Painting With Purpose: Creative Invention and Concept
Workshop | Available
Painting is more than a making a faithful copy of the subject. It is a translation, a transformation - and most importantly it is an expression of inner qualities that are as important as the external. A painting can be of a certain subject, yet be about many things. By observing and creating, the artist suggests themes that are essential to their character, and perpetuates the making and sharing of experiences. Through art, subjects become significant to us in unique ways, aesthetically and conceptually. This workshop will not only reinforce an understanding of composition and form, but will also explore methods to break up and strip down the subject, then reconstruct it in new and surprising ways. Students will participate in discussions regarding the subtleties, variations, lines, textures and colors that enliven our senses and captivate our interest; the way our eyes perceive things and how we make choices regarding their relative importance; the suggestion of the passage of time; the relative states of motion and stillness; how the artist may represent nature in order to reflect on their perceptions, experiences and values while also contemplating the important power of content, symbol and abstraction. Douglas demonstrates every day of the workshop. www.douglasfryer.blogspot.com
Douglas Fryer
Douglas Fryer was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was raised in Illinois and California. In 1988 he received his BFA in Illustration from Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. He later returned to BYU for further study toward and MFA in Painting and Drawing, and received his MFA in 1995. Fryer has taught fine art and illustration at several universities and art schools, including Brigham Young University; the University of Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut; the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City, New York; and Snow College, Ephraim, Utah. He currently lives and works in the small community of Spring City, located in beautiful Sanpete Valley in central Utah.
“Art reveals the evidence of one’s life; in observing and creating the artist discovers themes that are the the makeup of his character, and perpetuates the making and sharing of experience. I create images that become material records of places, things and people that have been significant to me. Often, as I paint them they become significant to me in a different way: aesthetically, conceptually, and spiritually. There is a state of existence that lies between one’s physical and spiritual state, the present and the past, the reality and the symbol or impression. It is while I am in this frame of mind that life and the world seem the most clear and meaningful. It is to this state that I desire to return, and painting is one of the avenues through which I can regain and expand those feelings.”