Glenn Downing, Coordinator / Professor

Contact Information

Education

  • 1981 - Master Fine Arts, Sculpture, Virginia Commonwealth University
  • 1979 - Bachelor Fine Arts, Studio Art, University Texas Austin

Teaching Experience

  • 01/16/2001 - Present, Professor - McLennan Community College

Artist's Statement

I was born and raised in a rural area outside of Waco, Texas. Even though I have traveled all over, the world I have returned to Waco and live close to where I was bought up. My father was a farmer who started a street paving business, so I began my life doing all sorts of manual labor. I worked alongside men with little or no formal education; men who grew up using their hands and got where they were in life by just working themselves to death. These men were a little bit crazy; they approached life on their own terms. They were individuals; not always correct in their talk or their manners but willing to get the job done and get on with life. As I got older I became one of those men.

Don’t expect poetry here.

Expect rust, dancing, sarcasm, sensitivity, sharp edges, raw spots, droppings, animals, trash, nature, humor, rambling, pretty colors, ugly things, ink, duck tape, tears, jazz, strangers, junk piles, marks, scenery, goop, fear, red wheels, memories, jewels, plastic, head shapes, dust, and a list of things that keeps going but my work is really about one word: Emotion

Making sculpture is a physical thing and that’s what I enjoy about the process. I use materials in a direct way and don’t try to cover up my construction methods. I want these pieces to be raw and emotional and profane; throw in everything and the kitchen sink.

When I draw, I am interested in creating a collage of life with memorable imagery evoking range of emotions. I strive to keep an unfinished quality and a sense of humor in what I do. In recent years, I have been more and more influenced by jazz and its spontaneity. I am not a musician so my works are my visual tunes combining materials and images like notes. Fragments heaped upon fragments become an image.

Ideas are expressed in crude lines and found objects, like wise crudeness is expressed in fine inks and pastels.