2027 SPE Annual Conference: Community in Contrast
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print this pageWelcome Reception
Thursday, October 15 - 6:00PM to 8:00PM
Shot Tower Gallery at Fort Hayes
Join us at Shot Tower Gallery on the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center campusnear downtown Columbus for a welcome reception in conjunction with the opening of One Shot, the inaugural Fort Hayes Photography Program Alumni Exhibition. Light food and refreshments will be served.
Conference registration will be set up at this event.
About the Exhibition:
One Shot brings together generations of lens-based artists whose creative foundations were shaped by the Photography Career Program at Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center in Columbus, OH. Established in the 1980s, the program has long served as an incubator for emerging image-makers, equipping students with both technical expertise and the conceptual tools to explore photography as a form of artistic expression and storytelling.
The artists in One Shot span multiple decades, professional paths, and creative approaches. Some have pursued careers in fine art, commercial photography, journalism, and filmmaking, while others have carried their visual training into entrepreneurship, education, music, food, and family life. Collectively, their work reflects the enduring influence of a program that encourages experimentation, collaboration, and a deep engagement with the photographic medium.
By foregrounding these varied trajectories, the exhibition highlights the transformative power of arts education and the ways creative mentorship can shape lives, careers, and communities. The Fort Hayes Media Arts Programs stand as a rare and vital model—one that merges vocational training with artistic inquiry, enabling young people to see themselves as artists, skilled professionals, and active contributors to cultural life. Together, these works offer a living archive of creative possibility, tracing the lasting impact of a program that has quietly yet profoundly shaped the photographic landscape of Columbus and beyond.
One Shot is part of the 2026 FotoFocus Biennial programming.
Exhibiting Artists:
Leanna Anderson, Todd L Anderson, Tommara Anderson, Moishe Appelbaum, Brian Aufdenberg, Sarah Babcock, Kristi Bender, Violette Billingslea, Sam Block, Angela Boatwright, Jacob Branstetter, Mallory Chestnutt-Longworth, Brie Coleman, Patrick Corrigan, Phil Davis, Autumn Delong, Charlie Derfer, Todd Dobbs, Danasha Edgington, Edward Elberfeld, Nick Fancher, Samuel Garcia, Rosalie Gengras, Heather Gergen, Emma Ginther, Olivia Rae Harris, Jess Hess, Daniel Hernandez-Ramos, Angela Hodge, Zayveion Jones, Ani Kington, Rachel Klein, Erin Koran, Rick Kocks, Brittainy Lauback, Carrie Legg, Stephanie Lehnert, Kristen Lengel, Eliza Stirling Marlow, Emily Mayfield, Chris Merz, Neal Moran-Robinson, Amy Morgan, Kate Morgan, Leslie Norman, Samaya Norman, Patrick O'Dell, Laura O'Neil, Michael O'Shaughnessy, Brenda Penty, Pharoh Brock, Max Palmer, Darrek Robertson, Lindsey Rome, Craig Smith, Billie Stafford, Stephen Takacs, Zachary Traxler, Maddox Veisz, Ivy Glick Wadsworth, Elisabeth Westwood, Amanda Winstead, Corrie Witt
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