Artist of the Month: Dr. Jeff Young

By Collen Holt 

Dr. Jeff Young of Conway has built a life based on relationships — with his family, with his art students and with his love for community. After teaching in the Art Department at the University of Central Arkansas for 29 years, Young is retiring from a 42-year career that he terms “a true joy.”

Photo by Makenzie Evans

“Working with future teachers has been a true joy in my career, allowing me to keep in contact with many of the students I taught — now my colleagues in the field of teaching,” he said. “I was chair of the department for 15 of those 29 years, stepping out of the chair role in 2018 to return to full-time teaching. In my teaching role, I have been coordinator of the art education program for the last seven years, working closely with university students who plan to be art teachers when they graduate.”

Drawing on paper is a favorite medium for Young, who uses “charcoal, graphite, pastels, coffee, tea, dirt and handmade paint made from ground sand-stone and limestone.” He also likes to include writing around the edges of his works as a nod to his storytelling background.

“The writing and stories come from my experiences and from the experiences of family and friends. I come from a long line of storytellers, but where they used the spoken word, I use drawing implements,” he explained. “My work explores relationships among people — the stories that exist between parents and children, between friends, between spouses and lovers. I focus on interactions, the dramatic events that affect our lives and the seemingly in-consequential daily moments that stick in our minds as we age. My drawings are humorous stories, representations of love, reminders of hurt feelings, and childhood tales of injury and mystery.” 

This charcoal drawing on painted paper titled “A Coat for Ms. Winterson” was created by Dr. Jeff Young after reading Jeanette Winterson’s “Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit.” Young wanted to make a protective coat for the protagonist in her novel.

The Young family, which includes his wife Laura and their two children, moved to Conway 29 years ago from Texas for his job at UCA. Their children were both in elementary school at the time of the move, and both graduated from Conway High. All three have big roles in Young’s retirement plans.

“Retiring gives us more time to be with family. We are helping our daughter Colleen and her husband, Subham, update their new home. Laura and I are great house painters! And, we have a new granddaughter, Raya Marie, with whom we want to spend time. She is a bundle of smiley, baby-talking joy. Her parents, Calder and Kristine, our son and daughter-in-law, live in Andover, Kan., so being retired gives us flexibility to see them more often.”

Making art is also in his retirement plans. “I look forward to being able to make art on a more consistent basis. I’m part of a group of artists who exhibit regularly — the Central Arkansas Collective. We have a gallery on the first floor of The Studio Downtown in Conway.”

As a faculty member at UCA, Young has been involved in a variety of community service projects. Starting in 2016, he began judging the annual Daffodil Daze Art Contest sponsored by 501 LIFE Magazine. He has also served on re-viewing panels for Advanced Placement portfolio presentations by seniors at Parkview Arts & Science Magnet High School in Little Rock, and also as one of many jurors at the Arkansas Young Artist Association (AYAA).

“AYAA is a competition for high school students from around the state, and each year there are over 1,000 artworks to be judged in different categories,” he said. “In both of those events, it is exciting to see the skill level and the ideas that drive young artists to make artwork.”

Young has always wanted to be a teacher, and when he found a connection between education and art, he thrived. “I loved being in a classroom, surrounded by ideas. After taking art classes in junior high and high school, I thought, ‘I could be an art teacher!’ Being an art teacher allowed me to teach and make art.” 

Now that he has been an influence on a generation of artists, Young reflected on those who influenced him. “As an artist, I think I’m influenced by many artists, especially other artists who use ordinary objects as visual metaphors for people and ideas. I always liked the educator Ernest Boyer’s list of human commonalities. One of those is that we all search for a larger purpose to give meaning to our lives. For me, making art is one of the ways that I find purpose in life.”