Alumnus Jock Reynolds
Excerpt from ‘A walk down Memory Lane or perhaps Lame Memory’
Having secured and outfitted a studio on the outskirts of town, I remember attending my first graduate seminar with Wayne Thiebaud.
He looked out at his new crop of students and rather quickly explained to us that he and his peers couldn’t teach any of us to become artists, that we simply had to assume that identity for ourselves and get on with making our work.
He assured us that this was what he and the rest of the UC Davis art faculty members were doing, day in and day out, and that we should just join in with them, asking for criticism when we felt we needed it, and sustain as best we could a quest to find and grow our own creative voices.
Thiebaud then added, almost cryptically, that there were some very practical things he could teach us that might prove useful during our years at Davis.
He then requested that we produce pencil and paper. What followed was a remarkably lucid lecture on where we were to buy the best and cheapest salami, cheese, coffee, fruit, bread, cakes, wine, and more in the region, things our professor insisted would significantly enrich the quality of our lives.
As Thiebaud’s detailed talk continued (including addresses and phone numbers), I recognized from my youth many of the Sacramento-area delis and bakeries my new teacher was describing, and soon realized that he was sharing something more than a remarkable and very helpful shopping list with us.
He was also giving his students direct insights into the very subject matter that was inspiring his own art; the frosted cakes, cream pies, lollipops, and trays of herring and sardines he was transforming into the most tactile and sensuous visual compositions imaginable (we all know someone who’s been tempted to gnaw or lick a Thiebaud oil painting over the years).
This excerpt is from the “You See Catalog.” Those interested in the full 108-page catalog, priced at $25, can purchase it at the Nelson Gallery, order by phone through Katrina Wong at (530) 752-8500, or online at the UC Davis Bookstore.