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Page 4/TRENDS/Monday, June 4
Art Prof
PROFILE
By STACY STENBERG
I t's a synthesis of experiences, ideas and
images that are seen in the life and works of a
painter, teacher and musician. It's the work of a
formally trained artist with a deep interest in folk
music and tradition. It's dedication that can be
seen in a faculty art exhibit, in students who
appreciate their teacher's talent and experience
and in over 500 audio recordings in the main
library's media department. It's about Art
Rosenbaum.
Growing up in the Midwest, Rosenbaum always
had an interest in art. Majoring in art history as an
undergraduate at Columbia, he gained experience
in New York studios and continued at Columbia
graduate school. Before teaching at Iowa
University for seven years, Rosenbaum worked
independantly at three different lofts in lower
Manhattan.
Rosenbaum came to the University in 1976. He
has taught a graduate seminar, but usually
teaches studio painting courses. Rosenbaum has
also taught four times for the Studies Abroad
program in Cortona, Italy.
"Teaching does take some energy and some
time and thought, but I find it very exciting to work
with students," he said.
Stan Mullins, a 1989 graduate of the University
said Rosenbaum has had a major influence on his
outlook on painting and life. A project that Mullins
worked on in Italy couldn't have been completed
without the aid of Rosenbaum, he said.
Aside from guiding young artists, Rosenbaum
still makes time for his own paintings. Drama
professor and longtime friend Charles Eidsvik
noted that a visiting Belgium professor once said
Rosenbaum's canvases look as if each painting
would be his last.
"I would hate to try to categorize my work,"
Rosenbaum said.
Having difficulty categorizing Rosenbaum's
painting, an art critic said that Rosenbaum works
the edge between abstraction and illustration —
two seemingly contradictory elements that he is
interested in using in his paintings.
"He uses everything to go into the other,"
Mullins said.
Rosenbaum said he especially enjoys working
with large, complex compositions. One of these
compositions is titled "The History of Wine
Making." The 9-by-46-foot mural was researched
in Cortona, Italy in 1987 and covers the history of
wine from prehistoric - present times. It can be
seen at the Chateau Elan, a winery in Braselton,
Georgia.
Images from Egyptian tomb paintings,
Renaissance sculpture and modern photographs
of people from Athens were used to create the
mural. A large black and white preliminary drawing
of the mural dominates the wall behind the bar at
local pub, The Globe.
Recently, Rosenbaum has started to use
videotape to get many potential images that he
later incorporates into his paintings. He said he
currently likes to paint more directly from personal
experience, whereas in the past, his artwork was
more of a fantasy suggested from his experiences.
The recipient of two Fulbright grants, one as a
student and another as a professor, shows the
diversity of Rosenbaum. As a student he studied
painting, but as a professor he taught seminars on
American folk music, American folk art and
outsider art, a nontraditional folk art, at the
University of Freiburg Folklore Institute in
Germany.
For Rosenbaum folklore tradition is an interest,
not a nostalgic representation or quaint view of the
past.
Rosenbaum's research of folk music and
tradition fills the library archives and "becomes the
subject matter and inspiration for what he does for
a living and as an art professor," Eidsvik said.
Rosenbaum went straight to the source of these
traditions to preserve the music. During his
graduate work at Columbia University, he began to
record grass roots, or traditional folk musicians in
Kentucky and Indiana. Some of these field
recordings have can be heard on 14 albums which
Rosenbaum produced.
Over 500 field recordings can also be found in
the Georgia Folk Music Archive in the media
department of the main library. The Folk Music
Archive was established in the early '80s by
Rosenbaum and the Georgia Folk Music Society,
media department superviser Randy Camp said.
Over 20 video recording by Rosenbaum of Georgia
Folk Musicians accompany the collection of audio
recordings. Many of the recordings are of older
musicians, who otherwise might be forgotten if
Rosenbaum didn't record them, Camp said.
Also available in the media department are three
television programs, on which Rosenbaum served
as a consultant and hosted. One of the programs
focuses on Macintosh Shouters, a folk group from
the Georgia Coast, featuring two north Georgia
banjo pickers, Mabell Cawthome and W. Guy
Bruce, and Gordon Tanner a member of folk group
the Skillet Lickers.
Rosenbaum also took part in a project with
telecommunications professor Dr. Alan MacLeod.
The two interviewed people about beliefs, religion
and folktales and created "Reflections of Georgia
Folklore," a series that is being broadcast on
Wednesday evenings on WUGA 91.7.
Rosenbaum also compiled his interviews with
various artists from north Georgia to publish a
book, "Folk Visions and Voices: Traditional Music
and Song in North Georgia." Photographs of the
musicians were taken by his wife, Margo Newmark
Rosenbaum, and Rosenbaum's sketchings and
paintings depict the actual recording of the
musicians, performances and a little bit of
everything else.
Rosenbaum not only records folk traditionalists,
but also plays the guitar, Addle and banjo with
them.
"His relationship and friendships with musicians
in the area is almost familial," Eidsvik said.
He is also the author of "Old Times Mountain
Banjo," an instructional book concentrating on the
old ways of banjo playing. He has recorded two
solo banjo albums; traveled with groups playing at
festivals, coffee houses and college campuses;
and played banjo on the score of "Cool Hand
Luke."
"I always considered myself a student, someone
interested, a banjo fan, but somehow became one
of the teachers or authorities on Mountain-style
banjo," Rosenbaum said.
Folk music is intergenerational, and the strength
of the music is its ability to adapt and evolve,
Rosenbaum said.
Currently he plays with the Skillet Lickers, a folk
group which first recorded in the 20s. The tradition
is carried on through descendants of the original
members and Rosenbaum.
Interest in folklore tradition has turned itself into
another career for Rosenbaum as a folklorist and
musician. "Art is really more of a deep interest, but
music is serious," he said.
Captures Culture
Artist Art Rosenbaum in front of his unfinished painting "Rakestraw's Dream"