Mud Flat and Harbor - (c) Ron Weaver
As some of you know, I got my BFA in Painting/Drawing at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. When I started I was an Art-Education major. It was my second semester there, and I enrolled in the Drawing II Color course with Ron Weaver. He had gotten his MFA at Yale, painted and exhibited his work nationally, and it was his last year of teaching before retiring from teaching.
(c) Ron Weaver
(c) Ron Weaver
I recently found out about his passing after battling cancer. I’ve had a heavy
heart the last few days when remembering such a great man, and his impact on my
life.
This semester I am teaching the same course – Design II
Color – here in South Dakota – we are working through the Albers exercises
right now in class, and just last week, I told my students how lucky I was to
have studied with Ron Weaver when I was in undergrad. His love of color and painting were so
apparent in his every action – when he spoke of the art he loved the room would
be captivated. He was definitely a
‘painters painter’.
Black Horse and Barbara - (c) Ron Weaver
One day later in the semester in Ron's class we were doing a drawing
exercise where we were to sit next to a partner and draw their profile in line
in about 10 minutes to test our observational abilities. I drew my friend Dan, and was pretty happy
with my drawing. When Ron came around
checking all of the drawings he smiled when he looked at mine and asked me to
stay after class.
Mudflat Rock - (c) Ron Weaver
I stuck around and he asked me a barrage of questions: why
did I choose art education? Why not
studio art? What did I want out of my life?
What did I want out of my education?
He strongly suggested I drop art education and become a painter. I was already shying away from K-12 education
at that point – I loved teaching, but was not a fan of bureaucracy and
restrictions (much of which were creeping in to K-12 education at a high rate
even then). Up to that point, no one had really said that painting and
studio arts would be a good career path for me– I had always been steered
towards something more ‘practical’. But
none of the practical options were good options for me.
This conversation lit a fire within me.
It gave me the permission to let myself do something risky – to embrace
the unknown, and to pursue the thing that had always made me the happiest. It was a changing point in my life.
(c) Ron Weaver
There were many more after-class conversations that happened
that semester – ones in which he told me and a few other students about his
experiences as a painter – his education – his ‘adventures’. He taught not in the classroom, but by
example as well. He was a prolific
painter – working both in and out of the studio. He set an excellent precedence for what it
meant to be a committed artist, not just a Sunday painter. He was completely enthralled and engaged by
painting, color, light, and sharing beauty with those he came in contact
with. I don’t think ‘passion’ is a
strong enough word to describe his relationship to painting.
Kneeling Nude - (c) Ron Weaver
It has always been my belief that the best thing we can do
with our time on this planet is to be kind and always do our best to help
others. When our physical bodies fail
us, our actions and shared kindness is what is left of us. I am honored to have worked with Ron at
Oshkosh, and hope to continue his kindness, his generosity, and his teaching
through my own art and in my relationship with my students.
Thank you Ron.
No comments:
Post a Comment