FINDING THE BIG PICTURE AGAIN
New home for photo arts school
GRAND OPENING School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa
When: Friday, 5-11 p.m. Where: 77 Pamilla St. Musical performances by the Peptides and Rebecca Noelle, 9 p.m. When the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa celebrates the grand opening of its sleek new building in Little Italy on Friday, glasses will be raised and speeches made to salute the efforts of Jonathan Hobin, the school’s executive and creative director, in making the dream a reality. Without question, he deserves it. Hobin, 38, is the internationally renowned fine-art photographer, born in Ottawa, who returned to his hometown less than two years ago to help his first mentor, SPAO founder and head instructor Michael Tardioli, rebuild the operation of the school he started in 2005.
After almost 10 years as an unregistered post-secondary institution that received no government funding, things became challenging in 2014 when the facility was required to conform to the Ontario Ministry of Education’s Private Career Colleges Act. The process sucked up time, money and resources, and left Tardioli with little energy to face the future.
“That was a transformative moment, and they barely survived that transition,” Hobin says. “It was a lot of bureaucracy and a lot of expense. They survived, but when you exert all your energy, you lose your way a little bit, and I think they lost sight of what the big picture was. That’s where I came in a year-and-a-half ago, to put the pieces back together and get them back on track.”
Hobin, a graduate of the visual arts program at Canterbury High School, Ottawa’s arts-focused secondary school, was not a SPAO student, but worked with Tardioli when he was a teenager and considers the elder photographer his first mentor. After studying at Ryerson, Hobin also worked in the film industry, then found success internationally as a photographer. One of his most talked-about exhibits was 2010’s In The Playroom, a series of photographs depicting children in meticulously staged portrayals of definitive news events, such as 9/11.
Headlines aside, Tardioli says Hobin had what SPAO lacked.
“He’s got the ability to organize big projects,” he says. “He’s a tireless worker. I can be a teaching leader, but I’m not an administrator or creative leader so this allows me to stick around and do what I do best. He’s gotta go to board meetings and deal with the ministry and think of the future of this place.”
Thanks to a series of serendipitous events, Hobin was also responsible for finding the school’s new home on Pamilla Street, off Preston. He couldn’t help but notice the rundown former warehouse because it was next door to the property he and his partner were renovating. He was quick to inquire.
Now it’s been transformed into a multi-purpose school/arts centre designed by a team led by Hobin’s architect father, Barry Hobin, featuring a main-floor gallery and event space facing the street, a versatile classroom in the middle, large handicapped-accessible washroom with shower, and a darkroom with nine work stations. A building permit for the second floor has yet to be approved, but the plan for the upper level includes a computer lab, library, kitchen and student lounge. And yes, Hobin lives next door.
Classes have been taking place in the new building since September. The school offers part-time studies, mentoring opportunities and a full-time, two-year diploma program that includes instruction on the craft of printmaking, darkroom and lighting techniques, as well as the realities of working in the art world. Classes are usually no more than eight people. The business end of art is another area where Hobin’s experience is valuable.
“Of course, making beautiful, thoughtful, academic work is important and so is the emphasis on craft, but the other part that’s important is the practicalities of building an artistic career,” he says.
“That’s what I always felt was lacking when I went to school. You’ve graduated and you have to come up with a show, but you know nothing about it, how to make it, how to promote it. As part of the program, we literally walk students through the process. I have experience to pass on to students about what it’s like to ship your work to Europe, or what you shouldn’t do if you want a collector to look at your work.”
Tardioli, a former Algonquin instructor who saw the need for more intensive instruction, founded SPAO in rented space on Dalhousie Street.
“I was compelled to start a production house type of school, where students can make work and present work,” he says. “And they get right into the visual arts community right away. In a funny way, we transformed the photo community a little bit (in that) we brought them into the visual arts community, a block away from the National Gallery.”
As for Hobin’s art career, it has not been abandoned.
“Michael talks about me giving up my art career and I know he feels guilty about it, but the truth is I needed the break to exercise these other muscles I knew I had,” Hobin said. “A lot of artists tend to have a partnership with an institution and that sustains them, that’s how they can keep their art career going. Being creative director here, I would actually consider this the next phase of my career.”