Photo Op

When the Minnesota Center for Photography closed its doors at the end of July, it came as a shock to many and acted as a sober reminder of the financial tightrope that arts nonprofits walk. MCP had moved to a spot with more gallery space in a burgeoning arts hub in Northeast Minneapolis, and the scope of the shows had become broader in the years since George Slade took the helm as director. The future seemed bright.

“I knew they had been on the edge for a while, but I certainly didn’t expect it,” says one local photographer. “I feel like an orphan now.” But nature abhors a vacuum, and a contender quickly emerged to fill the gaping hole left by MCP’s unexpected departure from the scene.

Photographer Orin Rutchick leaped at the chance to reposition his Mpls Photo Co-op (now Mpls Photo Center) as a home to photographers and photography lovers. He quickly came up with a plan to draw new members and expand the mission to “support people through the trajectory of learning.” Former MCP instructor Steve Bye even signed on to teach digital darkroom classes.

“In a matter of a week I had the whole business plan,” says Rutchick, whose vision for the center strikes a communal chord that he says had been missing since MCP began moving away from its original focus on local photography. “If MCP had continued to exhibit local work,” he insists, “they would still be around today.”

The Mpls Photo Center occupies a 20,000-square-foot space tucked amid industrial buildings in North Minneapolis almost directly across the river from the former MCP gallery. The center features two photography galleries—one showing the work of local and regional photographers and the other showing the work of co-op members—as well as everything from a traditional darkroom and digital lab to a member lounge and a lecture hall. The space has the vibe of an artsy, upscale community center.

Rutchick has an expansive attitude toward photography that’s reflected in his own path from commercial photographer to community organizer. He attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in the 1970s, where he studied photography and graphic design. He spent years as a creative director and worked for some time in the apparel business. But his interest in fine art and documentary photography reignited several years ago.

“I identified and began to document thousands of people taking pictures at landmarks in ten countries around the world for Push Button Memories,” says Rutchick. “I went on to begin an American survey of landmarks, These United Memories: 50 States 50 Landmarks.” Rutchick received a McKnight Photographic Fellowship for his efforts, but found it difficult to find wall space in galleries to display his work.

“I couldn’t understand why, if I had work to show, I couldn’t show it,” Rutchick recalls. His response was to create a venue. “I model it around my vision of community. It’s a place where photographers forget they are photographers and become people,” he says. “I want to live in that world, with those people and our shared thoughts.”

But how will the new center avoid MCP’s fate? “I rely 90 percent on members to support the center,” says Rutchick. “[MCP] relied on 10 percent.” Rutchick talks often about the importance of engaging the community as the basis for a sustainable arts organization. “With MCP there was always a disconnect between people who came to the classes and what was on the walls. Still, community managed to grow,” says Rutchick, and he plans to nurture that impulse among photographers at whatever point they happen to be in their artistic evolution.

For those more interested in looking at a photographer than through the viewfinder of a camera, the center’s galleries will feature a regular rotation of local photography, including new work by Minneapolis–based Darin Back this month. Says Rutchick: “It’s an immersion in photography in all respects.”

Mpls Photo Center, 2400 N. 2nd St., Mpls., 612-327-4146