Artist Lecture

Artist Lecture

For the artist lecture that we were assigned to attend this semester, I went to the one given on December 5 at the Museum located in PCAC. There were four different artists who spoke about their work that was displayed in the museum- all part of the staff in the art department. For this reflection, I am going to choose two of the four artists to focus on. Both of the artists I have had as teachers here at UNH; Don Williams for Intro to Ceramics last Spring semester and Julee Holcombe for Intro to Digital Photography this Fall semester. I wanted to focus on them because they taught me a lot about different mediums of art and have fostered my creative process, but I have never gotten the chance to learn about their own creative processes and inspirations.

To begin, I want to talk about Julee’s work because she spoke before Don.  In the introduction, they explained that Professor Holcombe graduated with her BFA in New Mexico and that she has won an excellence in teaching award since then. Before the lecture started, I went and looked at her exhibition pieces, and noticed that they were all digital photographs from a trip to China titled, “Women of Sichuan.” Looking at the photographs, I noticed that there were many decisive moments that were captured- my most favorite was of the man and woman kissing under the umbrella. It was interesting because Julee mentioned that she usually likes to tell a story with her photographs, but that maybe she is actually more of a street photographer. I definitely saw the essence of a street photographer in her work. My favorite part of her lecture was when she spoke of the women she photographed in China, and how she gravitated to taking portraits of them. She wanted to capture their beauty and elegance in mundane activities and everyday life. I found that even though her body of work seemed to be more street photography, the idea behind it still told a story about the women of China. I also really liked the tone and mood of all the photographs she took. The sky in most of them seemed over cast and dark, but I think that really added to the effect of her work as a whole. Overall, I enjoyed Julee’s photos a lot and was glad I got to see her creative process.

To move on, I’m going to talk about Don Williams work that was exhibited at the museum. Don actually graduated from UNH, which I thought was very cool! After having him as a professor for Intro to Ceramics, I was very surprised to see that his work was abstract. Don worked with multi different types of media and combined random objects he found with ceramics that he made in his studio. He said that a lot of the ceramics he created were used for demos in his classes, but saved them and left them unfinished so he could go back to them later. I never expected him to create work like I saw at the museum, so I was especially intrigued to hear about what inspired him. In the beginning of his lecture, he said that he was interested in how the man-made world and the natural world intersect. I could see this in a lot of his works, as he collected and took things from his surroundings (like an electrocuted log) and combined them with different man-made objects he found. I liked how he did this, as it offered a good juxtaposition between the two objects, and made a really creative and innovative piece of art. I also thought it was really original to take random items from everywhere that seemed to have no meaning and turn them into something new. He said that he found the coolest things in the walls and underneath his 260-year-old house. For instance, he found a shoe from the 1700’s! One of my favorite pieces from his exhibit was the one titled, “Intertidal Encounter.” This was made out of stoneware and pavement fragment, and it looked like the stoneware had been pulled right out of the pavement with a piece still stuck to the end of it. It was very unique, and unlike anything I had ever seen before. I think that his message behind trying to combine man-made objects with the natural world really came across in this piece, and I couldn’t stop looking at it. There was so much wonder to it, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through his mind as he was creating it.

To conclude, I’m very happy I got to hear both of my professor’s speak at this exhibit. I know that they work very hard at what they do ( in and out of class) and I am inspired by them in more ways than one. I wish I could have spoken more about both Julee and Don, but I know this reflection was only supposed to be one page. I hope to see more of their work in museum shows, and hopefully some of my future teachers at UNH as well.