Hi everyone. Thanks for coming to my blog to read the interview I did with
Fred Kaplan. It has gotten a good response from my readers and thanks to all who followed part one last week. If you have not yet read part one, just scroll down the page to the end of this post and you will see the banner for it. Also, don't forget to take a peek at Fred's work on his very cool
website. It is full of info and material advice for artists.
Last week I talked with
Fred about his childhood and when he developed an interest in art. We also talked about his college education and his career as an illustrator in the advertising world.
Fred gave some pretty interesting responses to my questions and I hope you are learning some about him as a person, artist and educator. Part two is as interesting as part one. so stay checked in...
Let's get started
on teaching...
I know you teach at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine arts
as well as at Fleisher Art Memorial.
Fleisher has the only free tuition art classes in the
country. It’s an awesome place to
learn, create, and have some fun and to feel a sense of community. I must say myself that I have had some
times in my years at Fleisher, when I was out of sorts, the Fleisher classes
kept me in the loop and helped me from being isolated. I often wonder how many
people it has helped in a deep, deep meaningful way? Fleisher offers workshops
for kids and adults and has just won a national award for excellence.
* What is your experience like teaching at Fleisher?
Fleisher’s is a terrific school and an affordable
alternative to an art college. There is hardly a decent artist in Philadelphia
who has not taken classes at Fleisher’s.
One of the things that drew me to teach there is the fact
that a majority of students are quite serious about making art. For an
instructor, that is important.
* How long have you been there and why?
I began teaching at Fleisher’s in 2008.
* You take your teaching very seriously and I have seen
it in every class I’ve taken with you.
Some times teachers don’t invest a lot of themselves in each student and
you do. Why and how do you make
this happen?
When a person is ravenous enough to drag him or herself to a
class after an exhausting workday, I owe it to that student to provide a
wholesome and delicious banquet, including dessert. So I cook up a meal that
satisfies students’ hunger to learn, and supply knives, forks, and spoons so
students can eventually feed themselves.
* You mentioned in class last cycle, that women
artists are only recently being taken seriously and being respected in the art
community. What advice would you
give to women artists that want to pursue a career in painting or the fine
arts?
It is a different world today than it was not all that long
ago. In the recent past white males dominated most everything. Now women,
blacks, gays, and others are able to hold their own, in society in general as
well as in the arts. There is still a ways to go – there are still inequities
and unfairness – but we are well along the road.
The advice I would give to a female artist is the same as I
would give to anyone pursuing any profession. Learn your craft well, work
diligently and persevere, put into what you do all that you are, and let no one
discourage you. You should also learn the business aspects of your profession.
Make yourself aware of what other artists are doing and what they have done in
the past so that you can find your own place in the contemporary art world. Get
to know people in the professional community: other artists, dealers,
collectors, curators, and so on.
* How does a student painter know that they have crossed
the threshold and are ready to pursue painting as a profession?
Professionalism is an attitude or way of thinking more than
anything else. Once you acquire a professional mind-set you will know it.
* I’ve noticed that in most classes you teach, there are
mostly women students. Do you have any thoughts about that?
I’m not sure of the reason for this. You see the same thing
at art colleges, as well. Another thing I’ve noticed is that there are few
African-American students. This seems odd in a city like Philly with its large
Black population. Again, I have no explanation.
* Where else do you teach and how does teaching crossover
or help you with your own work?
Besides Fleisher’s, I teach at the Pennsylvania Academy and
at Cumberland County College. I also occasionally run classes in my studio and
workshops for other institutions. You can find information about open
enrollment sessions at the Classes & Workshop page of my web site.
Teaching at Fleisher’s or anywhere is a gratifying
experience. It means a lot to me when I see a student achieve something or have
an “ah-ha” moment. I also learn from my students. They have interesting
concepts, try things I haven’t thought of, and discover ways of making pictures
that haven’t occurred to me. I have to admit that I am not above “borrowing”
from my students. After all, one of the 20th century’s greatest artists, Pablo
Picasso, was also one of its greatest thieves.
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| FKAPLAN Electron Exchange 2010 Oil On Canvas 18x48 |
Save Fred’s studio…
* Some months back, you launched a campaign (an
advertising phrase) to save your studio, and you did. It was a good idea and it worked. Do you think you used some of that old fashioned advertising
creative thinking to make that happen?
What was the whole experience like for you and how long will it keep you
going? Do you have any
thing else in your “bag of tricks”?
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention, and I
had a necessity. As you say, it worked and I was able to keep my studio, and
any experience that helps me keep making pictures is a good experience. My
goal, the goal of most artists is to make enough money to allow them to make
art. So, whatever it takes to achieve that I will do – within legal boundaries,
of course.
* I wanted to mention this because it has opened in my
thoughts. I think it is often to bad that artists have so many struggles just to create. It is not looked upon
as a necessary part of our culture, even though it is absorbed and desired by
everyone to enlighten and enrich lives.
Art and artists are not valued in our country. In some European
countries, art and artists are valued and respected as an integral part of
their society and they are helped and subsidized, so they can work as
artists. One country I think of is
Holland. There, art and design is
not looked upon as a hobby or pastime, or that one is “lazy” but as a genuine
and legitimate career choice. Beautiful art and design are desired by the
people who live in Holland and there country puts there money where there mouth
is! Just a thought…. What are your thoughts about the
differences in other countries?
I’m not sure that I agree with you about attitudes toward
art. When I tell people my profession, they don’t leap up and accuse me of
being a loafer. Usually they are curious and in some cases they are delighted
to meet a “real artist.”
Although some other countries provide more financial support
for their artists than the U.S. does, private organizations and governments at
all levels – national, state, local – provide quite a few grants and subsidies
to individual artist. Still, it is a difficult struggle for many.
Now most important, let’s talk about your work…
* Let’s talk about the recent work you have been
creating? What’s going on in the
studio now and what do you want to share with the readers? I would like to talk some about your
work and the thought process about it?
For the past few years I have been making pictures related
to physics. But I am getting an itch to explore a new direction, which happens
from time to time. My daughter was considering a career in genetics for a
while. That got me interested in the subject and that is likely to be the new
direction in which I head.
Whatever kind of work I happen to be doing, there is almost
always a fair amount of research involved. For instance, to develop a painting
that addressed genocide, I read extensively about the issue in order to make a
meaningful image. Right now I am starting to learn about the science of
genetics.
* Recently, I saw your work exhibited at the Cerulean Art
Gallery. How was the experience in
that gallery?
Cerulean has been developing a fine reputation over the past
few years, and I am proud to have been invited to participate in one of its
exhibits. I like the owner, and admire him for the risk he took in opening the
gallery and for his inventive ideas for making his gallery more relevant.
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| FKAPLAN Ion Storm 2010 Oil On Canvas 20x72 |
* Is their any inside scoop about what you are working on
currently?
* I have always wondered about this question…I’ve heard
that some artists do this…Do you feel protective over a body of work before it
is completed. I mean do you hold
back some from presenting your work before the entire collection is finished?
In some cases, yes, and in others, no. If it is a group of
works in which every piece is an integral part of the whole, then I really
don’t want the series seen until everything is complete. Otherwise, I am not
particularly secretive about what I am doing.
* Why are you taking the specific path creatively that
you are going down now?
I am not quite sure what you mean here. If you are talking
about the kinds of pictures I make, then I think I’ve already addressed that.
* Where can the readers see some more of your work?
Tyme Gallery in Havertown has some of my work. People can
also see images on the Gallery page of my web site, or subscribe to the site in
order to receive exhibit announcements. Sometime during the next year I will be
having a one-person show at a venue in New Jersey; the dates haven’t been set
yet.
In closing….
* Are you doing what you want to be doing now and are you
where you want to be?
Sounds like another job interview questions.
* Besides the visual arts what other creative arts
influence you?
Literature and music mainly. Some of my ideas come from
musical works.
* Favorite artist/painter
* Favorite music (do you have any of your daughters musical ability?)
* Favorite author (that’s if you have the time to read)
As you well know, since I have talk about her in my classes,
my daughter is a fine musician. She is first chair cello and first chair French
horn at her high school, as well as being a member of an elite group of 16
vocalists. She has done a few semi-professional gigs so, if any of your readers
has a wedding or other event coming up, her string ensemble is available.
As to artists, musicians, and authors, I really don’t have a
single favorite in any category, although there are a few that I especially
like.
Artists would be Caravaggio, William Bailey, Mark Rothko,
Wayne Thiebaud, Casper David Friedreich, and Frederic Edwin Church, plus a few
others. Neil Diamond is high on my list of popular musicians; along with Peter,
Paul, and Mary; Elton John; and Simon and Garfunkel. In the classical sphere
it’s Wagner, Rimsky Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, and of course Beethoven. There are a
great many authors that I admire. Dostoevsky, Hugo, and Poe are a few.
* If you could live the life of any artist in history,
with all their hang-ups, neurosis and shortcomings, what artist would you want
to be and why?
Frederic C. Kaplan. I have my own problems, why would I want
somebody else’s?
* And lastly, if you could own one piece of art ever
created, irrespective of the money it may have sold for or generated, what
piece would you want to own and why?
This is a tough one, but I think it would have to be Moorish
Chief by Eduard Charlemont in the
collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I wouldn’t turn my nose up,
though, at most anything by Dali, Vermeer, or Rothko.
Well, that wraps up a great question and answer interview with
Fred. Thank you Fred for your generous time letting my readers know more about you and your art. Please check out Fred's website to see his work and for questions you might have about art materials and advice. It's well worth the time to experience Fred's paintings.
Keep checking in on my blog to read more about my experience on art and painting. Feel free to leave a comment. Again, thank you everyone.
Cheers,
Loren
