Meet tom finke | artist, author, educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with tom finke and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi tom, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?

I pursued a creative career because I always felt the need and desire to create something and to pursue validate my aesthetic vision.

I have an interesting background. I started out as a scientist. My undergraduate degree and my first graduate degrees are in Science (Biology and Chemistry). In undergraduate school, I took a substantial amount of art courses as electives. Upon graduating with my undergraduate degree, I continued to produce art and did so while securing my graduate degree as well. After working in the field for a while I felt an emptiness, so I decided to return to school to pursue my MFA in Fine Art.

Returning to school to pursue my degree in fine art was two-fold; first to get a solid foundation and understanding of art history and second, to give myself time to focus solely on making work. I also have always been a teacher/coach and loved disseminating knowledge to others. ‘This time it was for myself.’

When I graduated, I decided that teaching and art making would go hand-in-hand for me. I knew my discipline but didn’t really know teaching and I wanted to be the best teacher that I could be, so I enrolled in the graduate teaching program at ASU. I felt to be a good teacher, it would be essential to be a working artist, too. Why, you might ask?

I think you have to be a practicing artist to be an effective teacher. You are constantly working on your art and you bring that knowledge to the classroom and it piques the student’s interest through your passion. Conversely, being a teacher/professor helps me as an artist as well. The students are inquisitive, ask questions and strive to be the best they can be. It allows me to constantly assess my own artwork and to always question the how and why I am doing what I am doing.

Risk taking: how do you think about risk, what role has taking risks played in your life/career?

I feel that you have to take risks in order to grow and move forward and if you don’t you will constantly question the “what if or maybe.” I have taken so many risks in my life. Quitting a well-paying job with no back up, moving to a remote island in the South Pacific, and numerous others. Even if I failed, I always felt that I learned something, grew artistically and professionally or got something useful out of whatever it was.

What value or principle matters most to you? Why?

Simple, it’s two things in one – honesty and integrity. My parents instilled in me that your word is your bond and if you break your word, people will never believe or trust you. I would never lie to my students. If I don’t know the answer, I tell them but I also tell them that I will find out the answer.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have been making photographs for over 45 years and in that time, my work has been both exhibited and collected in galleries and museums. I have continued to make social documentary type images, as well as significant other bodies of work and limited-edition hand-made books. I am extremely proud of the fact that two books on my work were published by Sokyusha Publishing in Tokyo, Japan one of the preeminent photo book publishers in Japan.

Making art is not easy, it takes dedication, hard work, and perseverance on all levels. Continuing to look at work, read, attend lectures, and of course produce work are all part of the process. As I mentioned earlier, as an artist, educator, and author, it is always a balancing act between what needs to be done and what has to be done. There are times when needs to be done vs has to be done can be problematic. Sometimes the “need” outweighs the “has to be” and you must to be willing to deal with the repercussions. For me, I do my best to balance those situations, realizing that sometimes the “need” may be more important but also realizing that there might be additional consequences involved with that choice.

It seems like there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs to be accomplished. Time management, procuring film, paper, and gear takes time and money – both of which are not easy to come by quickly. I feel the biggest lesson is to keep working, even when all else seems to be failing, you have to continue to produce work. You can’t sit back and rest on anything – laurels, past accomplishments, etc.

Everything you make takes you to another level. Even your failures teach you something. I want the world to know that I am passionate about what I do and as the saying goes, “average isn’t good enough” is something that I feel very strongly about. Average work, isn’t good enough.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Specifically, if they were here for a week, we would take a road trip to the Great Sand Dunes, Four Corners, Rocky Mountain National Park, and maybe to New Mexico (it is close). I would make sure to take them to Red Rocks to see why it is such an amazing* venue. I would certainly take them to the mountains to see how remarkable living here can be. I love a place called Mosquito Pass up between Fairplay and Leadville but you need a four wheel-drive vehicle to get there but it’s an incredible place. Denver has such great music venues, cultural attractions, sports, food, and micro-breweries. I would make sure to see live music somewhere in town in one of the many places we have here for live music. Culturally, we have great theater, wonderful museums (The Denver Art Museum, The Kirkland, the Contemporary Art Museum, the Museum of nature and Science), and other world-class attractions. Depending on the season, if they were sports “junkies” we could attend any number of sporting events. Last and certainly not least would be both the food and the micro-breweries. Denver has a great food scene, pretty much anything you might crave but we have countless varieties of Asian cuisine and I would make sure to take them for Thai, Japanese, Korean, (I love Tokyo Premium Bakery and Yum Yum Cake and Pastries) and Chinese and of course the local Mexican food as well. I would couple that with a number of visits to the local micro-breweries of which there are too many to name. We might also just have to “go with the flow” as things and events come up on a moment’s notice here too and we would have to be ready for that. What we have here is beyond belief. Denver is a great city. In have lived all over the world and I really do love living here.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My first photography teacher Sean Wilkinson, my graduate art history teacher Jo Face, my parents and family who have been so supportive, my wife, Mami Yamamoto, and all of my students and colleagues who I continue to draw inspiration from on a regular basis.

Website: tomfinke.com

Instagram: finkephoto

Linkedin: tom finke

Facebook: tom finke (the from finke whose image is of his feet in the water)