Lynne teaches photography, directs the Evening Arts program, and chairs the art department. She has worked in the photography field since her twenties, serving as as a magazine editor and fine art photographer before becoming a teacher.
Our arts program offers both breadth and depth. The evening program ensures that all students participate and encourages them to try a wide variety of media. Academic art classes and Project Weeks are where the students find depth. In every part of the program, students are making. They discover new forms and develop their own aesthetics. They learn the importance of perseverance and risk taking.
As faculty, we offer context, vocabulary, and technical skills. We work to integrate curricula across disciplines. In Photography, students realize the physical applications of what they learn in Physics and Chemistry. They understand how photons, refraction and chemical reactions form the basis for the art form. During Project Weeks, students might build pinhole cameras and camera obscuras, combining science and art. These connections create deeper understanding.
All of the artists who teach at Putney are practicing artists. They have great passion and love for their fields and they know what it is like to try to make it in that field, juggling work and life—the balancing act. They want to teach. They are present. They don’t stagnate here.
Photography is all about the frame—isolating a moment in time. As a photographer, you are describing the moment, even if in a non-verbal way. Sometimes students feel encumbered by the written word—we all do—the arts give them a chance to express themselves without words, sometimes for the first time.