 "Photo: Virginia Lucero")
The faculty lecture of the year was held on April 20. Art history professor Orville O. Clarke, Jr. was selected to be the speaker. Clarke was recently nominated for the California’s Educator of the Year and he is also been an art critic for nearly two decades.
The lecture was attended by about 250 faculty members and students. The topic of the lecture was passion.
Clarke focused on many individuals who were extremely passionate about what they did and how their result came out to be brilliant.
Clarke covered broad range of art topics during his lecture with an energetic upbeat attitude and enthusiasm. This was not just a simple lecture for him but more of a “wondrous journey of self-discovery.” The lecture started out with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was “one of the greatest leaders in our country’s history,” according to Clarke.
Clarke discussed composer Anton Dvorak and his Cello Concerto in B Minor. One of Dvorak pieces was played for a few minutes.
Clarke also presented a brief biography of artists such as Chuck Close, Pablo Picasso, Jan Van Eyck, and Diego Velasquez and their passion for art, which resulted in magnificent art pieces.
Filmmaker Budd Boetticher and his documentary Aruzza, which was about one of the world’s famous bullfighters and rejoneador (a person who fights bulls from a horse), Carlos Aruzza. It took twelve years for Boetticher to make his documentary.
Other of his work such as The Bullfighter and the Lady and also Ranown Cylce were mentioned.
Clarke discussed about his former Professor Albert Hoxie who inspired him about art in Hoxie’s unique interesting yet very entertaining way of teaching.
“Alber Hoxie‘s passion for history and art touched me and changed my life,” said Clarke.
He realized that we all [teachers] bring passion to campus each day.
“We are making students a little more tolerant and a little more inquisitive, making them citizens of the world. We are giving them the knowledge to find their passion that will carry them on throughout their lives. We are giving them the confidence to make positive changes in the direction of their lives. Our passion, day by day and student by student, is changing the world for the better,” Clarke said.
After the lecture a discussion was held for an hour, where discussion about art and passion were conversed more in depth and detail.
“It was a huge honor. I was flattered to be selected by the faculty. It was a humbling experience,” said Clarke. “If we don‘t have a culture in this world, we‘re going down a bad road.”
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