well,” the Martinsburg, W. Va., resident and Corcoran College of Art and Design graduate( MFA from the University of Colorado) says,“ and it suggested a niche I could carve out for my work, as opposed to [ being ] just another guy with a camera … It’ s kind of innately abstract and non-photographic to a degree.”
Mike, who has won awards at several juried West Virginia Biennial shows, says of the art practitioner-student relationship:“ They see that I’ m speaking from experience as opposed to regurgitating textbook information— that sort of thing. I show regularly, so they see I am a practicing artist, and presumably they have some respect for that.” And as for the benefits of such show experience in preparing students for exhibiting’ s inevitable rigors, he says,“ Through it I’ m better able to prepare them for how one’ s work should be presented to a gallery [ for showing ].”
Like Mike, Shepherd University adjunct art professor and mythos and monster artist Robert Farmer( whose wryly presented artist statement simply says,“ I like to draw and paint monsters”) also appreciates the reciprocal nature of the artist-student relationship.“ I use techniques that I’ ve seen students use in class,” the Frederick resident says.“ And I’ ve noticed growth in my own art work since I’ ve started teaching, because [ students have ] different techniques and backgrounds, and that helps me as well.” Published in www. juxtapoz. com and Direct Art magazine, with work currently hanging at American Tattoo Studio outside Brunswick, the Shepherd University grad( who earned his MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design) thinks students simply are more open to professors who are“ obviously still making art … and who don’ t have that jaded air about them.”
“ But on the practical level,” he adds,“ when you continue painting— working with different media and formats— that’ s going to inform your classroom practice. And if a student has a problem, you might have experience with that same problem. And if you don’ t, you really won’ t have much to say.” And that, it seems, is what“ walking the talk”— whether in art instruction, in peace making or life itself— is really all about. §
56 May / June 2013 Hagerstown: The Best of Life in Washington County & Beyond