A Glimpse Into the Life of an Artist

On Monday, November 9th, my Humanites 1301 class was treated to a special visit by one of San Antonio's premiere artists, Joan Fabian. During her visit, Joan share with us some of her works and her interpretations of those works. She even gave us some insight as to how she prepares for a work and where she draws her inspriration. For her, inspiration and ideas come from meditation and reflecting and points out that it may be different for other people, that is just her method.

Joan's artwork has a very unique look and her methods of creating it are pretty interesting. The art really stands out, and she always makes it a point to contrast her colors and patterns to exaggerate whe she feels is the main message or feeling of her work. She uses her shapes in such a way that anybody who is viewing the piece can connect with it in one way or another and that is really important to her. She intends to convey a certain message, but she also leaves the viewer to interpret it on their own, which is the very essence of art.

While speaking to us, Joan also told us of the trip that she had taken to Pakistan. This was seven years ago and she was visiting for a total of 6 months, which I'm sure was a hard thing to do. She was even married at this time, and her husband came to visit her for a month, but I'm sure that was a still a very difficult thing to do. Not many of us can say we visited another far away country, and for so long too. She shared with us her experiences with the natives, the students at the school she taught at, and every person she came in contact with. She even tried to assimilate herself in their society by wearing their clothes and behaving like them, but they always were aware that she was an American. Her experience was truly unique and inspiring. Needless to say, this influenced her greatly as an artist.

I am grateful for the time that Joan Fabian took to speak to us because it was very interesting and insightful. As a musician, I feel like I am an artist to, so her speech was really important to me. I can associate with many of the things that she was telling us, such as where the ideas come from, how the piece makes you feel, and how the piece makes others feel. These are things I take into consideration myself, so to hear it from her was a nice feeling.