January 03, 2005 ‘Life’s an adventure, a journey’ The artistic life of Mark Tobin Moore has traveled full circle. Twenty-five years ago, while running the Navy Reserve Center here, he enrolled as an art major at the University of Charleston. Now, two graduate degrees later and with numerous art shows and several college teaching positions under his belt, after a four-year stint teaching arts and crafts for the Army in Germany, after a five-year term as exhibitions director and art curator for the West Virginia State Museum, the 50-year-old painter is back at UC, teaching at the school where he started. His exhibit, “Works from the Blue Door and More,” runs through this weekend in the UC art gallery. It’s thought-provoking, brow-raising stuff. Dripping paint over pictures and objects collected on scavenger hunts, he makes personal statements on American culture, history, war and other social issues. If the dream comes true, he faces a Catch-22. The students inspire him. Would he be so driven to paint without teaching? “My father was in the Air Force. We lived on Air Force and Army bases in northern Virginia, Maryland, Edinburgh, Scotland, around Boston, like that. “When I was real little, I used to build big forts out of balsa wood and toothpicks. I was always in the creative, imaginative mode. The first things I drew were Civil War battles. I was maybe 4 or 5. I went from that into painting lead soldiers. I had a real interest in the Civil War. My father would take me to all these famous battlefields. We followed the whole path of the Army in northern Virginia. “After I graduated from high school, I was offered a scholarship to UVA, but I turned it down to join the Navy. I had grown up reading all this military history and I felt destined to be a part of that. That’s what a lot of my work is about. “I did four years on a ship — a wonderful way to start my life — and got out of the Navy in 1976. Being back in northern Virginia didn’t feel right. I was going to college and working two jobs. One night I got beat up really bad. I happened to be at a party and I was the one they picked to beat up. The cops found me hanging over a fence. “This wasn’t working. I had to do something. The Navy kept calling me to come back. They offered me a job running the Reserve Center in Charleston. My brother couldn’t believe I was going to rejoin the Navy. I told him I knew in my heart that this was my destiny. And it has been. I feel like I was supposed to come here. “If you took care of everything at the Reserve Center, you could go to school or whatever else you had to do. I went to UC from 1978 to 1983. I changed my major from English to art. I had thought about being a writer. I was a feature writer on the Navy newspaper. But I wanted to pursue the arts. “When I switched, I had to take the required Drawing 100 class. And that’s where I met Hank Keeling, my professor. Hank would always contact Marshall University because they have scholarships for grad students. Hank recommended me to June Kilgore, a famous artist around here, and I went down there using the GI Bill and an assistantship and got a master’s degree in painting. “When my students say their parents don’t want them to pursue art, I tell them I know what it’s like. When I was getting my degree here, the Navy offered me a commission. My mother was within a month of death from cancer, and she said she was going to get out of bed and kick my ass if I didn’t take the commission and become a Navy officer. “My girlfriend worked for the Army Corps of Engineers. She said they were looking for artists to run art centers in Germany. They started these arts and crafts centers right after World War II to give soldiers and their families something to do. “I got permission to let German artists come in. It was the first time they’d ever let foreign nationals into these places. Then the Gulf War started and there were armed guards all over the base. Nobody was getting in there. It was amazing how things changed. “I was there on a contract about four years. Then I came back to Huntington and taught elementary school, worked construction, washed dishes at Mycroft’s. You do what you have to do to buy diapers and juice for your kids. “Through Hank, I met Sharon Mullins, director of exhibits at the Cultural Center. She hired me as her assistant. When she got promoted, I was made director of exhibitions. It was tough. You are trying to be creative, and you’ve got a passion for something, but you are dealing with state employees who have a certain way of doing things. Anybody coming in with new ideas had to learn when to back off. “I would realize how overworked some of them were, so I would go down and work with them. I always thought directing should be a hands-on thing. Management felt I should be behind my desk, directing. There was constant tension. “I left during the Renay Conlin administration, which made my last year there absolute misery. Fortunately, I had myself covered and was able to point out to the right people that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. “I would get in trouble for working Saturdays. I worked my ass off there. But nobody ever treated me that bad, not ever. I was so angry that my hands were shaking. I went to counseling. I went to the doctor. It was stress. The doctor said I had to get out of there. “I took a job painting houses all summer. I thought the best thing was to get out and do something physical. I applied to teach in the fall. Places would give me part-time positions, and I went to WVU and got my MFA, a master of fine arts, like a doctorate for studio artists. “I was at a job interview in Pennsylvania to be a writer for museums when I got a call from West Virginia State to fill in as a graphic design teacher. One of my objectives in living here was to be near my son. I took that job to stay close to him. “I teach at my studio. I don’t have space for all the people who call. People around here are dying for that. Maybe I’ll end up running my own school. “I spent last summer teaching in my studio and sending out applications. I knew something would happen. It always does. I got a call from UC, so here I am again, this time on a one-year temporary contract while they try to decide whether to keep the art department as a full-time teacher or to go part time. I’d love to stay. “My dream would be to be a full-time painter where I can sell my work and don’t have to work. I always feel I’m being interrupted by other things. Every artist I know feels that way. “But you have to be careful what you wish for. You want to go to work in the studio every day, not just for a couple of hours, but 10 to 14 hours a day. It’s not so much about making pictures as a search about what’s going to open up to you. The problem is, when you aren’t teaching, you don’t get the interaction with the students that helps drive you to do it.” To contact staff writer Sandy Wells, call 348-5173 or e-mail sandyw@wvgazette.com. |