McGowan's art

3/20/08

By Norman Johnson
Special to the Critic

On a bright day last week retired LSC art professor, Dorian McGowan sat down in the sun-splashed college library to paint junior Joey Stewart's portrait.

"I've always done portraits of people because I like people," said Dorian, as he poured a spot of dark acrylic paint onto a white porcelain pan, dabbed a flat brush through it and in broad sweeping strokes outlined Stewart's face, nose, and mouth on a white panel. Rinsing the brush in a small glass of water, he washed the brushstrokes into a blur. As he painted he talked.

Dorian, as he is generally known, came from North Fairfax, Vt. "Mostly Holstein cows," he said. "My father drove me every day to Catholic school in St. Albans. All the art was very controlled. The nuns considered art a sin." But several sisters gave art lessons for 75 cents a lesson. They used still-lives, plaster hands, busts of Caesar and such but with such a passion for art, Dorian didn't care. "One nun brought in a sauce pan, 'Here draw this,' she said. I was so excited," Dorian said.

As he brushed flesh tones into the portrait, he continued. "I was given $1 for lunch everyday." Dorian said. Every day he'd have an art lesson for 75 cents then go into the village and buy crackers with what was left. He did this from second grade to his senior year. Drawing for Dorian was as important as eating.

"I got a scholarship to go to St. Michael's." Dorian said. "But I didn't want to be a priest. I wrote to Norman Rockwell out of the blue and he wrote back. It was a very sweet letter," Dorian said. Rockwell encouraged him to look beyond Vermont and he wrote to the well known art college, Pratt in N.Y.

"It was pretty intimidating. Brooklyn was terrifying." Dorian said. He took the entrance test and was accepted. "Because the nuns were teaching academic drawing. Nobody was doing it in those days. Everyone else was doing Jackson Pollack like stuff, here I was doing figure drawings." At Pratt most of the students majored in industrial design or fashion, Doran was dedicated to teaching.

Dorian extensively uses "found" materials in his artwork. He transforms detergent bottles, machine parts, and wood scraps into portraits, scenery, and mythical gods. He knits wool into arms, legs, and other forms. He beats tin can tops into domes, works worn out bicycle parts into sunbursts of gears, and loops of chain become hair or kinetic sculpture. Dorian doesn't brag about being a recycler in its popular form, however. "I'm a cheapskate." He says matter-of-factly. "I hate spending a lot of money on supplies. I was the cheapest faculty member on campus."

A story goes: a copy machine was malfunctioning in the art building one week; printing bar-code-like stripes down each page of paper. Dorian and another artist rearranged the copier mistakes into birch bark designs and had an exhibit. "What Happens when Faculty Members Play Together." They called it.

Dorian came to Lyndon State College in 1959 and taught until two years ago. "I liked our type of student," he said. "Some of the best were from recreation, excited about what they were doing. You don't get that from art students." With finishing strokes of his brush he added: "Kids should be allowed to express themselves. Who are we to silence other people's songs. Right?" Dorian said as he washed in a blue background to Stewart's finished portrait.