Solo show at Sinclair rewarding for long-time art teacher


HOW TO GO

What: George Hageman Solo Show/Fine Art Faculty Exhibition

Where: Burnell R. Roberts Gallery/Works on Paper, Hypotenuse

When: Continues through Sept. 30

Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday-Thursday

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday

8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday

More Info: 937-512-2253

Online: http://www.sinclair.edu/arts/galleries/

George Hageman of Dayton is a teacher of art, a student of art, and a creator of art.

Over the past 30 years, he has taught thousands of students at Sinclair Community College. The first 15 years were devoted to art appreciation, drawing, and sculpture. The past 15 years have been concentrated on the ceramic medium. His own works that encompass drawing, sculpture, and painting are now being shown at the Burnell R. Roberts Triangle Gallery.

“It’s very rewarding, both personally and artistically, to have a solo show at Sinclair,” said Hageman. “Friends and relatives get to see what I’ve done. And it’s a teaching tool for my students, with everything pulled together.”

There are a total of 63 works that his students can appreciate and study. They will learn the subtleties of expressiveness from his stoneware busts and portraits. His art students may visualize the progression of form, texture, and surface treatments from his many clay vessels. They can view the melding of realism with abstract concepts in his oil landscapes. But just as students learn from their professors, the teachers can learn from their many students.

“You re-learn what you learned before in a different way; students provide that reflection,” said Hageman. “It’s a reciprocal dialogue of back and forth progression of life energy and artistic energy, and very exciting.”

His sculptures include likenesses of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Clay pieces encompass both artistic and functional works, running the gamut between large scale and miniature. Several of his works in the show have been sold. A favorite is “Five Golden Forms,” a study of how one fruit, the pear, can grow in many forms.

“This will be my last solo show in terms of various materials and genres,” said Hageman, who has earned 15 solo shows during his career. “I’m primarily a portrait, landscape, and still life painter now.”

A particularly intriguing landscape, “Evening,” is a highly textured oil painting of the setting sun behind a grove of trees. “Winter Freeze” conveys the starkness of that season in a black and white palette.

Hageman earned a bachelor of education and a master of art degree from Bowling Green State University, and a master of fine art in sculpture at The Ohio State University. He fondly recalls one term of study at the University of Iowa. He has lectured at the Royal Academy of London, and is a member of the Portrait Society of America.

This art professor has also continued his own studies. Hageman took an art history class at Sotheby’s in London, and studied painting with Stuart Shils and Everett Raymond Kinstler. He also attended classes at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Since 1999, he has been learning concepts in oil painting from the Art Students League in New York.

“George is best known at Sinclair as a ceramist, because that is, primarily, what he teaches, and he has been influential in helping many artists develop their skills in that discipline,” said gallery coordinator/collections curator Pat McClelland. “However, this exhibit demonstrates that he is equally skilled in the studio practices of sculpture, drawing, and painting. It showcases his diverse talents as a multi-faceted artist.”

Showing concurrently with Hageman’s solo show are dozens of works by Sinclair’s Fine Art Faculty at the Works on Paper Gallery and the Hypotenuse Gallery. In addition to seven ceramic works by Hageman, other faculty members presenting include: Bridgette Bogle, Cynthia Bornhorst-Winslow, Bob Coates, Mark Echtner, Shirley Harbaugh, Kevin Harris, Benjamin Hobbs, Rosie Huart, Kelly Joslin, Richard Jurus, Tess Little, Pat McClelland, Kathy A. Moore, Sean Perkins, Barb Stork, Sally A. Struthers, and Leigh Waltz.

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