Taylor Erdman
In Motion Staff Writer
Located in a medium-sized room in the 520 Studio Arts building, the vivid hum of an air conditioning unit can be heard over the calm, deep and steady voice of Charles Everett. Gazing intently at the images shown on the projector 10 students hang on every word, as Everett talks about his life’s work and the inspiration behind it.
Part of the fall Brown Paper Bag Lecture Series, hosted by the Studio Arts Department, the director of effectiveness at Full Sail University, started his journey in mid-2011 and has practiced consistently ever since.
“I didn’t go to art school, I wanted to crush the thought, that I didn’t need it,” Everett told onlookers, but with caution.
He warns students that though he didn’t go to school to learn his trade, he feels deeply he’s lost the workflow keenly instilled early-on in those formally educated as well as the sense of community it instills. Enrolling in an art school, or any school for that matter, will absorb students into their desired field. Colleges such as Daytona State helps gain connections, open doors and gets their names out, so they are more recognizable to possible employers. Taking the road less traveled like Everett did becomes harder and doors tend to remain closed by those unfamiliar with an artist and their work.
Nevertheless, he counters that notion by explaining that he doesn’t like to being told what to paint and isn’t fond of commissioned work. He likes things out of the norm, art that people can acclimate to because, in reality, no one gets everything they want in life.
Throughout the multitude of abstract works Everett presented during his lecture, there were numerous motifs featuring chairs, skulls and birds. Birds he finds to be the most interesting, despite being in fear of them. At a distance, he finds beauty in their sporadic movements and gracefulness in flight.
“I don’t see a painting, I see hundreds of thousands, each stroke changes the painting,” the artist explains.
Sometimes a stroke could completely add to the piece, while another might provoke frustration and cause him to step away from his work.
Regarding their futures Everett advised the audience to jump in and paint what they feel, never overthinking what they want their art to look like. Like him, simply start with a mark.
“You’re likely to make a lot of sacrifices and tradeoffs,” he says, adding that’s true in any profession.
The Brown Paper Bag series concluded the month with a printmaking workshop led by Viktoryia McGrath, part of continuing workshop demonstrations of the many classes taught in the Studio Arts Department. Other speakers in the fall series included Kyle O”Connell of the Art Institute of Chicago.