I attended the artist talk given by Julee Holcombe, Brian Chu, and Rick Fox talking about their work in the Museum in the Paul Creative Arts Center.
Brian Chu started off talking about his painting of scenery. He said a big part of his paintings was all about traveling. He would paint things that were outside his window but that would get boring so he needed to travel to see the wonders of the world and paint them. He would also always focus on the movement of light. He would love adding shadows and have his painting show where the light is coming from. His paintings also weren't smooth brush strokes, they were almost dotted in a way which made his paintings very unique. Most of his paintings were from when he traveled to France and Spain. He also loves the movement of the road and hills in his paintings because you can see the dimensions. He is a very calm and laid back person and didn't seem nervous at all. He wasn't the best speaker but I loved his paintings.
Rick Fox went next in the group of artists. The most important things for his drawings was the process. His drawings were ideas for his paintings but a lot of the time he would love the drawings so much that he made a collection of them. His drawings call to him way more than his paintings. This series happened to be black charcoal figured that you aren't quite sure what they are. He explained that they showed how much he loved the physicality and love of the world. He seemed to be a very nervous speaker because he was shaking and looked nervous in general but he did a great job speaking. I personally don't understand his drawings but it is great seeing such passion. At the very end a girl fainted which was scary but she seemed to be ok.
The last speaker was Julee Holcombe talking about her photographs. The majority of them were montage manipulations which were huge and printed on large paper. These were multiple pictures all put together to seem like they belong together. They were landscapes and made her feel outside herself and bigger than herself as well as historical. They were also based on Chinese paintings that she has seen in her life changing trip to China which Brain Chu. She also had a wall of progress which mostly had portraiture. These were more personal for her which is why they were so much smaller. They were vignettes into another world. Many of these photos represented decisive moments. The biggest theme was power verses struggle. She was an amazing speaker. She definitely seemed nervous but not even close to Rick Fox. I loved her photography and the concept was nothing like I had ever seen before. They came out extremely well.
