Photo by Justin Heininger
Ah, springtime in Vermont. Things are beginning to green up around here and I suspect the lawnmower will make an appearance soon.
Oh wait, there is snow forecast for today.
Yes, springtime in Vermont. It sure keeps you on your toes!
This week, I continue talking about some of my Studio Art college major experiences as well as give a few brief updates on a few of the things I’m working on in my studio.
Questions Answered
Where did your artistic journey begin? (Part 10 - Playing with fire)
Certainly I was feeling a bit apprehensive after switching my major and then having the professor who inspired me to take, at that time, a big leap of faith, pass away in between my second and third years of college. It caused me to feel lost and grasp for some sort of life vest in the vast sea of life. The end result was that I gravitated towards art mediums that I had had some limited experience with. It was experience nonetheless and it felt comforting to do some things that I knew I was capable of. So I began with ceramics as well as black & white photography. Both of which I had done to varying degrees in high school.
The ceramics professor at the time, Stephen Carter, was an interesting guy, somewhat laid back outside of class, and loved to grill students on many of the basics of the ceramic arts. He was a character who loved to push students as well as teach them plenty of ceramics-related history. Sometimes it even seemed as if he liked making people feel uncomfortable in addition to challenging their preconceived notions of both American history and its perceived societal norms. As an black man teaching in mostly white Vermont, he had no issue challenging our views in an effort to get us to understand that nothing is as it seems.
Newly dubbed a studio art student, I did as much as I could to learn everything about ceramics that he taught in class and did my very best to complete assignments on time. Being the slow reader I was, I didn’t dread spending hours upon hours in Williams Hall, where the Art Department resided. It even felt like there wasn’t enough time in the day, week, or month to accomplish all of the assignments being given out. Art takes time. When you force it, it usually shows. Unfortunately, every art student has deadlines. In fact, those deadlines can often work in your favor as you suddenly realize you only have a specific amount of time to work. It causes you to just start. Which as I’m finding many years later, is often the biggest obstacle to overcome, not just with art, but many other areas (if not all) of life.
Black & white photography was really interesting. I signed up for additional classes taught by Dan Higgins. My impression of him was that he was mostly upbeat. He had a passion for photography and how it could be used to document the world around us. Dan Higgins was well known in Winooski, VT, for documenting how the city has changed over the years through his photography. I was always struck by his calm and generous nature. At one point during my final two years at UVM, he even invited a bunch of students to his house for a potluck. The idea was to regrow some of the social interaction and discussion between students and professors which was prevalent during earlier decades when the drinking age was 18 and it was more common for students and professors to be in social situations together.
I can’t say for sure how much artistic discussion occurred that evening. I do recall that it was a lot of fun and helped make the older student and Dan seem more approachable in the days that followed. It helped us become more familiar with one another and create friendships that may not have otherwise existed due to the sheer number of hours involved in completing art projects.
As much as I liked photography. I didn’t really feel that I had “an eye” for it. Sure, my photos are somewhat interesting. They are, however, pretty average. At least, from my point of view. Any while I enjoyed Dan’s classes, I knew in my heart that I was probably not cut out for a career in photography. I did learn that there are things around us all the time that we never become aware of and that if you take the time to look around you, you’ll often find yourself inspired into creating wonderful things which mirror this world. In that respect, I am grateful for what I learned in his classes.
Fine metals class was pretty amazing. Laurie Peters, the professor, only taught during fall semesters at UVM and her classes always filled up. I remember the first day in her intro to fine metals quite clearly because she told us right away that we would not be making jewelry and that we we’re allowed to make jewelry for any of the assignments unless she told us otherwise. I think I recall that part so well because I think I may have been slightly disappointed. At least, for the first week or so.
Laurie taught us basic soldering skills (technically brazing), cold forming, creating closed forms and the dangers to be aware of while creating them, lost wax casting, and several other skills that I can’t seem to recall now. Not all of the skills were taught in the intro class. I kept signing up every fall though because it was so much fun! Truthfully, I hadn’t expected to enjoy working with even more fire outside of ceramics and photography (reliant on the fire of the sun). It didn’t require me to draw photorealistically, which was great in light of the fact that the professor I was hoping to improve those skills with had passed away. We all had sketch pads to help plan out our work and my cocktail napkin sketching skills are sufficient for that. By the time my final year rolled around, I was hoping to take a 200 level version of fine metals. Alas, UVM did not offer that as a class and I openly lamented that fact to Laurie.
Laurie was a very pragmatic person. She often would question us opening about our desire to buy tools that were easy to make and encouraged us to figure out if we could make something to fulfill the same purpose without spending a chunk of change on a “fancy tool” we saw in a catalog. Internet shopping didn’t really exist at that time. If it did, it was basically the same as ordering from a catalog over the phone, but without all the pictures. So it wasn’t practical, and most people at that time didn’t have any kind of internet connection.
Upon hearing my lamentations about no 200 level fine metals course offering, Laurie offered to teach me at that level the following fall if I extended my college stay one extra semester (the fall after the end of my fourth year). She explained that I would need to get permission from the Dean’s office (aka the Dean) of the College of Arts in addition to permission from the head of the Art Department, a very demanding professor of Art History whose class, Central and South American Art History.
It seemed a bit intimidating at the time. My college advisor, Ted, who had been my film and video professor in my freshman year, managed to convince me that it wasn’t really that big of a deal and encouraged me to jump through the necessary hoops and stay an additional semester beyond what I had planned. So I started writing. I think I had to write some sort of letter to the Dean’s office as well as the head of the art department. I can’t seem to recall exactly what was required at the time, however it all panned out and everything was approved.
During my ninth semester, I worked with Laurie to create a complex project which needed to combine at least three metal working techniques into one piece. I designed and created a large sterling silver pendant and a copper and sterling silver chainmail necklace. The pendant was a combination of reticulated sterling silver and charcoal cast rune symbol fit into the front side and then the whole thing was formed using cold forging techniques. The pendant had a shape similar to a shield and took a fair amount of time during the semester to create. The chainmail took the rest of the time. Making and weaving jump rings together took quite a bit of time.
It was a blast, and I only had one or two other classes that semester, so I was able to focus my attention on the metal working, which was a nice change from previous semesters where my attention had been a bit divided between required and elective classes.
To be fair, I had taken some really interesting classes during my second, third and fourth years at UVM that also influenced my art, and continue to do so, primarily art history classes. Two classes come to mind. Northern European Art History and Central and South American Art History. Even though those two classes taught me about art that is very, very different from one another, they both caused me to let go of some of my preconceived notions about what art is, as well as spend hours in the library researching Germanic, Aztec, Mayan, and Incan art. This also spurred my own interest in learning about the runes used by Vikings, Germans, Gauls, and people in both Great Britain and Ireland. I still pull out textbooks from time to time for inspiration and new ideas based on ancient religions.
Laurie was mostly pleased with the work I accomplished that final semester and I graduated from UVM just before Christmas in 1994. I was both elated and relieved. It had been quite a wild ride for me and I was very glad when it came to an end. At the same time, I had not yet figured out, nor really given much thought about what I would do after I completed my college career.
That’s the big question that would arrive soon enough.
What next?
Next time:
Honestly, I’m not sure what I will write about in my next post. I’ll probably continue talking about my 20s a little and what occurred once I realized I was going to need to plan a little for my future. Stay tuned!
News of late
- Things have been very busy in my life lately between my business and my seasonal part time work. I’m doing my best to find a rhythm that allows me to live and devote some time to recreational activities that I enjoy, like paddle boarding.
- Very slowly, it seems, people have been showing up to open studio night at Generator in Burlington and I’m having lots of fun meeting new people, sharing ideas, and metalworking.
In the Works
- I have 8 bracelet cuffs I’m working on that were engraved by Vermont Awards & Engraving
- Finishing up a new cast amulet to sell
- Creating a custom runic name amulet for a customer
- Converting more drawings to vector art (it’s a slow process)
Until next time,
Justin