Art makes me happy. I get euphoric when I paint draw and create a lot. These last several days when I’ve been out and about painting and working in my studio I’ve been happy, high and elated. I never felt teh need for outisde substances to alter my mood and perception of reality.
For all I’ve written here about how frustrating college was for me, how I screwed around for much of my time, I’ll point out a few classes where I was ecstatic to be taking them. First off my figure drawing class in summer of 1996 had a fantastic professor who really inspired me. I grew in leaps and bounds in that class. The same professor taught monotype/printing that same summer. I made a ton of work.* My 3rd year I took a printmaking class that focused on woodcuts, lino cuts and lithography. I loved every minute of that class. I’m still a huge fan of printmaking and wish I had the equipment for it.
The major difference in these classes was that the professors LOVED what they were teaching. Sikora clearly loved printmaking and figure drawing. The man exuded love for art. When I think to the kind of teacher I want to be I hear his eurotrash accent in my ear describing how to draw a breast. It was his idea that I stole to play instrumental music in the studio. I had several other professors who motivated me but Sikora was amazing to me.
* I also lived in a motel room for 2 months. It was amazing. I loved living out of the motel, riding my bike around Orono and spending hours on end in the park listening to classical music and people watching. I’d leave my room at 7am and often not return until 10pm or later. The whole thing freaked my parents out. I made friends with the construction workers who were living below me in the motel and were very nice guys.