(John Goodman)
From Teaching to Creating
“Even recently when I wanted to print business cards, I had to stop. How do I describe myself? Do I put ‘artist’ on there? Can I really credit myself as being that?” John Goodman chuckles. “I still have a hard time with that.”
After 30 years teaching art in Redmond middle schools, John retired in 2007. Finally, with time and space of his own, he picked up a paintbrush. He paints oil and acrylic landscapes, and also creates sculptures. John’s sculptures are made of plaster, wire, cedar, fabric and natural found materials.
Though he earned a degree in art education from the University of Oregon in the 1970s, John says he didn’t really get the education he needed for making his own art until he embarked on a self-taught course. “I started traveling more, and visiting museums everywhere we went. I found works of art that spoke to me and I would stand in front of a work of art and try to figure it out,” John says.
Here John responds to the questions other artists are curious about.
What was your exposure to art as you were growing up?
My mother came from a family where her sister was an artist, and her father was an architect. My mother had a great appreciation for arts and artistic people. We were raised in a middle class family without extra money and she would pay for private art lessons so in the summer I could take classes.
What have you learned that’s the most important thing about creating art?
The work doesn’t need to be perfect. It’s a process. Picasso would remind us that we need to paint like children. Allow ourselves to be free enough to do that. Being able to unlocked what you see and depicting it however you see it, creates something that is truly artistic.
What surprises you about your relationship with art?
Even after all this time, there’s something exciting about having a blank canvas or piece of paper mounted and ready to go that still makes me excited. I still get excited about all the potential there, of what it could be, and how I can be in control of something that doesn’t exist right now. It’s all up to me in my studio with my supplies, no one around, and I can create something that’s great, or maybe not great, but the potential is there.
The ability to create something.
That’s what keeps me going out to my studio.
Do you ever hear your own teacher’s voice as you work on your art?
Yes, I do. I used to encourage my art students to try things and not be judgmental. I try to do that myself whenever I’m in front of a canvas. The idea is that I can paint over it quickly, and change directions completely and see something new.
What is our reluctance to label ourselves “artist” about?
I often think of how many actual pieces of art have I sold? How many people have felt my art was worthy enough to be purchased? There’s something concrete about being paid for the work that validates me as an artist. But how many pieces would that take? How many years? Is it a matter of time put in or pieces sold? Do I have to be in a gallery? It’s complicated.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten about being an artist?
Travel and experience other cultures! Getting outside our normal patterns, and our everyday experiences is the best way to open our minds to possibility. We learn to see things differently. We get a new perspective. This is really important if we’re going to create new things.
John’s work will be at a reception in his honor, as Dry Canyon Arts Association’s Artist of the Month, at Cascade Hasson Sotheby’s International Realtors in downtown Redmond during November’s First Friday, November 1 from 5-8pm. Visit the installation all of November. John will be at the Dry Canyon Arts Association’s fall art show at Redmond High School November 16-17. Stop by and say hello. John welcomes conversation about the creative process, art, and why we do what we do.