A photographer who teaches at Michigan State University recently earned a huge honor: a Guggenheim Fellowship.
These fellowships support artists in pursuit of scholarship in any field of knowledge, with few restrictions.
After ten years working as a photojournalist, Lara Shipley went back to school for a Master of Fine Arts degree in photography.
Now an associate professor in the MSU Department of Art, Art History and Design, she says she’s still telling stories, especially non-fiction ones.
"I’m very inspired and fascinated by the world, and everything that I am making is really coming out of that curiosity of how things ended up the way they are, is something comes up a lot in my work.”
Shipley’s projects are no longer purely documentary in nature, and putting together a photo story can take a long time. For her, it’s important to give the process the time it needs.
“I am looking at making the images match the story.” she said. “So for instance, I have a project about a charlatan scammer, medical fraud from the 1920s in the Ozarks, and he was all about the art of illusion, and so the photographs represent that. It wouldn’t make sense for them to be straight forward.”
This particular project reminds her of modern-day medical charlatans. It will be published as a book this summer and will also be part of an exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark.
To win a Guggenheim Fellowship, an artist proposes a project they need time, resources and financial support for. Once chosen, they’re given great creative freedom over what to do with the money they receive from the program.
Shipley is humbled by the honor and says she’s still processing it.
“It’s extremely supportive and important in a time in our history when arts are not well-funded, that we still have the Guggenheim Foundation.”
Shipley declined to disclose the amount of the grant, which will support her work with researchers at the Voyageurs Wolf Project in Minnesota. She’s already started taking pictures there, but she will also utilize remote cameras that produce images a human being cannot make.
“You can’t stand three feet from a wolf, but there are cameras that are, and so you get these incredibly intimate videos of these animals who are not aware that they are being watched,” Shipley said. “You’re able to see them in what feels like a more immediate way, like, without sort of feeling like there’s a person there.”
Shipley emphasizes that this isn’t a documentary about wolves; it’s an art project. With the importance she puts on the process, there’s no timeline yet for its publication.
A reception for the 101st class of Guggenheim Fellows will be held in New York next month.
For Lara Shipley, the fellowship will forever be on her resume, and she hopes it will open doors for more of her work in the future.
UPCOMING ARTS EVENTS
Thursday, May 7 is opening night for “The Shark Is Broken” at Riverwalk Theatre in Lansing. There will be eight performances this weekend and next.
Peppermint Creek Theatre Presents “Eureka Day” at the Stage One Performing Arts Center in East Lansing, starting the night of Friday, May 8. There will be eight performances over the next two weekends.
Mighty Uke Day celebrates all things ukulele this weekend, with activities May 8-9. Most events are at the University United Methodist Church in East Lansing.
Story Transcript
Scott Pohl: With Inside the Arts, I'm Scott Pohl. A photographer who teaches at Michigan State University recently earned a huge honor: a Guggenheim Fellowship.
These fellowships support artists in pursuit of scholarship in any field of knowledge, with few restrictions.
For Inside The Arts this week, I talked with Lara Shipley about the award.
After ten years working as a photojournalist, Lara Shipley went back to school for a Master of Fine Arts degree in photography. Now an associate professor in the MSU Department of Art, Art History and Design, she says she’s still telling stories.
Lara Shipley: Non-fiction stories, so I’m very inspired and fascinated by the world, and everything that I am making is really coming out of that curiosity of how things ended up the way they are is something comes up a lot in my work.
Pohl: Shipley’s projects are no longer purely documentary in nature, and putting together a photo story can take a long time. For her, it’s important to give the process the time it needs.
Shipley: I am looking at making the images match the story, so for instance, I have a project about a charlatan scammer, medical fraud from the 1920s in the Ozarks, and he was all about the art of illusion, and so the photographs represent that. It wouldn’t make sense for them to be straight forward.
Pohl: This particular project reminds her of modern-day medical charlatans. It will be published as a book this summer and will also be part of an exhibition this summer in Copenhagen, Denmark.
To win a Guggenheim Fellowship, an artist proposes a project they need time, resources and financial support for. Once chosen, they’re given great creative freedom over what to do with the money they receive from the program.
Shipley is humbled by the honor and says she’s still processing it.
Shipley: It’s extremely supportive and important in a time in our history when arts are not well funded, that we still have the Guggenheim Foundation.
Pohl: Shipley declined to disclose the amount of the grant, which will support her work with researchers at the Voyageurs Wolf Project in Minnesota. She’s already started taking pictures there, but she will also utilize remote cameras that produce images a human being cannot make.
Shipley: You can’t stand three feet from a wolf, but there are cameras that are, and so you get these incredibly intimate videos of these animals who are not aware that they are being watched. You’re able to see them in what feels like a more immediate way, like, without sort of feeling like there’s a person there.
Pohl: Shipley emphasizes that this isn’t a documentary about wolves; it’s an art project. With the importance she puts on the process, there’s no timeline yet for its publication.
A reception for the 101st class of Guggenheim Fellows will be held in New York next month.
For Lara Shipley, the fellowship will forever be on her resume, and she hopes it will open doors for more of her work in the future.
With Inside The Arts, I’m Scott Pohl.
