Professors of Art to Share Works at Columbia State's Pryor Gallery

(Columbia, Tenn. - September 9, 2010) - - - Long-time professor of Art at Columbia State Community College, Fred Behrens, and Tennessee sculptor and art instructor, Isaac Duncan, will display their works in the Pryor Art Gallery and on the lawn of Columbia State's Columbia Campus through September.

As with most artists, Behrens' painting style has evolved from student artist through art instructor to painting to satisfy his own inclinations. While he was classically trained in both the undergraduate and master's studio art degree programs at the University of Southern Illinois, he was also exposed to the most current art scene as it was developing in Chicago.

As a professor at Columbia State for thirty-eight years, Behrens teaches drawing and painting in the classical manner, emphasizing draftsmanship, perspective, and color theory as building blocks before students draw the first still life or more complicated composition. Behrens' current work consists of large canvases swirling with colors and sometimes he tosses a bit of sand into the acrylic paint, producing texture and more depth.

Behrens' work at first glance might seem to have been painted by the artist in a burst of creativity, when in reality Behrens draws a vision before he begins to paint. "His paintings really are controlled, but they shout 'out of control,' said Lucy Kuykendall, Pryor Gallery director/curator. "They are engaging creations from someone whose very life has been art…they each say that."

Stainless steel sculpture is Isaac Duncan III's preferred medium. Two of his large pieces have been installed on the Columbia State campus since the fall of 2009 in an artist loan program. Most recently, another international sculptor of note, Robert Stackhouse, employed Duncan to be chief welder of a major outdoor installation at the Hunter Museum in Chattanooga. His pieces are in collections from Wisconsin and Michigan to Kentucky and Tennessee.

Duncan, his wife, and son live in Chattanooga, TN, where he opened Duncan Sculpture and Services in 2008 after a three-year crew supervisor apprenticeship with renowned German artist, John Henry, who maintains a foundry in Chattanooga. Duncan teaches art courses at Chattanooga State Community College in his time away from production. Duncan states, "I create in organized chaos. Metal and equipment surrounds me.

Music blaring, grinders going, torches sizzling bacon. All that happens… happens with instant decisions and reconsiderations at that moment. Think it, make it, done!" The Pryor Art Gallery is located in the Waymon L. Hickman building on Columbia State's Columbia Campus.


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