Carol Flueckiger will be a Featured Artist in The Lubbock Arts Festival next weekend, April 15 and 16.
Our very own Texas Tech School of Art Associate Professor Carol Flueckiger will be a Featured Artist in The Lubbock Arts Festival next weekend, April 15 and 16. In order to get to know her better I asked Flueckiger a few questions about both her life and her art…
When in your life did you find love for art? Have you always wanted to make a career out of it?
In college I majored in art. I loved the studio learning environment of smaller classes, individual work time, critique discussions and problem solving. Gesture drawing was a passion as it was all about speed and confidence. The blank page was filled with marks that resembled a still-life in a matter of minutes. The most powerful part of that process was that the mistakes often evolved into passages that looked better than I initially intended. In art school we call this “happy accidents.” “Happy Accidents” was a powerful message that continues to influence both my artwork and my life to this day.
What inspired you to start creating art with the cyanotype technique?
When I moved to Lubbock, Texas I learned the cyanotype process and I felt it was a great way to expand my process to include exposure to sunlight, a resource abundant in Texas. At the time I was creating surfaces by submerging paintings in baths of fabric dye and erasing passage with an electric palm sander to produce weathered surfaces. Adding sunlight to these techniques made sense. I started thinking of Lubbock as the world's largest light table and an additive color landscape in which sunlight became a new “paintbrush” tool.
When reading information about you, I noticed your love and admiration for Lubbock, TX. What led you here? Will your art always keep you in Lubbock?
I came to Lubbock for a teaching appointment with Texas Tech University School of Art. It is a great community!
There are as many ways to consider how to make artwork that is connected to the environment. My artwork is about celebrating weather and environment wherever that may be.
How long, on average, does it typically take you to create a piece?
This varies! Typically, I like to think of it in terms of six large works and a couple dozen smaller works per year.
What is your favorite part about being an Associate Professor for The School of Art?
My favorite part about being an Associate Professor for the School of Art is teaching a course I developed titled Art, Environment, Sustainability. This course entails reading, writing and artmaking at the intersection of art, environment, sustainability. Students study artists and resources about deep time, energy, upcycling, fast fashion, land acknowledgements and ecology to inspire artistic creations. This year, the students in my Art, Environment, Sustainability course will also be at the festival showing artistic creations that engage conversations about playa lakes, landscape, weather and upcycling.
What “Words of Wisdom” would you give students who are wanting to pursue art as a career?
My most powerful “Words of Wisdom” always start with validating the artist that they currently are and building on that. I teach many artistically talented students both art majors and non-majors. We overlap our artistic investigations and the formal mechanics of composition such as space and color with history, geometry, phycology, engineering and biology.
How exciting is it to be the featured artist at this year's Lubbock Arts Festival? Tell me how that came about.
It is very exciting to be the featured artist! This year, the students in my Art, Environment, Sustainability course will also be at the festival showing artistic creations that engage conversations about playa lakes, landscape, weather and upcycling.
This opportunity came about because I have been showing student work and my artwork at Lubbock art festival for over ten years. I was asked by executive director Elizabeth Regner if I would be a featured artist for 2023 and I immediately said yes. I admire the spirit of music, food, art, fun and imagination that her team brings to the event. I also admire all of the past feature artists, it is good company!
Thank you, Carol, for taking your time to give us more insight into who you are as a person and an artist. Be sure to buy your tickets to The Lubbock Arts Festival and support Professor Flueckiger!
By Charlize Cevallos