The rhythmic scritch-scratching of charcoal and pencil commences, underscored with the soft sounds of hands pushing charcoal across the fibers of their pages.
In the center of the room, the nude model blinks, her still body reclined on a chair draped in fabric, atop a raised platform.
“Keep thinking about the big areas rather than the small ones right away,” says Myers, arms folded across his chest.
Students are seated on a clutter of paint-splattered gray drawing benches arranged in a circle. A jumble of drawing tools, charcoal and backpacks are scattered at their feet. Their instructor paces the circle, taking his time, pausing to look over shoulders and leaning in to offer advice.
“You can just change it. Think of it as being very flexible,” Myers says to a student.
In the Figure Drawing class at LBCC, students sit and draw the model for 20-minute increments, for a total of three hours at a time. From their bench perches, each student has a different perspective of the subject, and each possesses a unique way of drawing and learning.
The dedicated instructor is a successful artist in his own right, showcased in galleries and colleges in Washington and Oregon. Myers often collaborates with other artist and mediums, exploring creative thresholds locally and globally. He also dedicates class time with each student to encourage individual learning curves.
“The approach I take [to teaching] is individual,” said Myers. “I’m not saying, ‘Everybody you’ve got to make work like this,’ which a lot of people do. I’m thinking about individually where they’re going and trying to help them on that path.”
Jesse Rose, LBCC student, has taken two drawing classes with Myers.
“I really like his teaching style. It’s all studio time. The way Andy does it, you learn art through the process, applying it for a better understanding of the concepts,” said Rose.
According to Rose, the figure drawing class learns human anatomy, studying the skeletal and muscular structures of the body to help them translate what they see onto paper.
“It’s a lot more work for me, because it’s teaching 20 different things rather than one thing, but that’s the only way I can do it. It’s not a factory kind of teaching,” said Myers.
Though clearly dedicated to his student’s success, Myers’ own path to teaching wasn’t as clear.
“Teaching definitely wasn’t on my radar at all,” said Myers.
After finishing with a master's of fine arts from Portland State University, Myers first experienced the other side of the classroom working as a teaching assistant. This lead to teaching his own drawing class for the first time.
“It was successful enough it wasn’t a disaster,” said Myers.
It must’ve been a success, because 12 years later Myers is still at it, honing drawing skills at OSU and LBCC.
“I have a lot of students that aren’t art majors or even minors. This might be the only art class they ever take, but learning how to see, you’re going to get something out of it that’s lifelong,” said Myers.
He spends class-time teaching students to peer at the world through a new lens. They learn to disseminate objects into basic shapes, to notice the interaction of shadows and highlights, the surrounding negative space, and to explore how an object is put together, piece by piece.
“My interest in science and art are very similar, so I think about art making like a scientist does,” said Myers.
Like his teaching career, his career as an artist may have snuck up on him.
“Most kids draw or make something, but most people stop. I just never stopped.”
He never thought one day, “I am going to be an artist.” These things, it seems, just happen.
“I remember my mom saying something about one day I did call myself an artist and that stood out to her, and I didn’t really realize it.”
As an Oregon native, Myers grew up in farm country, in the northeast part of the state. He spent his summers working for farmers, even driving cattle. His stepfather was a wildlife biologist and during frequent outdoor excursions, Myers was instilled with an affinity for the natural world.
“It’s definitely not wildlife art, but there’s layers,” said Myers. “Like geologic cross-sections and things like that I think are really interesting, wild places and wild creatures. I think about endangered places and creatures and a lot of that I tie in with me as a human being and think about the relationships there.”
Marc Callahan, professor of opera and voice at OSU, recognized the remarkable quality of Myers’ art. Callahan found an inspiration and aesthetic for his first opera production at OSU, “The Blue Forest.”
“I love the way that he sees forests differently than we do,” said Callahan. “His art was perfect.”
The collaboration involved over 20 faculty and staff from three different departments, culminating in the production of Louis Aubert’s fairytale opera. The production brought Myers’ art to enactment on eight screens, projected around the circumference of the classroom in the round, in OSU’s new Learning Innovation Center.
“What I’m making isn’t the final thing, and when I make a show, it is. I’m the last person to touch it,” said Myers. “Whereas this, I’m sending work, and they're taking the working and doing things with it, and it’s going to go up huge and interact with people and sounds that I’m removed from, so that’s really exciting and scary.”
On opening night, Friday, May 13, his charcoal forest came to life, unfolding into a storybook filled with song and spectacle.
“He has this kind of playful creativity. I love how he twists reality. We see a lot of reality in his work, but we are seeing his view of reality. It’s like seeing it through his lens,” said Callahan.
Myers will continue creating and collaborating this summer in the Slovak Republic with artist Craig Goodworth. The two have been awarded grants from the Oregon Arts Commission to travel and install an exhibition in a Slovak museum.
“The first collaboration we did in Salem was called Ecotone Number 1, so this will be Ecotone Number 2,” said Myers. "An ecotone is where two environments come together, like a forest and a field.”
The artists will bring their different styles and an American perspective to Slovakian culture, exploring the borders of this particular, unique “ecotone” between the two artists and two cultures.
“It’s interesting how people’s mindset, they think of art as a little kid class, because, sadly, that’s where it is in the American school system,” said Myers.
Myers often teaches students who sign up for the class thinking it will be easy. Those students are always in for a surprise.
“It’s very hard work. It’s some hard physical work but it’s hard mental work, because frustration sets in immediately,” said Myers. “Making visual art, you’re putting yourself out there where everybody can see. It’s very immediate, as soon as you begin. You just have to persevere, you can’t be soft and give up at the slightest frustration.”
At a Glance:
- Andy Myers has been an art instructor at Oregon State University for 11 years, and teaches classes at Linn-Benton Community College as well.
- He received an MFA from Portland State University, and his bachelors from Eastern Oregon University.
- His work can be viewed at www.andrewrmyers.com
- He works primarily with drawing media such as charcoal, graphite, oil stick, china marker, water color, ink and water soluble pencils.
- His art has been featured in galleries in Portland, Salem, Seattle, Willamette University and LBCC.
- He prefers to do large drawings, often covering the space of a wall. He also reuses drawing and pins smaller drawings together to create large works.
- Myers also does printmaking.
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