Stepping away from the studio: Flavin’s final edits

“There’s no crying in photography”

-Christine Flavin

An educator of 35 years, Christine Flavin has spent the past 10 years of her career at Kirkwood Community College as an instructor and director of the photography program. At the end of the spring semester, she will retire from her fulltime position. 

When asked what drew her to step away from her work in the commercial sector and pursue teaching full time, Flavin said, “I was teaching adjunct and working full time in the studio. I really liked students more than rich clients. It was gratifying to see people try to make sense of their lives and the world through visual imagery.”

Pennsylvanian by birth, Flavin has spent much of her time at institutions in the Midwest. Before Kirkwood, she taught at Upper Michigan University, but it was waking up to snow so high it covered her first story windows yet again that led to her looking for other positions south of the Upper Peninsula. 

When Flavin applied for the position at Kirkwood she said she didn’t think she’d get the position, but was, in fact, the first choice. Flavin brought with her years of experience as a commercial photographer, portrait photographer, darkroom technician, educator and artist with a love of teaching and practicing historical processes. 

This blend of modern and classical photography techniques allowed students to get hands-on experience with the history of photography, creating an engaging and dynamic learning experience.  

In addition to her work as an artist informing her approach to teaching, she also saw an opportunity to create an interdisciplinary program that supports budding artists by teaching them the ins and outs of multiple disciplines, giving them the cutting edge skills and a well-rounded portfolio to prepare for the competitive and varied careers in digital arts. 

When she presented this idea to assistant professor Randy Langel she was met with enthusiasm as he had the same idea. The pair worked for two years going through the process of developing, proposing and gaining the approval required to establish the program. The digital arts program is now one of the fastest growing programs at Kirkwood. 

Throughout the years, Flavin has taken on many personal projects. She worked on “Mission Heliographique Revisite 2024: In the footsteps of the French photographic practitioners of 1851,” a collection of prints made with the historical process of salt printing. Ten years in the making, she spent time in France following the footsteps of some of the earliest photographers making prints from their original negatives and placing them side by side with photographs created by the same process showing the same locations in modern times. This project was exhibited last year in the Iowa Hall Gallery. 

Flavin has shown work throughout the U.S. and in Suwa, Japan, and has photos in permanent collections at De Vos Art Museum in Marquette, Mich., at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and here at Kirkwood. She’s also served as the director of a fine-art photographic gallery and Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs at the University of Iowa Museum of Art. 

When asked about what she’s most proud of through her career, Flavin listed her time as an endowed faculty chair, receiving grants, creating art, her hand in creating the digital arts program and, most importantly, her students. 

She said she’s always loved working with students and seeing them grow as artists and learning how to navigate the world. She counts these as some of her happiest memories, as well as study abroad trips that allowed her students to visit studios and see what the world of digital art has to offer them. 

Even in retirement, Flavin has big plans to continue learning, growing and creating. She works with a handful of private clients and at her own home as a landscaper and gardener. She’s a chef with a culinary garden and intends to stay in France and attend classes at a master cooking school. She has a beautiful home with a darkroom where she looks forward to spending time relaxing and creating. She’s excited to be with her dog, her daughters and her grandchildren as well. 

Flavin has two things she’d like to say to her students. The first is, “All photo students are citizens of the Flavin Nation,” not to be confused with getting a Flavination, a scolding which her students know to avoid at all costs. The second is, “Follow your passions,” advice that she herself has embraced, leading to a lifetime and career rich in happy memories, happy accidents, great successes and beautiful work.