Photography Faculty Spotlight: Paul Wegner

Work featured in Art Through the Decades at the Benedict and Dorothy Gorecki Gallery

Paul Wegner, photography faculty at Inver Hills Community College, is showing his work in Art Through the Decades at the Benedict and Dorothy Gorecki Gallery in the Benedicta Arts Center on the campus of the College of Saint Benedict (CSB) Thursday, January 23, 2025, through Tuesday, March 11, 2025. The exhibition showcases the art of CSB and Saint John’s University (SJU) art majors over the past sixty-plus years.

Paul Wegner
Paul Wegner

Paul is showing photographs from his Amsden Way body of work. He graduated from SJU in 1993 with a B.A. in Art and went on to complete an M.F.A. in Photography in 1998 at the San Francisco Art Institute in San Francisco, California. He started teaching at Inver Hills in September 2005, having previously taught at Napa Valley College and Solano Community College, both schools in California.

“Students learn more fully once engaged with the subject matter,” Paul said, regarding his teaching philosophy. “Their engagement informs our next steps forward with their learning.”

When asked about what he likes best about teaching at Inver Hills, he said: “I enjoy the fact that most of my job at Inver Hills revolves around teaching and working with students. I also appreciate working with great colleagues from across the college.”

Paul received an Artist Initiative Grant for Photography from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2015 and support from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Fund in 2014. He has exhibited his work in three solo exhibitions and 24 group exhibitions. He belongs to the Society of Photographic Educators (SPE) and is a member of the Twin Cities-based artist collective FotoMatter.

Paul served as a photo editor and contributing photographer on the book project, Kura: Prophetic Messenger, which was published in 2021 and received the following awards:

  • 16th National Indie Excellence Awards: Best Fine Arts Book
  • 2022 Nautilus Gold Award, Photography and Arts
  • 2022 Midwest Book Awards, Gold Winner, Nonfiction-Arts/Photography/Coffee Table Books
  • 2022 Finalist, Minnesota Book Awards, Emilie Buchwald Award for Nonfiction

Learn more about Paul’s body of photographic work by visiting his website:
Paul Wegner Photography

Art Through the Decades poster

WHAT: Art Through the Decades

WHO: CSB and SJU Art Majors

Paul Wegner, SJU Class of 1993
Inver Hills Photography faculty
Minneapolis-based photographer

WHEN: January 23 – March 11, 2025

WHERE: Benedict and Dorothy Gorecki Gallery

Benedicta Arts Center
College of Saint Benedict
37 South College Avenue South
St. Joseph, MN 56374
Gallery Hours: Monday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Reception at Benedict and Dorothy Gorecki Gallery
Friday, January 24, 2025 • 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Artist talks at 6 p.m.

Artist Statement: Paul Wegner

I find inspiration in the people and places I care for and am drawn to. These connections are the foundation of my work. They are present from the spark of an idea to a project’s final form. I have strong formal sensibilities. I think about constructing things both visually and physically.

I think about photos when I’m on my bike, when I’m walking the dog, when I’m driving to work. It isn’t just something I do only with a camera in hand. When I’m out in the world shooting photographs, I lose myself in the process. I want everything to resonate with my inner dialog. I take pride in constructing physical components such as prints, books, and frames. Every step in the process should support the work.  For me, this is what it means to work mindfully and with care.

Paul Wegner photos exhibited in Art Through the Decades

Title: Office Wall
Size: 40”x50”
Year: 2023
Medium: Ink Jet Print

Title: Reading Lights in Bedroom
Size: 40”x50”
Year: 2023
Medium: Ink Jet Print

Paul Wegner’s Bodies of Work

Amsden Way

Mom's Office Wall; link to Paul Wegner Photography
Mom’s Office Wall

Amsden Way is a series of images made over the course of a single day when my parent’s home was emptied a day prior to the closing of its sale. They had lived in this home for 46 years. My images focus on the walls in the rooms, often painted with bright colors. The images are printed at large scale, 40 x 50 image to immerse the viewer.


The Pauls Project

The Pauls Project; link to Paul Wegner Photography

The Pauls Project is a collaborative project of 80 images that took place over the course of three years:

“The photos that follow are a visual conversation between Paul Mueller and Paul Wegner, or, if you prefer, between Paul Wegner and Paul Mueller. Paul makes a photo then sends it to Paul who creates another photo in response to the image he just received. The images alternate from one Paul to the other Paul. Paul created the first image.”


Kura: Prophetic Messenger

Kura: Prophetic Messenger; link to Paul Wegner Photography

Paul Wegner served as photo editor and contributing photographer with Margaret Bresnahan, editor, and Paul Nylander of Illustrada, book design, to publish the book, Kura: Prophetic Messenger, in 2021.

Kura: Prophetic Messenger is a 220-page documentation of the sculpture of the same name created by Richard Bresnahan in the Jon Hassler Sculpture Garden at St. John’s Abby and University in Collegeville, Minnesota. The book lays out the historical and conceptual foundations of the sculpture and documents its creation with its component parts. The book includes essays by Richard Bresnahan, Dr. Mathew Welch, deputy director and chief curator at MIA, and Steven Lemke, environmental artist-in-residence at St. John’s University with additional text by Colette Bresnahan.

The Kura sculpture serves as a container of cultural heritage. There are separate ceramic jars containing 178 heirloom varieties of seeds with descriptions and a dedication  to an artist influential in Richard’s life (each seed is assigned a different artist).

Additionally, the Kura contains a letterpress printed scroll of The Rule of St. Benedict designed and printed by Mary Bruno of Bruno Press with redwood scroll dowel and stand created by Jeff Thompson and silk case by Colette Bresnahan. The scroll, its stand, and case is stored in a ceramic container. All of these artifacts are sealed in the suspended Kura designed to preserve its contents for upwards of 300 years.


St. John’s Pottery

St. John's Potter; link to Paul Wegner Photography
Anne, 2024

St. John’s Pottery studio holds a large wood kiln firing roughly every other year. This kiln is stoked every 15 minutes around the clock for nine days by crews of artists working in six-hour shifts. I participate in these firings my making portraits of those who are working. The images on my website are a selection from these visits.


Easy Street

Easy Street; link to Paul Wegner Photography

Easy Street is an extended portrait of one person who lives quietly in the woods of central Minnesota depicted through photographs in and around his home. This handmade limited addition artist book includes text culled from interviews and correspondence with my subject. This book was produced with funding from the Minnesota State Arts board.


Avon Hills

Avon Hills; link to Paul Wegner Photography
Mopar, Ray, and Lucy

Avon Hills is a portrait of the people and land in the area around St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict. This community is rich with artists and engaged residents. As a student at these schools my education was impacted by artists beyond the classroom. These images revisit and continue my exploration and experience here.


Shawano County

Shawano County; link to Paul Wegner Photography
Heck Hardware

Shawano County is an investigation of the area where one side of my family settled in 1846. The images depict family homes and business as well as other subjects that resonate with my memory of the area.

More about Paul…

Originally from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Paul graduated from Eden Prairie High School in the late 20th century.

Paul’s immediate family consists of his wife, Janelle, and their daughter, Anna. Anna is a sophomore at the University of Minnesota. The family has one dog named Jack and one cat named Flash.

In his free time aside from photography, Paul stays as active as he can. “Outdoor activities are a way to spend time with friends,” he said. “I connect with friends socially on bikes, on skis, and on other adventures. Also, I find exercise outside to be a way for me to meditate. I clear my head and set a busy mind aside.”

Paul resides with his family in Minneapolis.

Favorite photographs

I have two images; both happen to include dogs. Each of these images was made using a 5×7 field film camera that needs to be used on a tripod. It takes a few minutes to set up if you are working quickly. In each instance, I saw the image I wanted to make and worked to mount the camera on the tripod, focus, load the film, meter the light, and take the photo before losing the moment.

The first image shows a dog in Joshua Tree, California, looking up along the path of a climber’s rope to where its owner was outside of the picture frame. Just after the photo was made everything changed.

Paul Wegner dog photo; Joshua Tree, California

With the second image, I was climbing through a 10th century mountain top village in Corsica. It was quiet and the sun was going down. I came to this spot and saw the dog on the rooftop patio. I managed to get set up the camera and make my image before the light faded and the dog left.

These were moments where I had been working for a while making photos, slowly I found myself in that “flow” state and everything seemed to come together. They were moments where I experienced a deep sense of connection and satisfaction to the practice of creating.

Paul Wegner dog photo; 10th century mountain top village in Corsica

Paul Wegner Q & A

Paul Wegner
Paul Wegner
What motivated you to choose photography as your career focus?

I enjoy creating things. I enjoy losing myself in the process of making art. Coming to this understanding unfolded over the course of my education.

In high school, I knew I wanted to go to college. I took college prep classes, and I began taking art classes. I immersed myself. This was my first time when I was wonderfully lost in the experience of making art. In college, I thought I would study business with an art minor. It was a practical compromise. After my first two weeks, I changed to an art major with a business minor. By the end of my first semester, I dropped my business minor. I knew I wanted to make art.

During my time as an undergraduate student, I studied ceramics and photography. Photography won out as my medium of choice. After college I traveled and photographed. I investigated career options. I found an internship in a commercial studio and became a freelance photographic assistant. I learned the path of commercial photography was not for me and instead I pursued my own work as an artist.

I applied to graduate school and was accepted to the program at the San Francisco Art Institute, where I worked with photographer, Linda Connor. I finished graduate school, and I started teaching in continued education programs and at community colleges. In 2005 we moved back to Minnesota, and I began my teaching career at Inver Hills.

What do you like best about photography as an art form?

I like to use photography as an excuse to visit places and meet people. Asking to make a portrait of a stranger is never an easy thing to do, but I always walk away having learned something from the interaction. Sometimes I even make a good photo in the process.

Three words that describe you as a college educator:
NOT. THAT. SMART.

What advice would you give students thinking about pursuing careers as professional photographers?

“What about photography is interesting to you?”

“What can you do to support yourself as you explore and learn the medium?”

“Whose photographs do you admire?” Learn about their work and then try and connect with them. Ask if you assist can them during one of their shoots.

What is your highest goal as a photographer?

My highest goal is to continue to create new work each year.

Three words that describe you as photographer:
I’M. GETTING. BETTER.

Which photographer has (or photographers have) influenced your work the most and why?

Richard Renaldi because of his approach to portraiture and photographing strangers, Stephen Shore because of his highly developed sense of formal composition, and Linda Connor because of her remarkable stamina and vision as a photographer and artist.

If you could make one thing happen on Earth right now, what would it be?

Turn down the temperature in a couple of respects.

One word that best describes your experience at Inver Hills:

FORTUNATE

Paul Wegner 12 Answers

Paul Wegner

  1. Favorite sport or physical activity: Anything on a bike
  2. Patagonia; link to Guide to Visiting PatagoniaPlace you would most like to visit: I’ll give you two: Patagonia and the Himalayas
  3. Most exciting thing you’ve ever done: Paraglided with my daughter in the French Alps
  4. Three things you would do if you won a $1 billion lottery: 1) Hire a lawyer 2) Hide 3) Pretend nothing will change until it does
  5. Best book or movie you’ve read or seen lately: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
  6. Time period you would explore if you could time travel: January 20, 2029
  7. One thing you most want to accomplish in life: Wake up tomorrow
  8. common loon; link to common loon eBird siteYour national bird if you were your own country: Common loon
  9. Dream occupation: Are you suggesting this isn’t it?
  10. Person you would most like to meet: My younger self
  11. Skill you would most like to learn and master: Riding a wheelie on my mountain bike
  12. Most important issue or problem facing humankind: Loneliness and lack of human connection; technology has provided us with wonderful additions to our lives; it has also facilitated an increasing isolation of people from each other
Above Patagonia and common loon photos via Adobe Stock.
Learn more about the Art program and Art Transfer Pathway A.F.A. at Inver Hills by contacting:

Admissions Team
admissions@inverhills.edu
651-450-3902
866-576-0689
College Center

Want to connect with an advisor? Check out our virtual drop-in hours or email admissions@inverhills.edu to request a campus-based or phone appointment.

Photography courses at Inver Hills

female college student with camera: link to Art program

ART 1121: Digital Photography I (no lab)
Explores the application of the digital camera and digital imaging software as means for individual creative expression in the fine arts. Students will engage in technological, aesthetic, and conceptual aspects of digital photography using historical and contemporary practices in as a guide. Students enrolling in this course are required to purchase image-editing software as specified in the course syllabus. This course is intended for non-A.F.A. majors. Students who are A.F.A. majors should enroll in Art 1131. 

  • Credits: 3
  • MnTC Goal Area: 6A
  • Prerequisites: None
  • Corequisites: None

ART 1131: Introduction to Digital Photography
Explores the application of the digital camera, digital imaging software, and digital printing technology as means for individual creative expression in the fine arts. Students will engage in technological, aesthetic, conceptual aspects of digital photography using historical and contemporary practices in as a guide. Students may not receive credit for this course if credit has been awarded for ART 1121.

Course Outline

  • Credits: 3
  • MnTC Goal Area: 06
  • Prerequisites: None
  • Corequisites: None
  • Future offerings: Spring Semester 2025, Fall Semester 2025, Spring Semester 2026

ART 1132: Digital Photography II
Expands on the exploration of digital camera function, digital image editing software and digital printing technology introduced in Art 1131. This course will emphasize student’s development of individual artistic voice while engaging with technological, aesthetic, and conceptual issues in their work. Course may be repeated for credit.

Course Outline

  • Credits: 3
  • MnTC Goal Area: 06
  • Prerequisites: ART 1121: Digital Photography I (no lab), ART 1131:Introduction to Digital Photography
  • Corequisites: None
  • Future offerings: Spring Semester 2025, Spring Semester 2026

ART 1151: Foundation Digital Imaging
Applies tools and techniques supported by digital media in the creation of digital art. Students will develop technical skills and apply principles of design utilizing raster and vector based software programs. Historical and contemporary art practice will guide and support the technical investigation of digital art tools in this course.

Course Outline

  • Credits: 3
  • MnTC Goal Area: 06
  • Prerequisites: None
  • Corequisites: None
  • Future offering: Fall semester 2025

Photographers

female photographer with camera; link to Art program

Photograph people, landscapes, merchandise, or other subjects. May use lighting equipment to enhance a subject’s appearance. May use editing software to produce finished images and prints. Includes commercial and industrial photographers, scientific photographers, and photojournalists.

Reported job titles
  • Advertising Photographer
  • Commercial Photographer
  • Graduation Photographer
  • Newspaper Photographer
  • Photo Editor
  • Photographer
  • Photojournalist
  • Portrait Photographer
  • Sports Photographer
  • Studio Photographer

WAGES

male photographer viewing camera screen; link to Art program

United States

Workers on average earn $40,760
10 percent of workers earn $28,510 or less
10 percent of workers earn $95,740 or more

2023 Wage Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

JOB OUTLOOK

female photographer shooting outdoors with huge lens; link to Art program

Occupational Trends: Minnesota

Employment(2020): 2,050 employees
Projected employment (2030): 2,280 employees
Projected growth (2020–2030): 11%
Projected annual job openings (2020–2030): 220

Occupational Trends: United States

Employment (2023): 151,100 employees
Projected employment (2033): 156,900 employees
Projected growth (2023–2033): 4 percent
Projected annual job openings(2023–2033): 13,700

Visit O*NET OnLine for comprehensive information about the occupation: Photographers

SOURCE: O*NET OnLine: Photographers
Paul Wegner, Rob Kolomyski, Jay Jensen; Kick Off 2024
Paul Wegner, Rob Kolomyski, Jay Jensen; Kick Off 2024
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