abdur-rahman

Faculty / Studio Art

Uthman Abdur-Rahman

Associate Professor of Art
drawing & design
email: abduru@uah.edu

education
MFA Montclair State University.
      Minor in British Poetry & Philosophy
      of the 19th Century.
BS Fine Arts Education Virginia State University.
      Minor in English.

selected solo exhibitions / invitationals
UAH University Center Gallery 2003
Alabama Big Prints: (venues)
      Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts,
      Tennessee Valley Arts Center,
      Mobile Museum of Art, 2003.
The Carnegie Visual Arts Center, Decatur, 2003.
Evening with the Arts, Athens-Decatur
      Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, 2003.
Printsouth 2003 Contemporary Prints from
      American Presses, Birmingham.

visiting artist lectures / conference panels / selected group exhibitions etc.
Guest panelist @ Alabama A&M University
      for the Tennessee Valley Jazz and
      Poetry Society: The History of Jazz and
      Jazz During the Civil Rights Movement.

creative works
Most creative individuals search for a means of expression that satisfies their creative urge. Some become so immersed in the maze of being all things to all men in order to show their versatility that they become lost. Some search and never find it. Some find it.

I found mine many years ago by realizing that painting and sculpture did not offer me the means of expression necessary to satisfy the thirst of my creative urge. It was through a return to my secret love, graphics (prints and drawings), that I found what I was looking for. It was always present, even in my paintings, but, we often overlook the obvious simply because it is so obvious. That which we like and can do has nothing to do with that which we love and must do.

Painting and sculpture offer me little, if any satisfaction. however, I am excited and stimulated by the magic of the drawn and bitten line. Nothing is more exhilarating to me than the subtleties, gradations, and nuances of the tones in a print or drawing. There is a constant love affair in my work ...sometimes it is bitter ...sometimes it is sweet. Yet, it is always fulfilling, like love. The only rival in this affair is collage.

I welcome the challenges and disciplines involved in graphics. Perhaps these are the reasons for my being a graphic artist. Perhaps it is the best or only media most suitable for my imagery, which is not always appealing to everyone's aesthetic appetite, but, then, what is? Whatever it is about graphics, it is my means of creative expression.

teaching philosophy
I meet my students where I find them, then bring them to their highest level of performance by instilling in them the understanding that only their best is acceptable; mediocrity is not. I ultimately want them to expand their horizons through exposure, experience, and education so they will lust for knowledge. I am interested in their I.C. (intellectual curiosity) - not their I.Q.

chair (Glenn Dasher): dasherg@uah.edu

policies and disclaimers

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