Oh Captain, My Captain : A Tribute to Jana C. Perez
If you know Walt Whitman Poetry, you’ll get this reference. If you've seen Dead Poets Society, you’ll never forget it. Just like I will never forget Jana C. Perez. I don’t hold all my teachers in great esteem as I have gotten older, a lot of them are fading out of memory. But not Jana.
To set the story, I have to first explain how I even met Jana. Ten years ago - let me just take a moment to relish that length of time - I was entering my last semester of my senior year in college. As a photography student, you had one of two options you could select from for a Degree path: BA - Bachelor of Arts OR BFA Bachelor of Fine Arts. From a distance they look pretty similar and for a long time the classes for these two degree paths were identical UNTIL the very end. BA students got a final Art show where they could showcase themselves as an artist and release a body of work that summed up their artistic experience as a student at Texas Woman’s University. BFA students didn’t get a senior art show. I was really surprised and felt incredibly cheated to discover this tiny but huge detail. Even to this day, I still believe I deserve a show.
From my perspective, BA students were striving to fall into that realm of “true artists” - starving, but passionate to say what they had to say using the craft of their choice. They would be the ones who lived and breathed art in the cliche cinematic way where money was not the objective. BFA students were the working artists that made “art” through business - practical and creative. I was never one to be a dreamer when it came to art and I believed that I could really make money doing photography. Hence the reason why my degree says Photography with Business (I actually had to take a business course as part of the graduation requirements).
So what did BFA students get? Instead of a show, we got a course called Professional Portfolio. A class that was made up of predominantly all graphic design. I, along with one other girl, was in this class. At first, I was pretty intimidated. This was the course where I vividly recall learning how to turn on an iMac for the first time. I kid you not - Day 1 of class I couldn’t figure out the power button. Most of my photo courses, I was working with cameras, film, the darkroom, and very little technology at the time.
But to cut down to what this post was about - it was about Jana. This woman was cool. I mean right off the bat, I found her to be hip, artistic, and trustworthy. Jana was an educator that was mainly under the Graphic Design department so I didn’t really know of her until that first day. Her office, small as it was, had unique posters, interesting photographs, and lots of typography.
Side note: I have always loved graphic design. If I had known at the time that I could have double majored in both photography and graphic design - I would have done it. But I was poor so it was just one and done hah!
Professional Portfolio was a course designed to prepare students for their final portfolio to be used as means for actually finding a job after graduation. We wrote resumes, cover letters, designed portfolio books, business cards, etc. We discussed interviews, power of language interpreting art into purpose and function.
Jana was one of the earliest educators that helped me to see how to bridge the gap of being an artist and being a businesswoman. She had lessons that would dive into the basics of what it meant to leave a lasting impression when you go out into the CREATIVE workplace. Being a photographer herself, Jana always remembered to make BFA students feel at home. I remember some of my assignments and her notes helped me not only to feel inspired but I felt empowered. I had photo teachers who couldn’t bring out the best in me over the course of four years and Jana did it in one semester.
This class let me exercise the elements of art that I never got to work on. Learning computer programs like Illustrator and InDesign were so exciting and inspiring. I met incredibly talented peers that at present have been VITAL connections in my career. Literally.
Years after graduation, Jana would reach out and bring me back to university asking me to look over photo student portfolios that attended the same class. It was an honor to be considered but mostly an honor to be remembered. She even inquired for my photo services when she herself went back into the professional world and out of the academic world. Randomly, Jana would leave comments of support whether it was on Instagram or Facebook. She was a kind and engaging educator through and through. Even though we lost touch after 2016, I would see her like a post here and there and it felt good to just be recognized. Acknowledged. Seen. Heard.
As a young and impressionable person and as an adult today, those are aspects that I still need. My love language is words of affirmation and Jana read that language very well towards me. I still don’t know the details of her passing but her legacy remains so strong. My career would not have ever been the same without her presence. I know for a fact, my portfolio would not have been as prepared without her there. I feel so incredibly grateful to Jana for all her help, support, encouragement, and inspiration over the years both as an educator and as another professional in the creative industry.
So in short how does this reflect back to the title of the post? Well as Robin Williams so beautifully portrayed, an educator teaches a student to think for themselves. I think Jana taught me to think for myself not just as an artist, but what an artist could contribute in every day life - from the way we look at a picture and how we can transform it to action…even if that action is simply to order food. Power of good design, power of photography, and the power of presentation helps aid the creative professional.
Thank you Captain.
My Final Portfolio 2011 & Instax of Myself with Jana ca. 2011-2016
Rest in peace.