Assistant Professor of Photography Antonio McAfee joined Muhlenberg last fall, and he quickly began immersing himself in the local art scene. “I feel like part of my role here is outreach — going to openings, receptions, being part of the community of artists and educators of different levels,” he says.
In September, he went to Allentown’s Art in the Park, where he met William Allen High School Advanced Placement (AP) Art teacher and artist Bob McFetridge. Not long after, he attended an artist reception at The Baum School of Art downtown that featured the work of Ian Butz ’23. McAfee got talking with Butz’s mother, Debora Roberson P’23, who is involved with the William Allen Arts Alliance, which supports arts programming at the high school.
Roberson was working on a proposal for a grant from the local nonprofit ArtsQuest to support Allen’s AP Art students as they photographed their work for submission. Previous students were just using their phones. Coincidentally, McAfee had been reading and evaluating AP Art portfolios since 2019 or 2020, and he’d also been helping college seniors photograph their art for years at previous institutions. He offered to help.
The ArtsQuest grant provided funding for the equipment McAfee recommended: digital cameras, lights, lightboxes, SD cards, and card readers. He and McFetridge set up a “studio” in the high school’s old darkroom, and McAfee has been going twice a week to assist students as they capture their work for review and polish their photos in Photoshop.
“It was great working with Antonio,” McFetridge says. “By sharing his knowledge and expertise of photographing and editing artwork with my students, it will surely help to improve their portfolios. We are extremely grateful for the generosity of ArtsQuest for making this collaboration possible.”
“I just love helping students with their work,” he says. “It was a great way for me to get to know the high school nearby — the teachers and the whole community — and put myself out there as well.”
