The painting is different. Something about it pulls your eye closer, maybe the way the bookcases stand tall and crisp and colorful in the background, but are blocked by this clearly two-dimensional figure. The woman’s hands and mouth seem to be in motion as wisps of her blond hair blow outward. She is surrounded by a pink fuzz that seems to cut her off from the three-dimensional world she has been placed in.
This work of art is called “Shelley” and was created by Post-Baccalaureate Program Coordinator and Fine Arts Lecturer Professor Sean Downey (FA).
“I use a lot of recognizable, representational imagery which tends to make the work feel narrative, but I also want the paintings to be sort of awkwardly aware of themselves as flat, static images,” Downey explained to describe his painting style and the frequent contrasts in perspective.
He expanded upon this idea, comparing his creations to stories told by a friend. “On one level you are transported to wherever or whatever they are describing, but at the same time you are also always aware of the person in front of you telling you the story. I want to get that feeling of being simultaneously here and not here into my work.”
On Downey’s website, there is a large portfolio of his works. There are many different paintings, each intriguing in its own right. He explained that when he starts painting, he often has a partial idea formed. It is a “purely visual idea,” and the message or story of the piece “comes into focus as the painting develops.” Finishing a painting is also a lengthy, tumultuous process. Downey will often “sand down, change and repaint parts over and over.”
Downey gets his inspiration from the Pacific Northwest, where he grew up, and from having “spent a lot of my childhood outdoors in some pretty stunning, monumental natural landscapes.” He admits that even when he paints an image that is not of nature, “it still tends to have a lot of the visual congestion and rhythms of a forest.” This can be seen in the rich colors used in his works—especially the earth tones of green and brown.
Oil paints seem to be Downey’s preferred medium for painting. In fact, they are used for all the paintings shown on his website. The professor revealed that the oils are such a basic, pure and yet gritty material, “basically colored mud.” It takes work to shape and control. “If you want it to look like a chair in a room, or a slow gradation from yellow to red to blue, you have to make it do that from the ground up.” Yet at the same time, oils allow for experimentation. “At every step there is room for invention, imagination and what the great 20th-century painter Bob Ross called ‘happy accidents,’” Downey said.
As chair of the post-baccalaureate program, Downey has administrative duties and is responsible for “organizing extracurricular activities.” Often he will take students on field trips to cities like New York, Philadelphia or Washington, D.C., where they “visit galleries, museum, and artist studios.” He also teaches workshops for students who will apply to MFA programs. These sessions often go beyond class teachings, such as “documenting artwork, putting together application portfolios, writing artist statements.”
Downey has also worked alongside two other artists to create Kijidom, an artist-collaborative and gallery located in the South End in Boston. “We collaborate with artists on various projects and curate exhibitions in our gallery space, which operates out of an artist studio building,” he explained.
It is clear from learning about Downey’s passions in art and his coordinator responsibilities that much of his time is occupied. It is also clear that he is extremely advanced in making art. However, he still takes great enjoyment out of teaching students.
“I teach mostly intro-level courses, and I love seeing students progress,” he explained. “It’s amazing to watch students who may have little or no painting or drawing experience make the initial discoveries that allow them to begin to speak this new visual language.”
