Meet Tom Finke | Artist, Author, Educator

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tom Finke. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tom below.

Hi Tom, we’d love to hear what makes you happy.

I hope this will help answer your question. As an artist, author and educator, doing what I love (which is all those things) makes me happy. I love making images, writing and teaching. For me personally, all three are intertwined and work together and feed off each other. 

I was asked, how I keep my own studio practice active? It’s difficult because after spending countless hours prepping for lectures, assisting students, and all the other duties we have as educators get home, sometimes, we just don’t feel like making work. I am in a few groups with other artists where we meet once a month to show new work, discuss current work, and talk about projects we are working towards. Because of this, you always want to produce new work or at least be working on new projects. I think we all go through “mental blocks” where we just don’t feel like working. In those cases, I read a lot (especially the books by Robert Adams), look at a lot of work and write in a journal, putting down thoughts and ideas hoping that they bear fruit at some point. Other times, I will give myself an assignment, much like Edward Weston did when he made 100 4×5 images of a toilet. 

Concerning my approach to arts education: I feel a large part of being a successful educator in Fine Arts is tied to active participation and commitment to that field as both an artist and an educator. Fine Art education requires both professional education and intellectual training. To facilitate the process, the educational curriculum should challenge the students’ intellectual capacities, broaden their vocabulary, methods, processes, and technology of Fine Art. For me, liberal arts education represents a way of thinking, rather than a structure of the study of disciplines. It emphasizes the process of acquiring knowledge of the world and self through reflection upon the work of others. Valuing the general more than the specific, liberal arts education is concerned with modes of thinking, rather than bodies of knowledge. Our students are informed by every unique experience of every day of their lives, and my profound responsibility can be to gently help them translate that into our medium. I strive to teach my students to think critically and to communicate ideas clearly and creatively and I encourage a constant and open dialogue between teacher and student. I hope to prepare my students to continue to learn for the rest of their lives to be more than simply practitioners. They should be innovators. I am always learning from my students, it is a give and take situation for everyone involved. I feel that I learn as much from my students as they hopefully learn from me. I always tell them, I’m not the pope, so if I don’t know the answer, I won’t give you some song and dance, but I will find out the answer if it is available. I don’t really feel that I can separate the two because being a good educator means being a practicing artist as well, for me the two go hand in hand. 

Alright, so let’s jump right in! The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So, is there a person, group, organization, book, etc. that you want to dedicate your shoutout to? Who else deserves a little credit and recognition in your story?

My undergraduate photo teacher Sean Wilkinson, my art history teacher Jo Face, Josef Koudelka, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Ralph Meatyard, and many other photographers who have influenced my work, Robert Frank’s book “The Americans”, my students who inspire me, my wife, Mami Yamamoto, my best friend, Eric Hessler and many others.

Please tell us more about your art. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?

As I mentioned before, I love what I do. Photography for me is a passion, not a job, it’s personal. There are numerous bodies of work and artist statements available on my website at www.tomfinke.com. I am excited to be able to make images and enjoy life. Having two books published by Sokyusha Publishing in Japan is something I am extremely proud of. I once heard Josef Koudelka speak and he mentioned, if you want to get your work out there, make a book. It was a very long and arduous process but, in the end, it was so worthwhile. Also having my work purchased and included in museum collections was very rewarding. 

Easy, nothing is really easy, it’s a grind and it’s something that most people don’t realize or understand.  I love what I do…. but that doesn’t mean it’s not a lot of hard work, dedication, and resolve and sometimes going forward in the face of rejection, and uncertainty.  Additionally, the costs of producing hand-made analogue prints is continually increasing. Overcoming those things means that you just continue to do what you do. The lessons that I have learned along the way are just work and continue to work.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week-long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc. In your view what are some of the most fun, interesting, exciting people, places or things to check out?
I’d start my taking them to the DAM and a few other museums, take them out for some live music, as we have so many wonderful venues here in Denver. I’d take them thrifting along South Broadway too. It’s hard not be inspired by the mountains every time I see them.  Just taking off into the mountains on a nice day will always find you somewhere.  If they were into sports, DU hockey, the Avs, the Nuggets, we have a lot to choose from. If they enjoyed fishing, we have some of the best places around. Denver has become a real foodie mecca but if I had to choose some of my favorites are Sushi Den, Brewery Bar II (for their green chili), Hong Kong Station (for almost anything on the menu), J’s Noodles on Federal, we have some amazing Vietnamese restaurants too. There’s just so many to choose from. Of course, we could just get in the car and go with the flow too.

Website: https://www.tomfinke.com

Instagram: finkephoto

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-finke-b538817

Facebook: tomfinke

Image Credits
My self-portrait was made by Jake Belvin