![\"MultdArtist\"](\"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/MultdArtist.jpg\")
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The sacrifice Derek Larson, professor of graphic design and 4D new media, made prior to a recognition event last year clearly illustrates the kind of faculty member he truly is, as well as the overall integrity of the instructors at Georgia Southern.<\/p>\n
After being selected as one of four finalists for the Hudgen\u2019s Prize, one of the largest art awards given nationwide, Larson was invited to a private event held in Atlanta to honor him and the other finalists.<\/p>\n
While other artists brought family members and friends to the private event, Larson gave his five guest tickets to Georgia Southern students. \u201cI saw this as a great opportunity for my students to be introduced to some of the most prominent artists, curators and top gallery owners in the state,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n
Larson\u2019s selection as one of the top four Georgia artists from among the many hundreds who applied was a great honor for him. \u201cI was surprised by it and a bit nervous because it meant that I would be creating a new body of work to go on view in a large gallery space in a fairly short amount of time,\u201d he said. \u201cSo while the preparation time was only a few months, they did provide a stipend for materials and shipping to make things easier, but I still felt a lot of pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of his selection, a major curator from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City was flown down to visit Larson\u2019s studio in Statesboro, a gesture Larson described as \u201ctruly incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Larson, who received his M.F.A. in sculpture from Yale University, has been at Georgia Southern for three years. He said his creativity is inspired by art history, philosophy, popular culture, conversations with friends, writing and traveling. \u201cI\u2019m currently making a sculptural video that exists in 3D space. I\u2019m creating videos and animations in 2D and 3D software, and projecting them in layers on shaped metal screens that resemble small billboards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Larson, who exhibits about 15 times a year, calls himself a painter, screen printer, animator, video\/sound artist and sculptor. He describes his process of constructing a piece of art as connecting a variety of elements that are interesting to him. \u201cFor example, I might make something in response to what I\u2019m reading, or in conversation with another artist or in response to a particular circumstance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As a teacher, Larson said his job is to introduce historical concepts, to introduce new techniques through software and to help students find their artistic voice with the technology. \u201cI teach animation, video motion graphics, graphic design courses, new media design and design concepts, so my job as a teacher is to introduce this history and then apply it to contemporary tools,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Larson believes there are great things happening in the University\u2019s Art Department. \u201cI think what makes it exciting are the people and the level of research being done by the faculty. The other amazing surprise is the facilities that are available. The Department is equipped with tremendous design and computer labs. We even have a 3D printer and a plasma cutter not all university art departments may have,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n
As for his most important advice for Georgia Southern students, Larson said, \u201cOne of the most important things for them to remember after they leave art school is that having deadlines is important because it keeps you active and keeps you producing new projects. No matter how big or small the opportunity, any deadline is a good one.\u201d – Steven Hannan<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Design Professor Puts Students First<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-5130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-spring-2014"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}