AFTER MORE THAN A DECADE HOPPING from Los Angeles to New York to work with photographers like Annie Leibovitz and globetrotting to France, Spain and Morocco to shoot subjects such as Sir Ben Kingsley and Drew Barrymore, photographer Jeffrey Paul Gunthart found his mind’s eye drawn to something altogether different—education. Starting the Longhaus in the fall of 2017 (where the Swiss-Swedish Gunthart holds the title “resident viking” in addition to owner and education director) and working with partner Sorcha Augustine, what began as a photography studio offering classes quickly developed into a full-blown alternative arts center. Students will still find photography workshops exploring topics such as lighting, food photography and portrait retouching, taught in a casual and open setting with small groups and lots of interaction, but open figure-drawing sessions with live models have become a regular occurrence and this March actually saw a hands-on kintsugi workshop with an instructor from Nara, Japan. Related to the wabi-sabi philosophy/art movement finding beauty in imperfection, kintsugi brings the mindset to ceramics, where practitioners repair broken vessels with molten gold or bronze to create a brilliant new piece with gleaming seams and a bit of character. “Longhaus is a space for people to feel comfortable and creative,” says Augustine. “And we want to create an opportunity for students to do something they’ve never seen before.” The workshop sold out. But even with a newfound and growing emphasis on traditional practices, Gunthart assures that budding photographers will learn all the latest techniques at the Longhaus as well. What old masters did in the darkroom, modern mavens do on the computer, but it all comes down to the same thing, says Gunthart: “To recreate the picture we remember.”