The St. Joe’s community remembered Susan Fenton at an event on Sept. 13 where people were brought through four decades of her work. Fenton served as the chair of the art department at St. Joe’s until 2018.

“A Survey” is a photo exhibition showcasing Fenton’s work from the beginning of her photo career in 1979 up until 2016 currently on display in the Merion Hall Atrium until Sept. 23. The exhibition features work from Fenton’s decades-long photography career.

The exhibition opened on Aug. 19, one year and one day after Fenton suffered a seizure that would lead to a diagnosis of glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. Fenton died on Nov. 23, 2018 at the age of 69.

The night was narrated by Fenton’s husband, Larry Spaid, who told the story of Fenton’s work at a talk held in the Merion Atrium. Spaid explained that the dates of the exhibition were chosen for their timeliness with Fenton’s illness.

“We began the installation of this exhibit 12 months to the day of her seizure,” Spaid said. “Today [Sept. 13], is the 13th month since her seizure. It’s Friday the 13th. Susan left us 103 days after her seizure. It was a full moon. Today is a full moon.”

Spaid explained that full moons were important to Fenton because those were the only times she would add to her one of her projects.

Spaid and Fenton were together for more than 40 years. He got to see Fenton and her work more than anyone else ever would. Spaid described Fenton as “focused beyond belief” with diligence and organization.

Fenton’s passion for photography was sparked during her time enrolled in an M.F.A program at the Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University New Brunswick. In 1978, she took a leave of absence from her job as a middle school art teacher because she wanted something more, something that was missing. Fenton’s mentor at Rutgers recommended using photography as a medium for an assignment. What happened next would snowball from a graduate school portfolio into “A Survey,” with 40 years of work and relationships in between.

The oldest pieces of the exhibition were some of Fenton’s earliest photographs taken on her first professional camera. Spaid said she used a “simple” 35 mm and turned one of the closets of their Bucks County home into a makeshift darkroom. What followed was reminiscent of a Barbie playhouse with unusual houseguests.

“She took her collection of Ken, Barbie, [and] Batman dolls and combined them with a wind up dinosaur and went to town,” Spaid said.

It was during a trip to Scandinavia in the ’80s that Fenton really advanced with the camera. There, Fenton bought a Hasselblad camera, a distinguished European camera company, and her photographic world changed.

“She took to the camera,” Spaid said. “It was much more efficient. It was faster.”

During his speech, Spaid shared a memory of Fenton on the Swiss Alps, one where he said not even the blistering cold shook Fenton’s love of photography. With every bit of clothing she had on, Fenton, along with Spaid and their dog, Oreo, sat huddled in a makeshift tent on the side of the Swiss Alps. She was thinking about an investigative story in an international newspaper.

In addition to art, Fenton loved researching. She loved being a problem solver. Unsurprisingly, Fenton had figured out the outcome of the investigation before she had even read the conclusion.

“I said, ‘Susan you’ve got on the wrong boat,” Spaid said. You could be the next Sherlock, the female-Sherlock.”

He said Fenton looked at him, still excited from solving the investigation, and said, “‘Yeah maybe you’re right, but I wouldn’t be having as much fun.”

Alongside dozens of family friends, St. Joe’s staff and faculty were in attendance on Sept. 13, as well as former students of Fenton.

“Not only was she a natural, dynamic mother, she was a natural teacher,” Spaid said. “She brought that natural maternal instinct into her classroom.”

Olivia Martino ’15 said she only took one class with Fenton but immediately felt the effects of Fenton’s nurturing personality.

“In Susan’s mind anyone could be a photographer,” Martino said. “She just saw so much potential in everyone that you kind of came out thinking you were a photographer.”

Other students like Michael Lepore ’17 and Kristine Wood ’17 both spent extensive time in Fenton’s classroom. Lepore was a teaching assistant for multiple of Fenton’s classes and Wood enrolled in her classes multiple times.

As a teaching assistant, Lepore got to see first hand the way Fenton taught, striving to make her students feel comfortable and confident in what they were doing.

“We would argue about certain [things] just so that a student would feel comfortable coming up to her and speaking to her without worry of her criticizing or ridiculing them,” Lepore said.

Wood had played around with the camera on her phone and was originally a science major. After enrolling in Fenton’s classes, Wood changed her major to English and art with a focus on photography.

“She was the first person that talked to me and gave me the hope to keep going,” Wood said. “She’s just stuck with me throughout the entire time. She taught me how to do everything I know.”

Although Sophia Dell’Acriprete ’22 never took a class with Fenton, she said that she wanted to come to the exhibition because she knew Fenton was a professor specializing in photography. With photography being her medium, Dell’Arciprete said she had a different appreciation for Fenton’s work at the showcase.

“It’s a different setting of how ‘Oh you’re waiting for class’ and your mind’s different when you’re looking at these photos,” Dell’Acriprete said. “Now we’re in a gallery setting and we’re looking at them sort of memorializing her and her work.”

Looking back on Fenton’s career, Spaid said that she left behind an enormous amount of work. It wasn’t the quantity of Fenton’s work that Spaid said made her memorable, it was the quality.

“My definition of an artist is someone that contributes to the language of their medium,” Spaid said. “I think Susan did that.”