Art, family and a strong Union legacy are among the major influences in Frank Rapant ’07’s life.

A daily infusion of espresso doesn’t hurt, either.

“My family got me an espresso machine for Christmas, so my day pretty much starts and ends there. Making espresso drinks is the hobby I never knew I needed,” he said.

Caffeinated or not, life is rarely a grind for Rapant. He sees life through many lenses: as Union’s photography and exhibition technician, an award-winning art photographer, a husband and the father of three daughters.

He studied English and visual arts and joined Union full-time while still a student. Since then, he has helped hundreds of students grow as artists through his work in the studios, darkroom and galleries in the Feigenbaum Center for Visual Arts. He oversees the photography section of the Visual Arts Department, manages gallery installations, and helps visual arts majors prepare their senior exhibit each spring.

His affable 18-month-old Bernese mountain dog, Juniper, accompanies him to work every day and can usually be seen relaxing in his office or engaging with students herself.

When not on campus, Rapant stays busy with his own art, which documents the full range of human experience, from loss and grieving to physical beauty and the joys of family life. In recent years, his active art practice has expanded beyond photography to include writing, video, sculpture and fiber art.

His artworks have been featured in campus exhibitions, and throughout the Capital Region and beyond. Several of his photos are included in the Union College Permanent Collection.

He is the son of the late Frank Rapant Jr. ’51. He and his family – wife, Trish, a reading teacher, and daughters Chloe, 18, Ella, 14 and Darwin, 10 – live in Castleton-on-Hudson with Juniper, golden retriever Penny, two cats, three guinea pigs, a rabbit, a rat and a flock of chickens.

FIRST APP YOU LOOK AT IN THE MORNING:

I am enrolled in a low residency M.F.A. program in art practice at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, so I typically dive into Canvas (classroom management system) first thing to check on deadlines, review readings or comment on my cohort members’ new work.

GO-TO BREAKFAST:

It’s usually just coffee.

WHAT'S THE LAST GREAT BOOK YOU READ?:

“The Creative Act: A Way of Being” by Rick Rubin is like a how-to manual for creative people and a great read in general. You can open to just about any random page and find something insightful or interesting, such as, "Sometimes the mistakes are what makes a work great. Humanity breathes in mistakes." It offers an alternative way of seeing the world through a creative lens.

BEST ADVICE YOU EVER RECEIVED:

Author Douglas Adams, in “The Salmon of Doubt,” gives great advice while proving his genius by playing with language, imagery and subtext:

“…You will need to know the difference between Friday and a fried egg. It's quite a simple difference, but an important one. Friday comes at the end of the week, whereas a fried egg comes out of a chicken. Like most things, of course, it isn't quite that simple. The fried egg isn't properly a fried egg until it's been put in a frying pan and fried. This is something you wouldn't do to a Friday, of course, though you might do it on a Friday. You can also fry eggs on a Thursday, if you like, or on a cooker. It's all rather complicated, but it makes a kind of sense if you think about it for a while.”

FAVORITE PLACE TO VISIT:

Chincoteague, Va., is one of America’s last quiet beach towns due to the beach being a national wildlife refuge and completely pristine. My family vacationed there when I was a kid, and now I bring my own children there. It has changed very little in the last 40 years.

WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING RIGHT NOW?:

I’m hooked on “Succession.” I will probably restart it as soon as I get through it.

ONE SKILL YOU WISH YOU HAD:

Over the pandemic I learned to make a really good gravy, so check that off the list. I have always wanted to scuba dive, but I have learned to be a little afraid of the ocean – all that nothing... <<shudders>>.

3 DINNER PARTY GUESTS YOU'D LIKE TO HAVE (living or not):

I was going to try to say something clever about photographers Duane Michals, Robert Frank and Garry Winogrand, but if I'm being honest, I would pick three of the great starship captains of fiction: Han Solo, Jean-Luc Picard and Malcom Reynolds. And really, I think that someday when we lose Harrison Ford and Patrick Stewart a little bit of me will go with each of them.

FIRST CONCERT:

David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails at Meadowlands (1995) was my first real concert. It was the tour with all the mannequin body parts suspended in the air above the stage. If I recall correctly, Nine Inch Nails was technically an opener, and most of the crowd left after their act. Unfortunately I was one of the ones who left; I was young, and I regret leaving now.

LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT YOU:

Union College has been part of my life since I was a child. My father attended Union in the 1950s and taught in the Mathematics Department for a time in the ‘80s, and he brought me to campus events all my young life. Since then, including myself, there have been nine others in my family who attended Union, and my oldest daughter, whom I used to bring with me to classes when she was a baby, is applying to the Class of 2028.