Department of Art

Growing up on a small farm in Highland, Utah, Michael R. Workman (BFA ’86, MFA ’92) knew just what he wanted to do with his life: “Move to a rural area and paint the land. And I’ve been able to do exactly that.” Workman credits his BYU professors not only for teaching him the elements of art but for helping him believe he could make a living with his brush, which he does from his home in Spring City, Utah. “I approach landscapes with a poetic sensibility,” says Workman, who paints in the early-morning or late-evening light. “I’m trying to subtly communicate the spiritual qualities of the land.” Citing artists as eclectic as Rothko and Van Gogh as influences, Workman feels a special kinship with the tonalist painter George Inness, who felt the world was a profoundly spiritual place. “I never set out to be a tonalist, but that is what I seem to be,” he says. His treatment of landscapes shows a reverence for the places and subjects he depicts: “I hope my faith and belief in something beyond this life come through.” See the full article written by Andrew T. Bay at magazine.byu.edu.

As Thomander’s view of success expands and the lines between art and non-art blur, new creative possibilities emerge

Baird — a native of Garden Grove, CA — will graduate with a BA in art on April 24, 2020

Estrada shares her passion for promoting the arts in the community and inspiring creative confidence in students

The Harold B. Lee Library had some unusual visitors in October. Just inside the east doorways, miniature patrons admired postage stamp–sized art in one of alumna McKay Lenker Bayer’s (BA ’18) latest Tiny Art Shows. She held her first back in 2016 for a BYU art class, hanging self-made bitty art a few inches off the ground on Provo’s Center Street. Bayer added the final touches—a tiny spotlight and magnifying glass—and staked out a spot to watch. “I was amazed by the reaction—people squealed with joy, even lay down on the dirty sidewalk to get a good look,” says Bayer. See the full article by Lauren K. Lethbridge at magazine.byu.edu.

The on-campus workshop series resumes in June, with instruction in drawing, intaglio printmaking, mixed media monotyping and screenprinting

Wish Fulfilment is at the Heart of Art-Making for Ceramist Gian Pierotti

Greg S. (BFA ’17) and Jean Mcfarland Bean (BA ’17) were BYU dropouts. After a baby and an illness derailed their studies in the 1980s, they decided to leave BYU and head to Washington state. Greg, who had been working nights in Utah with the Springville Police Department, got a job as an officer in Bellevue, Washington, and was eventually promoted to detective. One day his lieutenant ordered him to a weeklong forensic-art class. Then a self-described “art imbecile,” Greg hadn’t put pencil to paper since middle school; this class began a lifelong journey into art. The teacher began by saying that art isn’t about the pencil in your hand, but about what you can see. Those words “literally changed my life and changed the way I saw people,” says Greg. By the end of the week, he could draw “a decent-looking human head,” and by the end of his career on the force, he had become the foremost forensic artist in the Seattle area, helping apprehend scores of criminals with his composite sketches. Meanwhile, Jean developed her own native interest in art. Thirty years after leaving Provo, the Beans received a clear prompting that, even though it was early, it was time for Greg to retire from the police force, and even though it was late, they needed to return to BYU. Read more at magazine.byu.edu More About the Beans “We work on commissions in our home studio together, we go out and paint together, we go to museums together,” says Greg about spending time with his wife, Jean. Their mutual love of art has provided a way for the Beans to grow together, including getting their art degrees at BYU as older students after early retirement. They’ve traveled to galleries all over and spent countless hours discussing artists and paintings. View some of their work at magazine.byu.edu

In a BYU art class Brandon J. Gunn (BFA ’03) quickly discovered that drawing and painting weren’t his forte. But his wife, Nicole Flores Gunn (BFA ’01), had enjoyed a lithography class from Wayne Kimball and thought Brandon might like it too. He did—so much that he eventually went on to study at the University of New Mexico’s prestigious Tamarind Institute, where he today serves as education director. “I’m half teacher, one quarter artist, and one quarter technician,” he says. Lithography’s laborious printmaking process—involving stone, grease, and chemicals—suits Gunn. “Printmaking gives me time to think,” he says. “The technical part lets me step away to look at things in a new way. . . and add things that I can’t just do by drawing.” Read the article and see Gunn’s work at magazine.byu.edu.

BYU art professor Mark Graham was named a Fulbright Scholar, which has allowed him to work with faculty and students from Kathmandu University (KU) in Nepal Department of Art professor Mark Graham was placed on the Fulbright Specialist Roster for a tenure of three years. Currently, Graham has a Fulbright scholarship to travel to Kathmandu, Nepal to help implement STEAM education in conjunction with efforts from students and faculty from Kathmandu University (KU). “STEAM combines art with math, engineering, science and design,” said Graham. “It provides advocacy for the arts, access to STEM subjects, new approaches to teaching, curriculum and opportunities for underserved populations.” While STEM education is more widely known, STEAM education takes the previous education system focusing on science, technology, engineering and math and adds art to the equation. Many educators see STEAM education as an exciting opportunity to more fully engage their students in interdisciplinary topics in a hands-on experience. Graham has already traveled to Nepal once for the STEAM project but will return on various trips for the next two years. His purpose is to help math and science teachers in Nepal understand how they can more fully integrate the arts into the curriculum, learn about art education trends in Nepal, develop a long-term collaborative research relationship with faculty at KU and open the door for future educational exchanges between BYU and KU students. “Being a Fulbright Scholar has given me the tremendous opportunity to work with scholars and students from Nepal,” said Graham. “We will hopefully involve BYU students in a project that will have a lasting impact for teachers and children in Nepal. This is the culmination of over five years of planning.” Graham was nominated as a Fulbright Scholar by the Peer Review Panel and was awarded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and World Learning. The Fulbright Program, established by Congress in 1946, gives grants to U.S. citizens for the purpose of studying, teaching and doing research abroad. Since its creation, more than 390,000 students and teachers of art and science have been able to participate in international education exchange programs in over 150 countries worldwide. His roster tenure as a Fulbright Scholar began on October 12, 2018 and will end on October 12, 2021. In addition to his trips to Nepal as a Fulbright Scholar, Graham is working on another STEAM education project in collaboration with the BYU McKay School of Education. Through this project, Graham and the McKay School of Education hope Utah elementary schools will embrace integrated arts learning. The three-year project consists of Graham visiting local schools and helping teachers properly implement the curriculum. This project has been funded by the BYU Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education & Schooling (CITES).

Art education grad devotes career to serving the most underserved students

Heidi Somsen grew up in British Columbia, where she played regularly in the ocean and gathered items from along the coast. Her innate interest in the earth and materiality drove Somsen to become an artist, but it wasn’t until she took her first foundations class at BYU that she recognized her love for 3D mediums. When Somsen graduated with her BFA in 1995, her oldest child was three years old. Determined to keep making art in the midst of raising young children, Somsen created wherever she found space—“whether the kitchen table or my little basement studio”—and continued to participate in one or two shows each year. Years later, Somsen said her artwork is a form of spiritual practice, as well as a way for her to process life “and all the big ideas in our human existence.” Read the full story at art.byu.edu.

Students from BYU and the University of Utah came together to create art that tackles complicated issues currently facing society. The students’ drawings took the sentiments that surround the problems and represented the concerns and fears visually.

Brandon Gunn graduated from BYU empowered to continue exploring and combining multiple personal interests in a powerful way. Rather than pursue a one-dimensional career, he learned he could be an artist, a master printer and a teacher simultaneously. With the strong technical and conceptual foundation provided by his undergraduate education at BYU, Gunn went on to receive an MFA in printmaking at Illinois State University, followed by an intense two-year study of lithography at Tamarind Institute in New Mexico to become a master printer. Gunn described the institute as “really competitive, and the only school like it in the world for printmaking,” so he was excited to receive a letter of acceptance to the eight-person program. “I was over the moon,” Gunn recalled. “The thing I thought I had no chance at was the one I’d gotten.” After teaching printmaking and collaboration for eight years at Concordia University in Quebec and then at Indiana University Bloomington, Gunn was asked to return to Tamarind, where he has served as the education director for three years. In this current capacity, Gunn is responsible for preparing first-year students to become the best printers in the world. Read the full story at art.byu.edu.

Every fall and winter art education students in their final semester of the program complete student teaching in local schools. Paired with innovative mentors who offer authentic full-time teaching experiences, students have the opportunity to practice the theory they have learned in their coursework over the years. Chloe Welch, one of six student teachers this semester, gradually assumed responsibility for Bart Francis’ high school art classes until she became the primary teacher. Outside the classroom, however, they continue to meet regularly for coaching, assessing and brainstorming lesson plans. Early in the semester, Welch shared an idea about visualizing data as art, inspired by the project Dear Data, and Francis made the connection to a lesson he had previously taught on routines. Together they researched other artists who incorporate data collection and routines into their work and designed a lesson plan. For the assignment, students collected data for seven days on one aspect of their life, then documented that data in an artwork that included a legend to help viewers decipher their image. In February, Welch and Francis presented their experience at the Utah Art Education Association conference. One outcome that resulted from the data collection project was that students were able to make meaningful connections between their art and their life. Read the full story at art.byu.edu.

In a new digital sculpture class taught by Associate Professor Collin Bradford, students explore the material, formal and conceptual potential of sculpture using new technologies. Digital 3D: Sculpture with Digital Tools is one of two new courses offered as part of the Art and Technology track within the BA degree. Students enrolled in digital sculpture learn the basics of 3D modeling, 3D rendering and creating physical objects from digital models using a 3D printer, laser cutter and a CNC machine (also called a CNC router). Continue reading on the Department of Art’s website.

“When art does a good job, . . . it makes the world less lonely,” says Leslie Whyte Graff (BS ’96, MS ’01). “It makes it more meaningful.” Many of her generation-spanning images depict women performing domestic tasks. Society today “sees domestic work as something to be avoided, and so people become unhappy—not because the tasks are inherently lacking meaning, but because we hear the message, ‘You shouldn’t like this,’” she notes. Read more at BYU Magazine.

Welch will speak at the Department of Art and Department of Design Convocation at 12 p.m. on April 26 Initially, Chloe Welch was an art major. Having grown up doing arts and crafts, she felt comfortable in the art world. “It's always kind of been my thing,” said Welch. However, as time went by, Welch realized she wanted to work with others more, so she changed her major to art education. “I realized instead of just making art alone, I wanted to make it in this big group setting and have a place to be inspired and a place to inspire,” she said. “As an art educator, you get to talk about what you're passionate about all day and have this community of artists that work with you.” This interconnectivity impacted a lot of Welch’s college experience as well. Some of her defining college experiences are moments when she made something alongside her classmates or was introduced to someone else’s art process. “One of my first experiences here at BYU was in my first Art-Ed intro class,” Welch said. “We walk in and the professor was there, and she said, ‘Hey, everybody, I'm going to go, but you guys need to build a fort in here. Go. See you later.’ She left and we built this giant fort in the middle of the classroom and worked together and got to know each other through building and making things.” Another defining experience happened when one of her professors, Dan Barney, who works in textile arts, introduced the class to yarn-making. Barney brought in a bag of wool just sheared off the sheep. The students each took a clump of it and learned to make yarn from the wool. “It was really cool,” said Welch. “He was teaching us about artists and teaching us about practice by showing us his own practice and letting us participate in that. Interconnection is also what inspires Welch to teach and to make art. In a world of conflicts and tough issues, Welch has found art helps her organize her thoughts and work through her feelings. “Making art is a way for me to process things,” she said. “Whenever something happens or I’m thinking about something I need to have an output. Then I can look at that thing, see what that is, and actually deconstruct it. When it's just in my head swirling around it's hard. So, I think a lot of it is just the world and my life and how that intersects.” While art helps Welch deal with the bigger, sometimes weightier things, teaching is her way of trying to contribute to the world. “I think it’s important to be a part of what’s going on in the world,” she said. “And what better place than a school where there’s so many students and they’re all growing up in this world and going off to make choices? I’d really love to be a part of that and influence them for good and tell them to consider art as something they can have in their life.” Welch plans to make a career of teaching art and will be looking for teaching positions in Utah, preferably in secondary education. She says she’s open to any opportunities that cross her path. Q&A with Chloe Welch, BA '19 Art | Art Education (K-12) What’s your favorite snack? “I love all chips. They’re my favorite food, actually. All chips are created equal.” What do you wish more people knew about your major? “I guess that they just knew about the major. It's just really small and it feels like a tight family. I wish more people knew this existed and considered it. I think that teaching in general — whether it's your plan A or plan B — is a great plan to have in life. No matter who you are, whatever you do in your life, you're going to be a teacher at some point, whether you're training a new employee or teaching your kids. Combining that with art, you still get all of the studio classes and all the art experience, but then you also get these awesome teaching skills that are so important for life.” What did was your dream occupation as a child? 'I wanted to be a construction worker. I could definitely still go that route. Growing up in Arizona, it was just farmland and some of it was being developed. So I always saw construction workers when we were driving around. It looked so fun, to get to build stuff. I think that aspect of construction was what was most attractive to me, that you get to make this whole new creation. I think as an artist that's still something that I achieve every day, but don't have to be inside in the heat.'