J O S E P H.  R.  B Y R N E

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in November, 1999.

REFLECTING THE WORLD IN A NEW LANGUAGE

Like a science teacher who opens his students’ eyes to the invisible world under a microscope, Associate Professor of Fine Arts Joseph R. Byrne helps his students to see the world in new ways and to express their visions through drawing and painting.

"The courses I teach represent a way of thinking about and interacting with the world," Byrne says. "They require students to draw on their physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual resources simultaneously. Art is a visual language and, as with any language, students must learn to express themselves with it."

An accomplished painter
A native of Minnesota, Byrne joined Trinity’s faculty last semester after serving as a professor of art at Carleton College for 13 years. Byrne, who holds dual master’s degrees, including a master’s of fine arts degree in painting, from the University of Iowa, teaches courses in painting, drawing, and color. An accomplished painter, he has had numerous solo exhibitions in Minnesota and in New York and has had his work featured on the cover of a Garrison Keillor CD. Twice nominated for an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, he received two fellowships to the prestigious MacDowell Artists Colony in Peterborough, NH, and was included in the critic Alan Gussow’s book The Artist as Native: Reinventing Regionalism. Byrne says he was drawn to Trinity by its academic reputation and by the College’s proximity to New York, where he continues to show his work.

To reflect the world they are learning to see, Byrne’s students are taught that they must rely upon both their intellect and intuition. "When I talk to my students, I try to get them to see that art requires another kind of thinking, one in which the eye and the hand work in concert with the mind, so that when they think ‘orange,’ they must put orange down on the canvas." To encourage this approach and to have students think in this "physical" way, Byrne asks students to produce a painting, usually from a still life arrangement, that covers the entire surface of the paper in five minutes. Such exercises force students to become quickly aware of what they are seeing, what is happening on the painting’s surface, and the act of "translation" between the two. Through this kind of experience, Byrne says, students learn to trust their visual instincts rather than rely on preconceptions and intellectual assumptions about painting.

Another way students exercise their new way of seeing and thinking is by turning their sights on themselves and doing self-portraits. "Those portraits are often a place where I can find some evidence or trace of a distinctive personal style or a statement that’s starting to come out in a ‘foreign language’ that they’re developing," Byrne says. In doing portraits, students learn that by using strong colors they create one kind of experience or response, and by using more muted or tonal kinds of color they elicit a very different emotional response.

A respected teacher
Says his colleague Professor of Fine Arts Robert J. Kirschbaum, "Joe is clearly a seasoned professional, a teacher at the peak of his abilities. The honesty and authenticity that he projects in his work are reflected in his teaching. His calm demeanor puts his students at ease, and the strength of his intellect and his knowledge of craft make him a teacher respected by his students, and by his colleagues."

Byrne’s students agree with Kirschbaum. Alexis Gallisa ’00 is a studio art major, who studied photography in high school and has pursued the artistic medium at Trinity. "I took ‘Drawing I,’ which was pretty basic," he explains. "Then last semester, I took drawing to the next level in ‘Drawing II’ with Professor Byrne, which was daunting because my confidence was a big issue. But Professor Byrne is laid back and he uses that approach to make you comfortable with your work." In the course Gallisa created a new self-portrait every day for 20 days. "How you feel and the mood you’re in is different every day," he explains. "By doing this exercise, it enabled me to see the underlying theme of my work."

Senior Despina Konstantinides, this year’s President’s Fellow in the philosophy department, has taken two independent painting courses with Byrne. She intends to combine her longtime love of art with her major and produce a senior thesis on the philosophy of art. "Professor Byrne is really good at pointing out exactly what he likes about what students have done," she observes. "By being made aware of a compositional approach that works, we’re able to use that approach again. One’s work reflects who one is. Professor Byrne’s work shows a great sense of touch, meaning he’s a sensitive person."

Byrne says his goal is to make art – and the world – accessible to his students. "I believe teaching art is not about making artists but rather about opening up a world -- a way of thinking, doing, and seeing. Students in my classes have said that after taking one of my courses they feel they appreciate the visual world in a different way. There’s a point in the semester when they feel like they’re seeing things differently. I remember when it happened to me." In describing this magic, transformative moment, Byrne went on to say, "You crane your neck and see this beautiful light that you’ve never seen before. You become more sensitized to environment, place, and possibilities you may not have been open to before."

                                                                                                                                                    Suzanne Zack