Feature: MSU Alumni in the Visual Arts

            On any Sunday morning, as you leisurely read the newspaper, you might come across an article that describes the ongoing tenuous relationship between governmental funding and support for artists and arts programming. Some might say this tension is necessary because art is a frill, an unnecessary extra. But, people do not devote their lives to frills. Artists and designers produce art to make the world more comprehensible - to explore uncharted territories, solve problems, and provide insight, delight, and, at times, joy.

            Over three thousand Dept. of Art alumni have made the choice to be artists and designers and to remain actively engaged in artistic production. It's especially interesting to take a close-up look at several of these alumni, at different stages in their lives, to see the career paths they have chosen. Let's look at the lives of Dept. of Art alumni who graduated in the 1960s, 1970s, and the 1990s: John T. Scott, Susan E. Metros, Lisa M. Tubach, and Jennifer L. Dodson.

            JOHN T. SCOTT

            Spend a few moments or a day talking with John T. Scott, MFA in Studio Art (Sculpture), '65, and you will be buoyed by his faith in humankind, dedication to the world of color and form, and creative thinking. Always armed with his sketch pad, John seamlessly blends the work of teacher, art maker, and community leader. He speaks with poetic fluidity and philosophical profundity as he pursues the making of 'art that would be similar to what African-American musicians have done with gospel and blues and jazz. So that when you hear it, it wraps your soul.'

            Since his graduation from MSU, John has been a faculty member at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, inspirationally taught sculpture, printmaking, and drawing, and worked to effect cultural change. Last year, Renderings, his exhibition of prints, collages, and monoprints from the African Diaspora, was featured at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and on its Website.

            Since graduating from MSU, John has exhibited his work in over 160 solo, group, competitive and invitational exhibitions at well-recognized galleries and museums across the United States, South America, and Europe. He has held numerous visiting artist positions and been cited in regional, national, and international publications. In 1992, in recognition of John's view of art as a path to cultural enlightenment and the visual strength and spiritual buoyancy of his own art, he was selected as a recipient of the coveted MacArthur Fellowship. When asked if the esteem that comes with this kind of prestigious recognition would have any influence on his art-making, John replied: 'Where I come from, just trying to observe what's around me, I have never seen a bird look around for an audience before it sings. I'm not looking for an audience to sing.'

            Others, however, continue to recognize his achievements. At MSU, in 1995, John received an honorary degree, and this past spring, he received the MSU Distinguished Alumni Award. When asked about his years at MSU, John recalled the attention and inspiration he received from faculty who became lifelong friends including Robert Weil (now deceased) and Clifton McChesney. He thought so highly of the quality of his MSU experience that he has continued to encourage some of his best students to pursue graduate work here.

SUSAN E. METROS

            In 1980, as an assistant professor in the Dept. of Art, Susan E. Metros, BFA in Studio Art (Design) '73, MFA in Studio Art (Design) '76, won the first Dept. of Art computer grant for her proposal, 'Computer-Assisted Creative Problem Solving for Visually Oriented Students,' which gave her permission to open her eyes to infinite new possibilities. She began her quest to explore and learn how the computer could be used to teach students to shape and reinvent the worlds of image and text.

            Her own web page is captivating (http://www.it.utk.edu/~metros). It presents Susan's multi-faceted life as a faculty member with administrative responsibilities, creative work, scholarly activities, teaching and service. Visit her web page and you can see her current project, '[RE]collections + collections,' a documentation of her father's experience as a soldier in World War II. The images of him and his two friends flash back and forth from a 1940s photograph to a recent one, activated by the quick movement of the cursor, to form a technologically compelling flashback.

            Susan likes 'building new things.' Currently, as the director of innovative technologies at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, she has plenty of opportunity to envision and construct. In summer 1999, she served as interim director of the Tennessee Virtual University, a statewide system. Quickly,

            Susan will tell you that MSU inspired her 'appetite for the new' and became the place where she learned to think critically. The Honors College provided exploratory freedom in course selection. In her area of emphasis, design, she met a Dept. of Art professor, Joseph Kuszai, who would become her mentor. During her undergraduate and graduate years at MSU, Susan learned that the problem-solving process was ultimately more important than a narrow focus on product. As an MSU faculty member, she learned to be a strong teacher who engaged her students in what she now describes as 'a dynamic context' encouraging them to 'develop a visual language for conceptualization.' Even today, as she presents papers internationally or teaches fellow faculty and staff to integrate computer technology into their teaching, her goal is to continue to 'stimulate imagination and innovation.'

LISA M. TUBACH

           In 1993, when Lisa M. Tubach completed her MFA in Studio Art (Painting), she had already developed a commitment to interdisciplinary learning and to the exploration of conceptual 'contrasts' with vibrant color. Lisa has sustained her vital involvement with 'a collection of objects that represent . . . [her] life's events and thoughts with time/place specificity.'

            As she tells us, her subjects 'involve polarities: images with historical presence or weight . . . contrasted with the mundane, the transient; objects of natural beauty . . . paired with their kitsch [degraded] counterparts. Elements of game or chance and food are frequent participants as well, alluding to our fundamental needs for sustenance and our risks of choice.'

            Emphatic brushstrokes delineate objects and encourage shapes to interact. Lisa's paintings speak to the complexity of life and the 'tedious balance we maintain' between the mental and the physical aspects of our existence.

            After MSU, Lisa taught at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Macalester College, and now, at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, AL, where is an assistant professor. Among the classes she teaches are painting, figure drawing, and a Liberal Arts Symposium on Immortality. She writes art criticism for the Montgomery Advertiser and regularly shows her paintings in solo and group shows.

            In the summer of 1999, she had a solo show at the Garden of the Zodiac Gallery in Omaha, NE, called 'Dualities.' Her work has also been exhibited in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, and Florence, Italy. 'My time at MSU meant a lot to me,' she says. 'It was a ticket to further my career and my interests in general. I enjoyed the faculty and my colleagues in the program. The camaraderie and debate with each other was fantastic!'

            Lisa spoke of a diversity of favorably memorable classes and seminars in ceramics, sculpture, painting, and printmaking and 'great discussions' with faculty such as Professors Irving Taran and James Lawton. She credited her continuing interest in writing art reviews to these MSU experiences.