February 2009 - Visual Arts Featured Content

Faculty Spotlight: Interview with Martin Amorous
by Sarah Wisnoskie

SW: How many faculty shows have you entered? Has there been a shift from the pieces you chose to enter in earlier faculty shows to the piece which you've chosen to enter in this year’s faculty show?

MA: Each University I've taught at has had Faculty Shows and I've always put something in them. One doesn't 'enter' them like one would enter a juried competition. A Faculty Show is really more about Service than Research and everyone gets at least one piece in. It's a way of letting the students know what the professors do. And it's an easy exhibition for any Gallery Committee... no negotiating with outside artists, shipping back and forth, contracts and such. It's an inexpensive show to put on.
Since Thanksgiving break I've completed four paintings and decided to put the smallest one in the show for two reasons: We have a lot of faculty and this saves space AND it fit easily on my wife's car so I didn't have to rent a truck. Besides, if you can only show one piece, then it hardly matters which one as no one will 'get' what your research is anyway. One needs to see several works by an artist to even begin to understand what it is all about. No painting can say it all. Each work by an artist is just a little slice of the big picture. I used to try to show something in each of the mediums I was teaching that year; painting, drawing, watercolor or digital painting and animation, but now that we have grown larger as a department and can only fit one piece in the show I just pick an easy one to transport.

SW: How do you think faculty shows benefit students? How do they benefit faculty?

MA: The main thing that's different from a student seeing a show in a commercial gallery or a museum is that in a faculty show the artists are available and accessible. Students might have a better understanding of the relationship between an artist and their work through knowing the professors that did the work. We get to see a lot of art in life but not so many chances to know the artists. Besides, it's fun to see what the supposed experts do themselves. The benefit to the Faculty is the same... seeing one’s art enriches the understanding of the person and knowing the person enriches the experience of their art. An annual Faculty Show at any institution also keeps some professors making art when otherwise, they might not.

SW: What impact has your employment as a professor had upon your art?

MA: University teaching is really a gift of time. Professors are expected to continue their research and the job is set up to allow for TIME to do that research.In the Visual and Performing Arts one’s art is the research (in most cases). If I wasn't teaching at a University I might be managing a movie theater or working construction and not have the luxury of TIME to explore my enthusiastic questioning of the universe. The money is good too and allows me to acquire most of the resources I need for that exploration. There are some theorists that contend that struggle is necessary for quality art to be made and equate struggle with how much money one has. They'd say that one needs to be poor to make good art but I disagree- THE STRUGGLE can and does take many forms and is different for each person. I think I have the perfect job for what I'm interested in.