John McNaughton:  a studio of his own

John McNaughton, professor of art, teaches techniques of woodworking to an art student.

John McNaughton, professor of art, has spent a lifetime balancing the role of art educator with professional artist. With retirement on the horizon, he looks forward to concentrating on the latter.

"Before I get too old, I want to build myself a studio and deal with clients as a professional artist," he said. Workmen finished the studio in September on the property where he lives. McNaughton joined the crew and also hired some USI students to help with the project. He has built the cabinets and other accessories for the interior.

Overlooking a lake, the studio includes a sound system, a deck, and a bathroom. "You could move right in," he said.

Several creative projects are planned. McNaughton collaborated with USI colleague Katie Waters designing three limestone reliefs for the side of the new library which will face the Liberal Arts Center. While the original design for the building showed plain limestone panels, Sherrianne Standley, vice president for Advancement, suggested that reliefs designed by USI art faculty would give the building more character.

McNaughton also has been commissioned to make a sculpture for the interior of the building. Like his recent "tree of knowledge" piece hung like a chandelier in the lobby of Evansville's new Central Library, the USI piece also may have a "tree" theme, perhaps a tree tied in knots to symbolize the wonderful and complex lives of those who visit the University library. "Students never realize how wonderful these college years are," he said.

Of all the sculptures he has created over the years, McNaughton said he is most pleased with the piece in the downtown library. The 15-foot upside-down tree-like sculpture with spreading branches can be viewed from any angle -upstairs, downstairs, and on the stairs. "It is built in five sections and it all went together as I dreamed, but there were a few sleepless nights," he said.

McNaughton will curate a spring show at the Chapman Fried Gallery in Louisville, Kentucky. He will invite 10 artist friends, some of them USI graduates, to exhibit with him. The show opens May 1. At the same time, he will have a piece on exhibit at Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, alongside work by artists from throughout the world.

He also is among a handful of artists chosen nationwide to do a piece of public art for the grounds of the Indianapolis Art Center in the Broad Ripple area. Patrick Doherty, the North Carolina artist who created the willow sculpture last year in New Harmony, Indiana, also will participate in the exhibit which opens in June.

McNaughton joined USI in 1970. In 2003, he was recognized as the Integra Bank Distinguished Professor.

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