Wisdom of God , etching
Rex Thomas : Tell me about these incredible books . Robert Rivers : Larry Cooper , Rob Reedy , and I started Flying Horse Press . Cooper was kind enough to bind these drawings together in a book . I gave my Patagonia book to Steve Lotz . This book is from another trip , where I brought paper and supplies , sometimes mailing these back and getting some more . I travel with lots of loose paper .
What kind of things do you draw when you are traveling ? [ Points to a drawing of a male fi gure on all fours , its face a profi le of arduous concentration ]. This drawing is typical — I do these at cafes , on the street , in my room — and try to fi nish them right then and there , with color . ( A swirl of bright vermilion weighs the fi gure down .) Each trip is , for me , a craving for outside infl uences that I can absorb and bring into my work . I see things anew when I travel . It causes me to work harder , to get at my subjects from different angles , and gain energy from what I see .
You started out with etching , yes ? No ! I started drawing fi rst . Then , I studied printmaking with Maltby Sykes and Conrad Ross at Auburn . It was a huge mistake ! Etching a plate connected with me in some primitive , reptilian way , and I was physically drawn to the process . Printmaking has a requirement that you pare down , discard the nonessential , and it helped me focus myself down into the little furrows I was making on the copper surface , getting into the gore and the tone of line . It took me some time to fi nd my process then .
Back in the early seventies , Auburn was a “ company town ” built around the university . The art school was in an old girl ’ s dorm on the periphery of campus . We felt like a bunch of gypsy outlaws , which
19 increased my fervor to get lost inside art and printmaking . Since it was so small , there was more cross-pollination between students and faculty , and we knew everybody .
UCF was like that when I started in 1980 . When I began teaching , I was awed by the professors in the art department — Johann Eyfells , Steve Lotz , Charlie Wellman . I felt like a young punk kid who was always in trouble . Now , it ’ s grown so huge that we don ’ t really have that sense of community anymore . So many faculty I don ’ t even know . Someone recently told me it is the single largest higher education institution in the country now ! I guess that ’ s a good thing , but in some ways the loss of intimacy is sad .
I had to choose a major to stay in college , or I was going to Vietnam . My choices were veterinary school or architecture . Both looked pretty diffi cult , so I tried art . That is when I met Sykes , Ross , and the other teachers there . Once I learned how to draw from them , I never looked back .
Veterinary school ? I ’ ve worked with animals all my life . Circus trainer , horse trainer , dog trainer , cat trainer [ laughs , as a silvery-gray cat weaves between us on the table ]. So I ’ ve had an intimate relationship with lots of animals as individuals for forever . I also wanted to be a football coach ! I enjoy intense physical activity , as well . It is the desire to teach what I know that led me to what I am doing today ; it ’ s all kind of balled up together .
[ Referencing a thick copper plate , about 2 ’ x3 ’] This is one of your last copper plates , yes ? www . ARTBORNEMAGAZINE . com