Becky Young (1939-2024)

Former students and colleagues pay tribute to photo-based multidisciplinary artist Becky Young, a longtime faculty member in the Department of Fine Arts who passed away on October 24, 2024. On the occasion of a 2005 exhibition at the Charles Addams Fine Arts Gallery, as she prepared to retire from teaching at Penn, she gave an interview to Penn Today in which she said, “I just wanted to give [students] that wonderful feeling that, out of nothing, they could create something.”
 

Edited by Gabriel Martinez, Artist and Senior Lecturer, Department of Fine Arts & Peggy Feerick, longtime friend & Retired Professor, George Mason University

A cherished teacher, Becky Young empowered students to express themselves fully and openly. She dedicated her life to her students and her artistic practice, creating daring and remarkable works that fostered healing through artmaking.

Born on March 18, 1939, in Springfield, Massachusetts, Becky earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1961 from the Rhode Island School of Design, focusing on painting. However, it was her assistantship with the legendary photographer Harry Callahan that led her to photography. She served as Callahan's assistant at RISD from 1961 to 1964. From 1964 to 1967, she was on the faculty at the Boston Center for Adult Education while also working as a medical photographer for Massachusetts General Hospital. Between 1962 and 1975, she gained further experience as a commercial and portrait photographer, contributing to various journals and magazines.

Becky became a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania in 1975. She also taught at the University City Arts League in Philadelphia for several years. At Penn, she initially taught painting and drawing and shortly after she was asked to teach her first photography class. Having never taught photography before, she turned to Harry Callahan for inspiration and guidance. As Young described it, “By that time, I’d certainly established myself as a photographer, but not as a teacher. I said no and then I called up Callahan, and he said, ‘Just do it. You’ll love it, and you’ll learn.’ In the end, I had six classes, which was really too much—but I loved it.”

During her 30 years teaching at Penn, Becky taught various levels of photography, from Photography I to Portrait to The Nude, and perhaps her most personal and distinctive course, which drew students from across campus, was The Visual Diary.

Julie Saecker Schneider, former Department of Fine Arts Undergraduate Chair and Undergraduate Fine Arts Director, has said of Becky’s legacy: “Rarely does a teacher exhibit the magnetism that Becky Young did. Students from all over the University of Pennsylvania flocked to her, regardless of their major. Certainly, her skill as a photographer attracted these savvy students, but so did her warmth, availability, and openness. She accepted whatever visual path a student wanted to pursue, never compromising on craft and demanding conceptual rigor.”

Becky retired from Penn in 2005, receiving the prestigious G. Holmes Perkins Award for Distinguished Teaching in the Undergraduate Programs in the School of Design. Upon retiring, she said, “When I started, I had my darkroom in a closet in the Furness building. We developed a program that started from nothing. It’s fascinating for me to see what happened. We had a chance to expand, building a state-of-the-art photography department. I feel I’m leaving it in good hands.”

In 2006, she was honored by the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the Society for Photographic Education with their Teacher of the Year Award.

Retired from teaching, Becky remained an active artist working in many mediums and a wide range of subjects. Her projects were unconventional, unique, and deeply personal. She explored the female form as the embodiment of evolution, from the tangible to the symbolic, from corporeality to spirituality, and finally to themes of death and transformation.

One of Philadelphia’s most highly regarded artists and Young’s dear friend, Nancy Hellebrand, states: “Becky never stopped looking deeply into her own soul, processing the world around her and manifesting all and everything in her profound, diverse, beautiful, and prolific output.”

Becky Young leaves behind a legacy of lasting influence upon her students and fellow educators, as well as important, distinct, and transcendent artwork to inspire generations to come. Becky Young is a “Body of Light.”
 

JJ Tiziou (C’02 Fine Arts), Artist, Massage Therapist and Community Organizer

When I think about Becky, I always describe her as some sort of magic catalyst. It wasn’t immediately obvious how she did it, but somehow everyone in her classes consistently just gave their all and made their very best work without needing much in the way of criticism. Every single time. In a conversation yesterday with a fellow classmate, something that came as probably deeply related was just how deeply affirming she was. She loved all the work, but more importantly she deeply loved all the people.
 

Julie Saecker Schneider, Undergraduate Chair, 1995-2000; Director, Undergraduate Fine Arts, 2000-2012

Rarely does a teacher exhibit the magnetism Becky Young did. Students from all over the University of Pennsylvania flocked to her, no matter their major.  Certainly, her skill as a photography was a draw from these very savvy students, but also her warmth, availability, and openness.  She accepted whatever visual road a student wanted to travel down, never compromising on craft, and demanding conceptual rigor.  

Every semester she had her classes to her home and studio.

(She was an excellent cook.)
 

Evi Numen (C’07, MFA’09), Curator, Anatomy Museum of Trinity College Dublin

I could write pages on what it was like to be in Becky’s presence, but it would be futile. You truly had to be there. Becky was, is, the only person I’ve ever met that was fully embodied. She was herself and no one else. By design. Being her authentic self was her lifelong goal and she was endlessly curious as to what that looked like. Through her art, her ceaseless writing, her dream records and even her environment, she became and was, is, herself. She was acutely aware of how fleeting life is and chose to live every single moment authentically. 

Becky Young was my mentor, in both life and art. I met her when I was a sullen art student with depression over two decades ago. Her class on keeping a visual diary shaped my art practice and in no uncertain terms saved my life. I was lucky enough to become her friend after graduation and share lovely afternoons with her talking about life, art, love, loss, and the meaning of it all. I cherish those memories more than I can say. Becky shone like no else I’ve ever met. And that light was contagious to everyone around her. I have no doubt that she shaped generations of artists, and touched countless more. Beyond an artist, she was a philosopher, and a sheer. I am eternally grateful to have known her.


Steven H. Begleiter, Former Colleague in Photography

She was an inspiration. Students raved about her visual diary class and found it transformative. She was curious, funny and dedicated to her art and her teaching and left an indelible impression on how I approach my art and teaching. My current work of photography, Egrets and Herons, is an homage to her.
 

Robert Rosenheck (C’89); Instructor, Graduate School of Fine Arts, 1996-2000;
CEO, Galisteo Group, www.galisteogroup.com

Like everyone, I waited two years to take photography with Becky Young. Becky started her photography class with a slide show of images of advertisements. Many focused on the depiction of women. Becky taught us that these images, these photographs, these messages, were all made up. People on the other side of these pictures got together and carefully constructed them to make up a world and a set of rules that many of us followed without question. After a photography class with Becky Young, you began to question a great deal. Becky taught us how to see. How to see with our own eyes. She was a spirit guide into new realms. Becky Young influenced two generations of Penn students lucky enough to study with her. In 1996, Becky hired me to be the second photography teacher at Penn. It was a thrill and an honor. We spent the next four years endlessly talking about our students and the creative process while grading their work together. All that I do and all that I am changed because of my knowing Becky. She was my friend, mentor and fairy godmother. I will miss her dearly.
 

Penina Bernstein (C’09), Former Student

Becky changed my life profoundly.  Not only did she teach me how to see, both literally and in deeper ways, but over the decades I knew her she became a dear friend and cherished mentor.  There was something truly magical about Becky, in every sense of that word.   She could connect with people of all backgrounds, and she inspired each of them in an intensely personal way.  A chance meeting with Becky on campus, or even just catching sight of her across the street, always provided an instant reminder that the world is, in fact, a good place.  She was one of the most joyous people I ever encountered. and her ever-present positivity was altogether infectious.  The first time I sat in Becky’s home I was brought to tears because I knew, in that moment, that no matter how long I lived and how many spectacular places I might visit, Becky’s home would always remain  intensely special for me. Over the decades since that first visit and in the many visits with Becky in her home that followed, that has always remained true. Sitting in the presence of Becky’s powerful artwork was always deeply inspiring.  I feel absolutely blessed and grateful to have called such a unique and wonderful spirit my teacher, friend, and mentor, and I will always carry her in my heart.
 

Karen Rodewald, Former Colleague and Instructor, Department of Fine Arts

All educators need mentors. Becky Young was mine. Her generous approach to her students created a safe space for learning and genuine human connections. Becky had the sweetest giggle and will be deeply missed by those fortunate to have known her bright spirit.