“Fate has dealt you a blow,” Carl Kurtz told our Foundations class in 2011. We sat in a circle around him on traffic-yellow drawing horses. It was the first day of undergrad for us all, in the temporary building the freshmen took their studio courses in. Ours was outfitted with a small loft and a side closet, a green chalkboard and plenty of pockmarked white walls. Carl says we are inheriting a confusing and chaotic world. We were not allowed to listen to music collectively or individually during our daily 4-hour period of class. Carl’s class was unique in regard to this, that he insisted on complete concentration on our charcoal and newsprint and subject matter. We all respected this rule and bent over our drawings, the room filled with scratching and sighing and mumbling while we made art. He taught us how to measure, how to use a utility blade, how to use hot glue and bamboo, how to sharpen a pencil. Most importantly, he taught us to work without distraction so our mind and bodies could focus wholly on the task in front of us.
Note from Carl Kurtz to read “The Art Spirit” by Robert Henri and “The Shape of Content” by Ben Shahn.