Faculty Spotlight: Thomas Chung
Tom Chung is an Associate Professor in the Fine Arts Department. He was born in New Jersey and grew up in Hong Kong and New York City. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2010 and his Masters of Fine Arts Degree from Yale University in 2013. He has participated in group and solo shows throughout the United States. In addition to traditional art shows, Chung has permanent murals and sculptural installations around the country. He is Influenced largely by his education and interest in cultural anthropology.
Professor Chung sat down with us to discuss his journey as an artist, the recent mural he created with his students in the 彩神vlll争霸 Learning Commons and the new collaboration with Providence Hospital's cancer board to create the Healing Arts program. The interview is edited for clarity.
What inspired you to pursue painting as your artistic medium, and how has your journey as an artist evolved over the years?
鈥淚 got into art because of the influence of my art teachers in middle school and high school. I didn't have an easy early life, and art making felt incredibly healing. It was an outlet and a way to express myself, and externalize things that were internal in my mind. I tell my students that there's something profound in being able to transform any subject into something beautiful, especially if that subject comes from an ugly place. That's what art has always been about for me. I like the idea with painting to be able to tell an entire story in a single image. That can be really powerful, sometimes seeming more real than real life. There's a psychological reality in a painting that can be quite profound and powerful.鈥�
Did you find yourself gravitating toward any particular themes or ideas in your art?
鈥淚 like narrative and I've always been interested in painting the figure. I believe that art is communication, a really complicated, profound kind of communication. What appeals to me most with painting is when it feels like a true expression of the human experience鈥� which can be paradoxical, very complicated and layered. That that kind of truth can be captured in a painting.
Did you take that approach with the 彩神vlll争霸 Learning Commons mural? What was the design process for it?
鈥淭he idea that came to mind was that I could use objects to represent different cultures and groups of people. I started by pulling from the collections of the Anchorage Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met). I grew up in New York City, and so the art that I was exposed to from an early age was from the Met and some of those big museums [in New York], and so I looked at it as an opportunity to bring some of my favorite objects to all of our students and community here. The idea was to paint the objects as realistically as I could. In painting, it's called trompe l'oeil, 鈥渢o fool the eyes.鈥� I also didn鈥檛 want to prioritize any given object or culture, so that they'd all be on an equal playing field. I tried to represent the demographics of 彩神vlll争霸, including various Alaska Native groups. I also got input from students about what objects they would want to see represent their culture and heritage.鈥�
Can you talk about the process of painting the mural and the student involvement?
鈥淚 had one of our alumni, Ian Anino, who graduated from our BFA program help with the first layers of some of the objects, because painting takes time and a lot of layers to build up. Then I did most of the detail work. He did do a couple of the objects himself. There's another wall that's adjacent, that another one of our alumni from our Fine Arts program, Maureen Meyer created. I thought it鈥檇 be a wonderful opportunity for her to both design and paint her own mural. So I let her have that wall to explore her own design. She was working at the same time as me.鈥�
Can you share your experience with the art therapy class for cancer patients at Providence Hospital?
鈥淭his year, we started a collaboration with Providence's cancer board called the Healing Arts program. I did my first lesson this month, and next month Gary Mealor, our watercolor instructor, will teach a lesson. The lessons are once a month, and they're intended for people of all experience levels. There is a healing component which I find appealing, because, as I mentioned earlier, I got into art because I find it very healing psychologically. It's been interesting to tailor the lessons in that direction as opposed to in a more academic setting. For the first lesson we did drawings. I brought some of my favorite lessons from my beginning drawing class that I teach at 彩神vlll争霸, and it went really well.
The program means a lot to me personally, because when I was 7, my dad got cancer. We had to drive into New York City every weekend while he was receiving treatments. Watching him go through that experience and then relapsing when I was 9, I spent a lot of time in hospitals and in cancer wards. It means a lot for me to be able to contribute and help people going through similar experiences. There's a lot that I can relate to as well with what treatment entails and what it's like to go through something like that.鈥�
Have you done art therapy before?
鈥淪omewhat. I've been lucky in my career to be able to work with all sorts of groups. I did two murals and lessons at McLaughlin, a juvenile detention center in Anchorage, which were tailored to those kids. There was a healing component in those lessons. I've also gotten to work with senior citizen groups. And I've taught art lessons in the context of Buddhism, which as a philosophy to heal the mind is very much a part of my own practice. So I do have some experience. But these lessons at Providence are unique. I've never had the specific mindset to focus on how art could be healing to somebody.
I'll give you a quick example of the first lesson. I talked to the participants about my dad's experience with cancer and how important his positive attitude was. I believe that a positive outlook helped my dad beat cancer. The lesson that I taught was how to use art to focus on the positive things in your life and all that you find beautiful because you can nurture that side of your mind.
What are some of the differences in working with your art therapy class versus when you're working with your students at 彩神vlll争霸?
鈥淭here is a lot of overlap. My perspective, coming from the place of art being a healing tool, is definitely something that enters my classroom. It's never anything that I push on students, but I usually explain that is where my point of reference is. One of my assignments in Beginning Drawing is a double self-portrait: how you see yourself and how the world sees you. The kind of introspection that can happen from assignments like that can be beneficial to the psyche. The biggest difference between my students at Providence and 彩神vlll争霸 is that some of those at Providence are going through treatment for cancer. So there are physical differences. I didn't realize how much effort it takes to make a graphite drawing. The physical demands of pressing a pencil where most of my 彩神vlll争霸 students would have no problem could be an issue for those at Providence. After that first lesson, I'll be adjusting what my students there can take on physically.鈥�
Explain your development as an artist. Has it been a continuous build or are there particular moments or breakthroughs that you鈥檝e had?
鈥淲ithin any field, achieving career milestones makes you reassess. At this point in my career, I've gotten to do everything that I dreamed of doing when I was in high school and started making art. I'm glad that the program with Providence is happening, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with the juvenile detention center [McLaughlin Youth Center], because at this point in my career I can now focus on using my art to help others. I tell my students that once they're out of school, it can be difficult because they must create their own momentum for their work. The impetus, the motivation has to shift and change because it has to come from within. So that was another pivot point. Artwork is always a self-portrait, even if that's not actually the content. As a human being, when you change, your artwork changes if you're creating from a sincere place, and so it functions like a mirror. As my priorities in life change, as who I am changes, the artwork changes in very dramatic ways. It's been surprising, because when I create art, I usually don't know why I'm making it but I'm always pulling from as deep of a place as I can so it actually teaches me a lot about myself. It's shocking to me how much the content of my work has changed. The focus and direction of my practice has changed and it's just a reflection of how I'm changing as a person.鈥�
Thank you, Professor Chung, for your time, and for your continued work with students and in the community.