William Wegman: Photographer and Dog

If you grew up watching Sesame Street, odds are that you have seen William Wegman’s art and dogs. Wegman greeted a crowded assembly hall last week with students and faculty ready to watch the well-known artist perform a slide-talk presentation about his career, and his pups.Wegman is a world renowned photographer for his iconic images of his Weimaraners. His works include his dogs dressed in various costumes and placed in different positions. Wegman’s art has been featured on Sesame Street and in many art museums such as the Museum of Modern Art. While he is most famous for his photography, Wegman also spends time both drawing and painting. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Massachusetts College of Art in 1965 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Illinois in 1967.“We were delighted that he and his wife, Christine Burgin '78, and one of his famous Weimaraner dogs were willing to spend a day or two on campus,” Tara Misenheimer, chair of the Art Department, said.Misenheimer was one of the main advocators of bringing Wegman to Exeter. She explained that Wegman is an artist representative of many different techniques and styles that the Art Department at Exeter offers classes for.“Wegman works in a variety of art mediums, including painting and photography, much like our students,” she said. “His sense of humor and the integrity of his artwork is phenomenal. We felt like he was a terrific fit with our curriculum, especially because his visit infused contemporary visual culture into our studio program—exactly what we had hoped for.”They also chose to bring Wegman because of the variety in his work, which is not specifically crafted for adults or kids. His pieces of art range from self-portraits of himself to videos of his dogs teaching the alphabet on Sesame Street.During his day on campus, Wegman was able to stop by some art classes that were working on Wegman-inspired projects. He even helped critique their projects and to give advice on how they could be improved.After a busy day of visiting classes, Wegman ended his visit at Exeter with a slide-talk presentation at the Assembly Hall, where he showed students various photographs, paintings and drawings that he had created during his time as an artist, starting with his very first picture and ending with some of his most recent work. The presentation provided both students and faculty an opportunity to learn more about the process of creating art and pursuing a career path as an artist.“I found his slide-talk delicious in detail, candid, accessible, informative and above all entertaining,” Misenheimer said. “William Wegman has a terrific sense of humor combined with a shrewd visual sensibility. It was wonderful to learn about the evolution of his work, which is not limited to photographs of dogs but extends to concepts such as transformation and visual puns.”Upper Rachel Baxter was delighted to listen to Wegman’s talk and to meet him afterwards. She has been a fan of his work, but his talk made her appreciate it even more.“He knew all of his dogs and their temperaments and what they liked to do; I thought that was really touching and made his art seem so much more dimensional,” she said. “He gave me Topper to run with outside while he signed posters inside, and after I brought him back he was so grateful and said ‘I'm so glad you appreciate his energy as much as I do.’ It was great to see how much he cared about his work and his dogs.”Dean of Faculty Ronald Kim saw the presentation as not only a useful way to learn about art, but also to learn life lessons.“I enjoy seeing how a person’s career evolves, the decisions one makes, the serendipitous moments, and how an artist makes choices along the way that shape a career,” Kim said. “It’s a good lesson for all of us, regardless of whether we are in the arts or something else.”Making the presentation for Exeter also helped Wegman himself come up with more ideas for future projects.“It is a good way to do a little retrospective in thinking and figure out what might be next. So they are healthy in that way,” Wegman said.Although Wegman’s presentation was both interesting and educational, Misenheimer would have liked to invite Wegman to stay for an extra day so he could show some of his film work, especially the ones including his dog.“These films are symbiotic with his still images and will make most viewers laugh out loud with clever concepts and scenarios with his dogs,” she said. “I strongly recommend his video ‘The Spelling Lesson.’ Look it up on YouTube!”But even with just the presentation, students such as senior Alec Hernandez were able to draw connections to his videos through some of Wegman’s dog oriented photos.“It was a cool connection for me because I recognized his dogs from when I was a little kid,” Hernandez said. “It was such a random connection that he came and that I got to see all of his pictures.”Art instructor Rebecca Barsi experienced this connection after growing up watching Wegman on Sesame Street and learning the alphabet through his “talking” dogs.“I grew up watching William Wegman videos on Sesame Street and reading his Cinderella story book to my younger sister, so for me, it was just such an amazing experience,” Barsi said. “To meet the person whose work has resonated with me since I was very young will be an experience I can never forget.”During his visit at Exeter, Wegman was also able to help people out by giving advice to anyone considering to be an artist, or who has a specific career that they would like to pursue.“I would advise someone who wants to be an artist to not worry too much about the market, but just to try to find something really strong that interests you,” Wegman said. “That is what I did. The dog thing wasn’t something I was concocting and thought up, it just so happened. So take advantage of what is really on hand and go with it.”