Alumnus’s love for travel leads to award-winning photograph

Christopher Maslon (CCAD ’96) has spent the past 14 years traveling to 42 countries, collecting one-of-a-kind objects along the way. But it was the photographs he took during his travels that caught the eye of a fellow professor, landing him acceptance into a prominent South Korean gallery.

“I met a professor at my college who is deeply involved in photography. He has seen my photographs from many of my country travels,” said Maslon. “For years, he has asked me to give him an image or two to have framed and shown in one of the galleries he knows. Well, finally I gave in, and I did it.”

Both of the photographs he submitted were accepted into the Yee Ri Gallery in Daejeon, South Korea. One, taken during a trip to the village of Hallstat, Austria, was awarded Best of Show.

“I took 50 pictures of the village that day. And this one just happened to say ’perfection,’” Maslon said.

During his travels, Maslon has collected more than 3,000 objects. “I have everything,” said Maslon, “religious objects from India; Muslim prayer rugs; an Egyptian camel harness from the 1880s; Chinese writings; 300 hundred year old coins; dried bear liver; Edison phonographs; beach sand from over 4,000 locations, including North Korea and Antarctica; stones from The Great Wall of China; grass skirts from the native Indian people of Yap Islands and Pohnpei Islands (Micronesia); a baby man-eating clam; and a cookbook from 1773… and that's just for starters!”

“While at CCAD, I took a class called Museum Exhibition and Design taught by Professor Richard Aschenbrand,” Maslon said. “He was always putting stuff, amazing stuff, on show at CCAD. Every time I get another 'wonder,’ I always think of CCAD. I say, ’Ashenbrand would like that.’”

Maslon is not alone in his travels: His wife has visited 23 countries and his 4 year-old daughter just completed 10. The family currently resides in Daejeon, South Korea, where Maslon works as a Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences professor for Daejeon Health and Science College.