Thirty-seven portraits of professors and staff in the School of Education were formally unveiled in a Wednesday reception featuring the artist who donated her time to the project.
Photographer Barbara Tyroler, wife of School of Education Dean David Cooper, organized the exhibit as a “thank you” to faculty who welcomed the couple when they first arrived at Elon last year.
Visitors to the Mooney building will find the portraits adorning hallways on all three levels, in the dean’s suite and in the first-floor conference room. Tyroler estimates that each portrait took between five and eight hours to shoot and edit in digital imaging software.
“It was great to work with every one of you,” Tyroler told professors, administrators and staff who attended the Wednesday reception. “This is the kind of work I like to do, and thank you for being there for me.”
Afterward, Tyroler elaborated on the impetus to the portrait exhibit, and how the people of Elon served as motivation. “It’s a community, a really wonderful community, that my husband has here, and it’s part of my life by extension,” she said. “This is the best kind of exhibition I could possibly have.”
A gift to the School of Education from John Congdon, a parent of two Elon alumni and a current university senior, funded the framing for each portrait. The Congdon family also supports a scholarship for an education major each year.
Elon senior JoBeth Stoddard assisted with the project, as did Brand Fortner of N.C. State University and Anna Paszyna of Duke University. David Summer of Framers Corner in Carrboro, N.C., provided framing support.