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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1987)
Friday, October 16, \9Q1/The Battaiion/Page 5 rofessor teaches architecture, orks on successful art career ier Dr. Non®I ernationalleltJ i square-damtl at the WacocoJ will meet; n Church i y : will discussftl at 3:30 p.m,i LISTS: will tel By Susan C. Akin Reporter Somewhere in the middle of col- ON: will meet; ; jections of carved wood sculptures, ^ re tropical plants, ties, pipes, an cient Christian artifacts, African edding aprons and masses of ar- itecture students, Rodney Hill can found. This architecture professor dou bles as a sculpture artist and one of Texas’ most successful architects. ■ a peanut-butttB “People come to me for designing tain and asculpturing commissions, so I don’t have to go looking for them,” Hill said. “Clients hear about me through word of mouth.” Hill also designed and created the -foot-long carved walnut murals nging in the MSC. They were me for A&M’s centennial cele bration in 1976. One of his next projects will be to turday andfa: continue these carved wood murals tping Cenier H include the liberal arts, medicine ,, , u and education colleges, i avea u J| Among his many different com- iiuay at ,lie ^Ifeissions and professional undertak- Bgs, Hill prizes his design work on ION: will btifte State Fair of Texas, the Apparel e Hillel BuildinjlMart in Dallas, Highland Park Meth- H^Jist Church, the Garden Show in Ktllas and numerous restaurants, Buses, business offices, gazebos, ave AutOcrosslilM 11 '' cellars and art pieces through- ■t the state and country. ■In addition to using his creative talents, Hill manages to intrigue most audiences with his own fas cinating interests. ■“My rare tropical plant collection is the hobby I escape to,” he said. “I to The ife[tak|| ve one l ^ e t )etter rare tropical workingrtm^ljecnhouses in this part of the state.” [Hill has plants from India, Japan, rica, Mexico and other countries. > collection includes an 18-year- ponytail palm and a 15-foot tall tus. ‘I also enjoy gourmet cooking, ticularly making pastries,” he Photo by Susan Akin Rodney Hill, an architecture professor at A&M, looks at plants in his greenhouse. CERS: will 5EASE FA rv 160 Medic V “ ThundenioS ** Driult j “ Freeiingte eastern statesai® ■ northeast wail’' vontal system active with shots ; only scattered 15 degrees. Souilf e’s a sculptor, a gourmet cook has a tropical green thumb, but hat does such a multi-talented per- m do just for the fun of it? e collects ties. Men’s ties are almost the only ‘ thing that changes in men’s fashion,” Wp; he said. IjSome of the more unusual ties in his collection include a wooden tie, a bone-shaped tie, a silver-sequined tie, a Texas flag tie and a clear plastic tie filled with unusual objects like plastic toys and BBs. ■The ties are sure to attract a lot of attention when Hill wears them. He ’was wearing the plastic gadget-filled tie when he answered a delivery man’s knock at the door. The deliv ery man was inquisitive about the un usual objects around Hill’s neck. Just as men’s neckwear follows changing trends, Hill sees his own artwork changing. "My work is getting a little more non-objective,” he said. “It’s getting alittle more abstract. But most of my commissions have been toward the realistic.” Sitting in his living room filled with unusual and interesting art pieces of all colors and variety, Hill described his beginnings in art. “I was raised with art,” he said. “It was just a normal part of my life. It was something that I always did. My jparents encouraged all forms of art —painting, drawing and sculpting. RfBoth of my parents were artists. My father was an advertising artist. He founded the advertising depart ment at Texas Tech. And my mother was a fine artist, a painter.” Hill received his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Texas Tech University in 1962. “Twenty percent of my under graduate courses in architecture were fine art courses,” Hill said. “Add those to all the art experience I had as a child and it gave me a good background for my work.” In 1969 Hill received his master of architecture degree from the Uni versity of California at Berkeley. “I did a lot of welding sculpture at Berkeley,” he said. “I essentially worked my way through graduate school selling sculpture. I did a 50- piece welding sculpture for Macy’s in New York and also showed a lot of my art in several galleries.” Hill has exhibited his artwork at many galleries in the country such as the Houston Museum of Fine Arts- the MSC murals — because of their close grains. “Walnut and pecan are two excel lent hardwoods to work with,” Hill said. “Their close grains hold a lot of detail that something with a wide grain, like oak, couldn’t handle.” Hill explained that the bulk of his work is with wood, although he en joys creating molded-bronze and welded-metal sculptures as well. “It depends so much on what I’m commissioned for,” he said. “I can do just about anything, but the cli ents usually tell me what they want.” Hill got his first commission after his architecture agency included sculpting wood stairs as part of his job. “I designed some art nouveau stairs for a house in Highland Park,” he said. “And since there weren’t “I was raised with art. It was just a normal part of my life. It was something that I always did. My parents en couraged all forms of art — painting, drawing and sculpting. — Rodney Hill, AScM achitecture professor ing, thenovertaS ly winds atbmpl the Dubose Gallery, Houston; the Country Gallery, New York; the University Museum of Fine Arts, Berkeley; the Baker Gallery, Lub bock; the Sutton, New Orleans; the Igor Meade, San Francisco; and One Main Place, Dallas. He also has had exhibits at A&M in the MSC Gallery and the Lang ford Architecture Center Gallery. Anyone can view Hill’s permanent artwork on campus. He designed and created a bronze and walnut sculpture on the second floor of Sterling C. Evans Library. “Texas A&M commissioned me to do that sculpture for a fund-raising venture for the library,” Hill said. People donate money to have their name put on the sculpture and the money goes toward buying the li brary more books, he said. The Lubbock native said he likes to work with walnut and pecan wood types — such as the ones he used for any woodcarvers in Dallas, I ended up carving them. That was my first time to carve wood. Other architects in Texas found out about that and ever since it’s been one commission after another. And generally ar chitects commission me.” Hill has had more than 70 individ ual commissions, taking up about three pages of his professional 12- page resume. “One of my latest commissions was an eight-foot walnut mantle- piece for a couple in Wyoming,” he said. Hill has also designed and created a sculpture for the American Revo lution Museum in Washington, D.C., an altar for the Highland Park Methodist Church, an outdoor sculpture for the Woodcreek subdi vision, two metal doors for the Capi tal National Bank and an earth-shel tered house in Belton — to name only a few of his projects. A bronze sculpture he did for the Pleasant Grove Independent School District in Texarkana won him an award in the Art in Public Places competition. Other art honors he has received include the Seven Young Artists of Houston juried show, the Houston Expojuried show and the Annual Fund Raising Tour with the Art League of Houston. Hill also has received the Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award, Distinguished Student-Faculty Rela tions and the Teacher Achievement Award. Hill said he enjoys designing and teaching at A&M because of the flex ibility the University gives him. “They’re open here to individual creativity,” he said. “The conserva tive campus tends to promote the in dividual. So conservatism here doesn’t affect my artwork. I haven’t found any stumbling blocks to cre ativity or exploration. “The methods I’m using in educa tion here would be very difficult to do at UT or Rice. The College of Ar chitecture at A&M, next to Berkeley, is probably one of the more liberal schools of architecture in the world.” Hill uses centering exercises to get his students to think in a holistic fashion, bringing out their individ ual creativity. He says it is all to help students feel good about themselves, allowing them to control their cre ativity better. “Architecture is a blend of art, sci ence, engineering and psychology,” he said. “Lots of architecture schools are tied to engineering schools. But this school took on a whole new way of teaching in 1969, allowing it to combine fine art and psychology with science and engineering. “For my second-year class my stu dents are putting some designs on a T-shirt that they’ll wear for part of their presentation. That helps them think of art and architecture as be ing one and the same. When Hill compared students at other schools he has visited with stu dents at A&M, he said the students here are more open, interested and willing to learn. “Teaching architecture at A&M is one of my favorite things to do,” he said. Anonymous benefactor buys house for elderly woman , becoming part™ DALLAS (AP) — An anonymous benefactor nine will be Sltphib bought an elderly woman’s foreclosed home so she could live there for the rest of her life was lared by: Charlid "an angel from heaven,” she said. ^*1^flirt! Maude Ellis, who is widowed and crippled, has I 1 '" nien 0 Sived in the old frame house for the past 36 years. ut last month, a bank foreclosed on the home. She found out about the help from the mys terious donor earlier this week. “He’s an angel from heaven,” Ellis, 78, said Wednesday. “That’s what he is.” When community members found out about Ellis’ plight, a special fund was set up for her by Dr. Donald Bernstein at the First Republic Bank of Carrollton. — Ellis said she first found out dbout a possible benefactor Saturday, and then Bernstein called Tuesday to tell her the deal was secure. Bernstein says the benefactor is just an average man who drives an old car. “He and his family don’t live in a big, fancy house,” he said. “They are just common folks who have a wonderful heart.” ■it Auto Painting by lan 5,000 ur sincere . Mobil 1 ese rra lann ce xk is l i >bell :en oms -e wilt* VC ry a-pain budgc&r Free estimates on all bodywork. 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Villa Maria Rd. 823-5789 Perms - Reg. $48°° $35°° - cut and style included w/this coupon (long hair extra) (Across from Manor East Mall) Exp 11/15/87 PICKUPS PLUS Complete service and repair on all pickups, vans and 4WD's. Free Estimates S 512 W. Carson 775-6708 SERVING AGGIELAND FOR OVER 5 YEARS In South Africa: -The Majority is Black. -The Minority is White. -The Minority rules the majority because of silver and gold. Demand Divestment Today How: March against Apartheid 8c for divestment. When: 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Friday October 16th, 1987 Where: Gather in front of College Station City Hall or catch up along the route to Rudder Tower. Sponsored by: Students Against Apartheid Contact Lenses Only Quality Name Brands (Bausch & Lomb, Ciba, Barnes-Hinds-Hydrocurve) ,$79 00 -STD. DAILY WEAR SOFT LENSES ,$gg 00 -STD. EXTENDED WEAR SOFT LENSES * COO 00 -STD. TINTED SOFT LENSES DAILY WEAR OR EXTENDED WEAR Call 696-3754 For Appointment Same day delivery on most soft contact lenses *Eye exam and care kit not included CHARLES C. SCHROEPPEL, O.D., P.C. DOCTOR OF OPTOMETRY 707 South Texas Ave., Suite 101D College Station, Texas 77840 1 block South of Texas & University SIXTH ANNUAL The Co/ Breckenridge GHre JANUARY 3-10, 1988 5 o Steamboat 7 NIGlflS JANUARY 3-10, 1988 5 o BSMfJE**— k ,.- a Vall/Beayer CK>,» „ 17 . JANUARY 3-10. 1988 & — ^ LL f^^NFORMATION AND RESERVATIONS 1-800-321-5911 or contact our local Sunchase ™ ■ ■ uncnase campus representative or your favorite travel agency Spark Some Interest! Use the Battalion Classifieds. Call 845-2611