EVEL'S CHEST HAIR. ©ALEXIS PIKE 2019
photography and her love of the snapshot. “It was about looking at photographs to establish my family tree,” she recalls. “When I went into making images, it was all about the influence of the snapshot and how that becomes our entrance into art as individuals… it’s something we can all relate to.” Her interest in photography started at 19 with a Canonet from her father. She was enrolled at Boise State and had taken a few art classes, but her father suggested taking a photo class to learn how to use the new camera. Right out of the gate, Pike’s professor told her she wouldn’t be able to take the course with a Canonet since it lacked full manual control. “That’s fine; I didn’t want to take the class anyway.” She told her dad that she wouldn’t be able to take the class, so he asked 38
m o nt a n a w o ma n ma g a zi ne | is s ue 29 9
what she would need. A friend took her to a pawn shop and found a Pentax MEF Super, “and the whole world opened up from there.” Now an associate professor of photography at Montana State University, Alexis’s desire to teach came from her college mentor who shifted her perspective. “I wanted to give back what I had received. I didn’t go to grad school to become an artist; I went to grad school to get the credentials to teach.” She taught kid’s art classes and worked in ceramics, painting, and photography while she was in undergrad, alongside running the color darkroom. As a graduate student, she taught continuing education classes. “I was always preparing that foundation to teach.”
