Think, Look, Make

 

The design was better than the art at this fair, but it was still worth the trip for conversations with strangers and watching fashionable people walk by. I stumbled upon a few gems. There were Meghann Riepenhoff's cyanotypes (see detail photo), a couple 2-D Nevelsons, Noguchis, Sugimotos, Eggleston, Martin Puryear and best of all, a whole collection of Romare Beardens. I had a fun conversation with the man ahead of me in line, about his purple outfit with a butcher's skirt, vintage, by a European designer whose name I can't remember. His date/partner in the khaki pants seemed annoyed that I was so interested in the purple outfit, but his khaki outfit wasn't inspiring. Towards the end I met Philip, who took his film cameras out of his bag and wanted to share his experiences with Zeiss Ikons and Brownie Hawkeyes, plus the attributes of the cameras he had on hand.  

I can easily say that Wayne Thiebaud transformed my understanding of painting. After finishing high school, I took an art history class at my community college. The instructor declared that if any of us aspired to become artists, we should go to UC Davis because some of the best artists in the country, people like Wayne Thiebaud and Robert Arneson, taught there. Arneson's bust of the slain George Moscone had recently propelled him to international fame. I knew nothing about these people but I read about the art department and decided to apply. Its graduate program was ranked #1 in the country. As the first person in my family to attend college, even to finish high school, this was a scary but exciting step. Going to Davis meant I was serious about studying art, and would no longer be burdened by familial expectations of shepherding.  I took at least three classes with Wayne- drawing and painting, and a class on "Theory and Criticism" of painting. This last class was perha