FRANKE HONORS PARTNERS WITH CENTER FOR CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY, CONTRIBUTES TO LINDA MCCARTNEY RETROSPECTIVE

In the fall of 2022, W.A. Franke Honors College Associate Professor of Practice Jennie McStotts welcomed a fresh new set of faces into her Honors course, HNRS 218: Communicating Photography.  

Early in the semester, McStotts asked her students a question about an assignment they would be working on, a collaboration with the Center for Creative Photography (CCP). 

The question: 

“How does it feel to know Paul McCartney and his family will be reading your assignment this semester?”  

The Interview of a Lifetime 

Students' reactions ranged from surprised to delighted and honored, but mostly they were humbled. They would have the chance to correspond digitally with Sir Paul McCartney, one of the most celebrated singers, songwriters, and musicians of the last century, and ask him questions about his late wife Linda’s profound photography career.  

The assignment in question was a contribution to the CCP's mobile app experience, CCP Interactive, showcasing The Linda McCartney Retrospective, which kicked off its north American premiere at the University of Arizona this last February. 

Franke Honors students’ questions for McCartney are transcribed in one of the first stops of the digital tour of the exhibit. Each stop also includes audio from Franke Honors student Dermot Louchart, one of McStotts’ Creative Writing students who has an impressive talent for narration. 

The Linda McCartney Retrospective features 176 photographs of Linda’s, along with other archival materials that tell the story of her life and work, from her early days as a student at the University of Arizona, to photographing some of the most famous bands and musicians of the sixties, to giving a glimpse into her own personal and fascinating family life as the wife and creative partner of one of the era’s most spotlighted musicians. 

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Continuing Collaborations 

This is the third year that McStotts’ class, HNRS 218: Communicating Photography, has partnered with the Center for Creative Photography, a world class academic art institution within walking distance of the W.A. Franke Honors College, for contributions to virtual exhibitions. 

“It's very much an opportunity to support students in building their background engaging communities through different modalities, in this case a mobile app, and in creating content that is public-facing, accessible, and reliable,” said Meg Jackson Fox, Ph.D, Curator of Interdisciplinary and Community Practices, who has collaborated with Professor McStotts a number of times over the last four years of her tenure at the CCP. “In one part, the students participate in how the stories of the photographs and of the artists are told. Further, this means that students support storytelling at CCP from different perspectives, experiences, disciplines, and knowledge - it's a model of inclusive narration, and they impress on our communities the deep value of their own thoughts, experiences, and relationships to the work of art.”  

You can view W.A. Franke Honors students' contributions to the mobile experience of The Linda McCartney Retrospective here, and catch the exhibit in person at the Center for Creative Photography until August 5!