A& E
A& E
ROBERT FARMER
Since he began teaching, Robert Farmer has noticed growth in his artwork and has drawn on some student techniques. He also believes students are more open to teachers who are actively still making art. Explore Robert’ s world of myth and monsters at www. robertmfarmer. com.
exhibitions to his credit— including a New York commemoration of the 9-11 attack, called“ Parallel Reflections on the World Trade Center: A Vision of Recovery and Remembrance”— and some 15 commissions. He sees himself as“ standing on the shoulders of giants” as he“ channels” their knowledge and skills to succeeding generations of artists, and makes this explicit point— as only a practicing artist can— to his students.
TEACHING + LEARNING COLLIDE Then there are the times when the artist-student stream reverses flow and influences the teacher with student-inspired insights into form, technique or presentation— a possibility that can be work-changing for the artist. Such was the case for 15-year Shepherd University adjunct professor of photography and art history Mike Mendez( no relation to artist Tony Mendez of“ Argo” fame) whose photogram specialty— which utilizes camera-less, darkroom film exposure of back-lit translucent or opaque objects— originated with teaching basic darkroom techniques to students.“ I saw that there was an expressive possibility that really wasn’ t being utilized very
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