Spring Break
Inspiration for art lives in everyday landscape for Hale
Amber Hall
Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: Southern Faces
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As Dr. Carolyn Hale walks around her property pointing at various forms of plant life that she finds inspiring, she also makes a comment similar to Cezanne's.
"Art of the everyday world is influenced by landscape," Hale said. "I'm drawn to the different types of landscape and what nature can teach us."
Hale, professor of communication at Missouri Southern, is also a dedicated artist.
"I've always been interested in art, even as a child," Hale said. "I love nature and have several pieces of artwork related to nature around here."
For the past seven years, she has been in the Ozark Public TV art exhibit. She has also participated in several art exhibits in Wiesbaden, Germany. Hale received a minor in art from Abilene Christian University, a degree in studio art and art history from University of Maryland, and a degree in advanced work in art from University of North Texas.
One of Hale's main focuses in her art is oil landscapes.
"I see color before I see anything else," she said.
Before working on a canvas, Hale first works from a sketch.
"A sketch is your immediate contact with nature. In about the first 45 minutes, I become very aware of my breathing changing, and I know that my creative side is coming out," she said. "I enjoy the shift from sketch to paint because it's not a just a sketch or photo anymore.
"You're using the paint in a way that it becomes a rock."
Hale averages about three to four paintings a year. In the past decade, much of her work has been influenced by the places she has traveled through her trips with the McCaleb Initiative for Peace.
"The McCaleb Initiative for Peace has allowed us to travel to some unusual places," Hale said. "The rice fields in Japan are absolutely magnificent. I was able to sketch what I really saw there."
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