Week 2, Part I: Audrey Ushenko

This week has been full of a lot of ups and downs. I find that I'm learning as much about myself as I am about "art."

Hmm ... how do I explain?

Rooftops by Audrey Ushenko, 1993

Things started off ... "up." Every Tuesday and Friday evening, one of the art faculty gives a lecture. This past Tuesday, it was Audrey's turn. Audrey Ushenko is a painter and art historian; she taught the first rotation of the drawing class these past two weeks. Immediately upon meeting her, the first thing you'll notice is her hair. It is bright orange. Not unheard of, except for the fact that she is in her mid to late sixties. (It is bright, bright orange.) And there is no doubt about it, Audrey's personality definitely matches the vivacity of her hair.

One of the first days we were here, we had to take a group photo with these black art-school t-shirts. The first pose was supposed to be the nice, formal pose, so we all lined up in rows on one of the picnic tables. It quickly became apparent that there was not going to be very much room left for the last few people, one of whom was Audrey. So she decided to just lay down flat on the grass in front of us all, waving her hand high at the camera, in the way of people's faces. It was great.

In our drawing classes, Audrey was always making quirky, hilarious comments underlined with an invaluable tidbit of wisdom. Sometimes during breaks a couple of us students would ask her a question which turned into a long story that went way past break time's end. Not so good, except that everything she says is so interesting. Or funny. On our last day of class, the model was late, so Audrey started modeling for us herself ... not your typical contrapposto, but instead postures that were ... sultry and seductive. (Remember, this lady is in her sixties.) While in the middle of this, the administrative assistant came in to ask her a question; she exclaimed over her shoulder, "Can't you wait, I am in the middle of a pose, and you are messing up my count!"

From a drawing class with Audrey (She taught from an "academic" perspective and we focused a lot on the figure)

Anyway, the lecture: it was so exciting -- liberating, in fact. Audrey talked about how, when she was a young artist, there used to be one dominant voice ruling the art world, with clearly defined boundaries and labels for specific artist "styles." Throughout the course of her lifetime, however, she saw the world of art splinter into a myriad of different groups vying for attention. Audrey paralleled this observation with the story of her own artwork's evolution. She showed slides of her work from different periods of her life, and explained how she experimented with different modes of representation, trying to figure out what was going to be "it."

She also shared a good story, about being commissioned to paint separate portraits of a wife and husband couple who were very generous donors to a local museum. Audrey had already done the wife's portrait at an earlier date; it was a quick oil sketch that captured the personality of the woman well. The husband, however, had since died and she was going to have to paint him from memory. That is no small task. She explained that her portraits done from memory tend to be more rigid and structured, capturing less of the life of the person. With this man's portrait she did her best, but was certain it wouldn't be nearly as energetic or engaging as his wife's.

Reluctantly, Audrey brought the painting to show the wife when it was finished. She braced herself for the woman's response. But when the woman looked at the portrait of her husband, she smiled and said softly, "Well, hello there."

That, said Audrey, was a moment when she knew what she wanted to her artwork to be about. She added, "And of course, I also want to be famous on an intergalactic level." (That's right. She really did say intergalactic. And everyone lost it, laughing hard, right about then.)

Her closing statements tied in really well with this story about the portrait. The art world no longer has one dominant voice determining what is right or good; instead, there are many different smaller movements, each with their own specific audience. We are free to make the art that we want to make. And someone will be paying attention.

I have met few people as youthful and animated as Audrey. She is like the the dash of salt that brings out the flavor in a good meal. It was great to have her as a teacher during the first two weeks, and I think I learned as much from her attitude as I did from her drawing instruction. Hopefully, when I am in my sixties I will have at least a little of the same energy, for both my life and my work.