Wiley Ferguson was my high school cooperative teacher (when I was a student teacher).
Mr. Ferguson was one of the most impressive persons I have ever met. He was an extremely talented photographer, incredibly smart, and distinguished to the point of seeming elegant. His minor in college was French and he actually became an interpreter for the French embassy (hence my Edith Piaf music choice). As a student he got to attend a workshop with Ansel Adams and even got to spend two weeks with a group of students in Paris with Pablo Picasso! Wiley told me that when they went to restaurants Picasso would draw on the table cloths so they would frame them on the walls, in lieu of payment for the bill. Pablo would also use an oversized checkbook and he would draw on the checks he wrote so no one would cash them; both clever and cheap.
I learned a great deal from Wiley and how to handle yourself in a classroom. I once witnessed him slam a chair to the floor to regain the attention of his students; which showed me that sometimes even a dramatic act is required to maintain order.

His portrait has some cubist elements because in his classroom, I was beginning to develop my own lesson plans for teaching cubism to others; as I was striving to contemplate the art form myself.

I wish very much that I had kept in touch with Wiley. He sent me a Christmas card the following year but I did not reciprocate. I am as bad at being a long (or even short) distance friend as I am at being a close up acquaintance. And I am trying to change that.
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#painting #art #pintura #cubism #oilpaint #inspiration#portrait #cuadros #edithpiaf #padam