals at a sliding scale rate.

As PHOTO FARM demonstrates, photography is more than simply capturing an image, as it can bridge connections and provide artists with opportunities to share, reflect and learn about themselves and world around them. 

All details on PHOTO FARM's offerings can be found on their website. 

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