Artist tells students to not second guess themselves
Kurt Weiser encouraged USU students and faculty to do what fascinates them in an address before a reception at the Norra Eccles Harrison Museum of Art where his artwork is currently being displayed. Weiser told students that too often artists worry about following the current trends in art and second-guess their own ideas.
“If you judge yourself every 30 seconds you’ll go insane,” Weiser said. “Just do things, don’t question it.”
Weiser, an art professor from Arizona State University who specializes in ceramics, is most known for his work with pots. His pieces often consist of paintings, drawings or textures around a ceramic form. Weiser compared his artwork to a television set, being an object from far away but a scene up close.
“I always liked pots,” Weiser said. “I like how it contains something.”
Weiser also said he finds the circular non-ending shape of pots interesting, compared to a typical two-dimensional painting that is forced to stop at its four sides.
Weiser studied painting as a student and said he had always wanted to be Salvador Dali, a renowned surrealist. He later made the switch to ceramics, but many of his pieces still carry a surreal tone. Weiser said that his pots looks as though they were held in front of a fun house mirror and that at times he would cut up and rearrange beauty magazine photos to serve as models for his paintings.
Weiser named many inspirations for his work, saying that his pieces are modeled after Chinese, European, South-American, Inuit and Native American pottery. Recurring themes in his paintings are nature, the relationship of man and nature, as well as women and dogs.
“Do not get between a woman and her dog,” Weiser said.
Weiser said that each piece of art takes about three weeks to complete, with about a week being spent on the formation of the object and the rest of the time spent painting and finishing. Much of his work showcases artistic textures and designs which Weiser said he produces through a trial and error system, incorporating objects such as cut-up inner tubes, rocks and fire-resistant rope.
“I experimented with all kinds of things,” Weiser said, “thousands of tests to get texture and color.”
Weiser’s work can be seen at the Meuseum of Art, located at the southwest corner of the Fine Arts building.
–b.c.wood@aggiemail.usu.edu