Albert Scherbarth, 1979

Facets was my working title for this exhibition, the first public one-man in years. I intended to demonstrate all the facets of my work; drawing, painting, glass, sculpture, an installation, maybe even a performance. After dwelling, dreaming and fretting awhile and after visiting the hall in late May, I realized I had to focus on just one aspect of my interests considering time and money and reality.

Just completed a huge drawing commission and was pretty jazzed about re-visiting an old working manner with prismacolor pencils I called ‘crunchy style’ …and I somehow was just obsessed with crystals (after mining them in Arkansas). And for once in my life really thinking about how precious gems are honed to be lovely… so ‘facets’, yeah, a show about gems and sparkly  things… seemed tenable. But once I got into the large-scale (38 x 50”) pieces, another story started to unfold.

‘Manufacturing Emeralds’ started out as some illustration of a rope of intestines wound on a winch (another story), then morphed to a double cornucopia that told ME a tale. Each picture began to educate me about myself and just how far I’d gone from the last time I worked extensively in drawing. Discovery. Each work on paper seemed to be a lesson and I found myself taking notes and doing things I’d been imploring my beginning drawing students at UTD to attempt (Drawing 101). And each drawing yielded new insights about what had been slumbering in my head for years.

The fun, compelling bits from each success I lifted and saved on ‘Marfa Sampler’ as the summer’s work progressed, a quilt of ideas… a piece which itself is a puzzle to be reformed variously. And that collection spawned new ideas for works.

So then ‘facets’ really became a even more suitable title — A show of many aspects of the act of drawing and creating.