Valparaiso University Faculty Helping Future Photographers and Capturing the Story of a Local Community
It is a busy time of year for professor Aimee Tomasek M.F.A., associate professor with Valparaiso University’s Communications and Visual Arts department. With fair season underway, Professor Tomasek can be found crisscrossing country roads, making her way to the Porter County fair as she embarks on their 15th year working with 4-H Club members and chronicling the Indiana agricultural scene. Professor Tomasek, lovingly known as Aimee within the livestock and project barns, has worked with 4-H participants, ages 9 to 19, teaching, mentoring and capturing memories. This long term documentary project captures a variety of 4-H projects and Tomasek hopes it will serve as a pictorial archive of the Porter Co. 4-H community for future generations.
“Philosophically, 4-H is totally aligned with every part of teaching,” Professor Tomasek says. “I value the experiences I had as a 4-H member, and the experiences it provides these kids isn’t available in many other places. The pedagogy I see here is what I think about every day in the classroom.”
Ellie Schuck ’27 , a ten year 4-H member, is now enrolled at Valparaiso University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions. Professor Tomasek worked with Schuck for several years, making photographs of her and other family members at the fair. Professor Tomasek made Ellie’s 10 year 4-H portraits and the Valparaiso University Buyer’s group purchased Schuck’s Reserve Grand Champion pig at the 2023 Celebration Sale for a record price. The meat from the purchase was served to our students at Founders.
Professor Tomasek has always been so kind and welcoming to me,” Schuck said. “She is not only involved with photography classes on Valpo campus but she is also very involved with 4-H. She wants not only her students, but also 4-H members to succeed and have fun with it all.”
In addition to lending her expertise to young photographers, Professor Tomasek has also been chronicling the story of the Porter County agricultural community through a documentary photography series. She was inspired by the Farm Securities Administration’s enormous catalog of photos chronicling the Great Depression era — not just the tragedies and hardship, but the joys and victories.
“It dawned on me that this community was a story I needed to tell, not because of struggle, but because it was the story of an agricultural community and a 4-H community,” Professor Tomasek says. “I admire a lot of the foundational people for keeping this thing going, so I started photographing it.”
This year is the 13th year Professor Tomasek will make pictures of the Porter County Fair and 4-H participants. She hopes to someday make the entire archive viewable to the public, either through Valparaiso University or the Porter County Museum.
While Professor Tomasek will not have any personal projects on display at this year’s Porter County Fair, previous year’s photographs are shared with all the 4-H families and members of the Porter County Agricultural Society. The Porter County Fair takes place now through July 27 at the Porter County Fairgrounds. For more information on the event, click here.
