Artist Talks at Moore College of Art & Design
Sponsored by Moore College and Aperturent
Architectural Landscapes
How do photographers transform lived experience into compelling visual stories? Join photographers Mike Froio, Rob Tucher, and Sahar Coston-Hardy for an engaging conversation moderated by Leslie Lodwick exploring the diverse ways contemporary artists use photography to document, interpret, and reimagine the world around them. From Froio's evocative explorations of forgotten landscapes and American industrial history, to Tucher's deeply human documentary portraits that celebrate resilience and everyday life, to Coston-Hardy's intimate investigations of identity, memory, and belonging, each artist brings a distinct perspective to the evolving language of photography. Together, they will discuss their creative processes, the ethical and emotional dimensions of image-making, and how personal experience shapes visual storytelling. This dynamic panel offers audiences a rare opportunity to hear three accomplished photographers reflect on the power of photography to preserve history, foster empathy, and create meaningful connections across communities.
Moderator
Leslie Lodwick
Leslie McShane Lodwick is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Creative and Critical Studies at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia. She holds a Ph.D. in Visual Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research focuses on the built environments of education, histories of photography, landscape and the environment, and the role of children and families in histories of planning. She holds an M.S.Ed. in urban education from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in art and art history. Her chapter, “Backward to Wayward: Listening to Archives of Disciplinary Education in Philadelphia,” was included in Paths to Prison: On the Architectures of Carcerality published by Columbia Books on Architecture and the City. She has a forthcoming chapter in an edited volume published by TU Delft later this year. Her work has been published in BOOM California, Visual Studies Journal, and SAH Archipedia. She is a former public school teacher.
Artists
Mike Froio
Michael Froio is a photographer, educator, and visual researcher based in southern New Jersey. His work focuses on examining cultural landscapes, industrial heritage, and the built environment, with long-term projects concerned with the relationships between transportation, industry, and place.
He is the creator of From the Main Line, an ongoing photographic survey of the former Pennsylvania Railroad, and Over the Mountain, a contemporary study of Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region. His photographs have also contributed to preservation and documentation initiatives, including Railroads in the American Landscape for the Library of Congress.
Froio serves as faculty and Facility Manager in Drexel University's Photography Program, where he teaches photography and supports the development of emerging photographers. His photographs are held in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Woodmere Art Museum, and the Camden County Arts Bank.
Rob Tucher
Rob Tucher was born and raised in New Jersey, though he has spent much of his professional career on the road. He has visited fully 49 of the 50 states and hopes to add Alaska to his tally. He was born in Plainfield, New Jersey in October of 1956 and went through the public school systems in Dunellen and Bridgewater, and then on to Rutgers University, attaining a Communications BA in 1979. Twenty years later, Rob went back to school and secured his certificate in Historic Preservation from Drew University in1999.
During a period of intern employment with the USDA Forest Service, Rob met and was later assigned to bird photographer L. John Trott. This was a pivotal experience, and John became his mentor and friend. Rob turned his attentions to photographing birds at every and all opportunities and garnered quite a few publishing credits, including a cover of the National Audubon Society’s American Birds journal in July 1981, and numerous inclusions in their and others’ guidebooks, bird books, magazines and journals. But Rob quickly discovered that freelance income derived from natural history subject matter didn’t support a growing family so he turned his vocational attentions elsewhere.
Within the context of college study, Rob also became aware of the large format B&W film tradition and, through intensive photographic study, this concentration burgeoned into a life-long obsession. While influenced greatly during his studies by the work of numerous photographers, including Emmit Gowin, Marilyn Bridges, Wynn Bullock, Jack Boucher and David Plowden, he had the distinct privilege of studying with Ansel Adams (on full tuition scholarship to the Friends of Photography Members Workshop, Carmel, California) and attended a Master Class, based on portfolio review, with George A. Tice at the New School in New York City in the art of black and white silver printing. He has also studied with Linda Connor, Jay Dusard, Bruce Barnbaum, Tricia Rosenkilde, Michael A. Smith, Paula Chamlee and Lois Conner.
He has operated Rob Tucher Photographic Documentation (PhotoDoc) as sole proprietor since 1979, providing, in particular, photographic interpretations of cultural remains and resources, but his introduction to historic structures photography began by chance in 1983. Since, he has produced a huge volume of work to the exacting standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) and the Historic American Landscape Survey (HALS) and has recorded historic structures throughout the United States, from Maine to southern California, the State of Washington to Florida, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Hawaii and routinely shoots in the formats accepted by HABS, HAER, and HALS - 4"x5", 5"x7", and 8"x10.” Rob utilizes an extensive range of camera formats and film types that also include 7"x17", 8”x20”, 14”x17”, Cirkut 10” panoramic photography and B&W 5”x7” roll film aerial. Rob has an extensive arsenal of modern and vintage equipment that allows him to approach his passions and assignments with the most appropriate tools.
Sahar Coston-Hardy
Sahar Coston-Hardy creates images that highlight urban and ecological design, the built environment, and people. With over 20 years of experience behind the lens, she seeks to tell stories through her imagery, focusing on important narratives by weaving together landscape architecture photography, portraiture, and street photography.
Sahar received a BFA (2005) from Tyler School of Art and Architecture, and she has lectured frequently on landscape architecture photography and visual storytelling. Recently, her work has been published in Landscape Architecture Magazine, Architect, Oprah Daily, and The New York Times. Sahar’s other publications include Garden as Art: Beatrix Farrand at Dumbarton Oaks edited by Thaïsa Way, and XX Miller Prize: Centering Women’s Stories Through Portraiture co-authored by Rhiannon Sinclair for Active Landscape Photography Diverse Practices, edited By Anne C Godfrey. Coston-Hardy’s collaborative projects have received national recognition, including a Women Photograph + Nikon grant and a Gold EXCEL Award from Association Media & Publishing.